Electric fan in place of viscos fan, and other ranting?

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:35 pm

Going to Kimberlies next year...do I spend money on newer sub, or spend money on old faithful. I live in central Aus, and do corrugated dirt roads a fair bit, what are the best shocks, original, or aftermarket, currently running 2 inch body lift with 14 inch rims, I am thinking of either doing a refresh on all running gear on the L series, or spending money on other car...bigger engine. Has anyone done away with the viscos engine driven fan and replaced with a thermo relayed electric fan on a ea82 l series? Did it work well, less power to drive it ?, your thought please.
Is it worth the money on a 2inch exhaust from cyl back?, my sub L series has 150000km I've owned it since 40000km, I don't want to do a engine swap I may as well buy a forester, emotionally attached to this old piece of junk...maybe, I looked at a jeep, was OK but by the time I bought tyres, upgraded the suspension and replaced the radiator I would need to spend 4000 grand, this will almost rebuild the l series. what ya thoughts/comments

tambox · Post by **tambox** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:13 pm

Shocks, KYB seem to work well on the L's.

Done the fan swap many times. The dual electric has been better for me. Carefull you have to choose good electric fans as they vary.

I am biased about L's, currently running 3 of them, been to outbacks and forester's, keep coming back to L's. But thats my choice as they suit what we use them for.
2inch exhaust is good if you are going to rev the c---p out of it, standard L's are not designed to be driven like that.

EJ22 in the L is a good conversion, to make a good car great.

If you look after the car it will last.

You asked for thoughts/comments, you got mine.

Helpfull????

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:28 pm

I found that the engine driven fan moved much more air than the electric fans I replaced it with, so I converted back to the engine fan and never overheated again.

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:47 pm

tambox and gannon...Can you remember which fans were you guy's running, brand, cfm they moved etc.

tambox · Post by **tambox** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:06 pm

Sorry to go off the main topic, but to understand cooling systems you need to know about water pump cavitation and impellar types.
Then add in radiator efficiency and you will begin to understand, the fans are a minor part of the system.
This is a generalisation, but if you run a pressed metal impellar, single core radiator, then you need good fans. Run a tight fitting, smooth, cast impellar, 2 core radiator, you need less fans.
Its not as simple as which fans are the best.
You must have a good radiator to run dual electric fans.
My electric fans came from wrecks, no specifications, just big and you can feel a good air flow. Thin fans tend to have less air flow. Although some Davies Craig thin fans are very good.

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:22 pm

I only run genuine watr pumps, I don't know what they are, I'll be getting a new radiator as I've never put one in this car And I don't think the original viscos fan is much chop anymore,

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:54 pm

I've run twin thermo's on my L turbo for 6 years. Stocko + davies craig 10" using the stock sensor to trigger. Granted it has a thicker core custom made alloy radiator which increased coolant volume substantially...

tambox · Post by **tambox** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:54 pm

An aluminuim 2 core radiator is pretty good at getting rid of heat. Don't buy a single core. Although they now make elongated single cores, that are supposed to be equal to a dual core, in my experience, thay are not.
There are many options, shop carefully.
Genuine water pumps are usually a cast impellar.
If the radiator is still in good condition, a strip and clean may be all it needs.
Each little bit adds up, so make sure its all good.

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 9:09 pm

timmo...who did your radiator? living In central aus, we obviously get high ambient temps

Tweety · Post by **Tweety** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:04 pm

Nowadays some new radiators are substandard...some cheap ones on fleabay can be suspect. Had an MR2 one from there and wasnt good quality.

I've got 2 12inch Davies Craig fans and not had any trouble at all.

pzs · Post by **pzs** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 10:01 am

I think I go that way new twin core radiator with 2 12 inch graig davies fans and new oem pump

Tweety · Post by **Tweety** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 12:15 pm

I dont know the dimensions of your radiator. Measure it all up and if you have the room then 2x12 inch fans would suffice but if you dont have the room go 10 inch. I went 12 inch on my Alfa radiator and would have preferred 10 inch as its a small rad.