I'll argue that is is still significant for a street driven car. Not in performance but in efficiency / economy.
If we assume it requires somewhere around 20 HP to cruise at 60 MPH you are giving up roughly 10% of your power to just drive the fan. That would directly affect fuel economy.

_________________
--> Check out my FI Turbo build <--
--> And the race truck build project <--
--> The Diesel Corvette <--

Absolutely! That is why all the OEMs went to viscous fans followed by electric fans... Sorry, I was thinking of acceleration, but of course MPG would be a more significant effect and desire for a pure/stock street car.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

This is severely faulty math. There are a bunch of numbers involved, and we don't get to just pick out a few that can be arranged to show what we want to believe like this. C'mon. (I am not going to spoon-feed you the reasons why this is faulty. Think it out; it's easy.)

I still think we would not see a measurable fuel economy gain by going from a solid mech fan to an electric fan on most any street-driven, stockish Slant-6 car or truck. If someone wants to prove otherwise with data, I'll immediately acknowledge I was wrong. Until then, I'm pretty sure I'm not.

Data means data, though: a careful, methodical, realistic test with only the one variable; all confounds eliminated or controlled for, and a short list of reasonable, justifiable assumptions. Unless and until we have that, all we're gonna keep having is opposing opinions.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

The truth is that many cars / trucks that have a good cooling system will not have the electric fan running at all when cruising down the road. The engine doesn’t get hot enough to need it many times.

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Right now I have the dash completely out of my truck.
I'm switching everything over to factory AC.
Of course my truck originally came with the solid mount, 4 blade fan.
I was thinking about seeing if I can find a clutch fan to swap in, instead of the solid one, and also would want one with more than 4 blades to go on there.
I also know that I replace A LOT of electric fans on newer cars at work, mostly on 08-14 impalas. Cuz that's what the state has for their fleet. To me a mechanical belt driven fan that turns any time the engine is running, always seemed more reliable than an electric fan that relies on a sending unit to tell it when to run (or not). Wiring can corrode, that sending unit can short out (or go open) often the fan blades wobble because the bushings are shot in the fan motor (most often mode of failure I see at work) the dorman ones are good for about a year and then they are shot again/

Though my 01 Durango has both a mechanical fan and an electric supplemental fan.
I see a good bit of back n forth about this subject. Which in and of itself, adds to the confusion as to how beneficial (or not) an electric fan in place of a mechanical one might be. And then there's the "puller" vs the " pusher" style. The idea of an electric fan occasionally crosses my mind. Which would be better? Pusher? Puller? Standalone? Supplemental?
I was thinking if anything I'd go supplemental pusher with a clutched, thermal, mechanical engine driven fan as well.
Overkill?

My personal choice, if you have the room, is a thermal clutch fan and an electric pusher. My reasoning is, in hot humid climates, sitting in traffic, idling, the AC condenser needs the additional air flow of the electric fan, to keep the efficiency up, and reduce the head pressure. Many Mercedes used the combination of mechanical and electric fan.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

A nice fitting dual electric fan for an A body is a fan from a 95-00 v6 Ford Contour. These are about a perfect fit to a v8 26 inch radiator. I fit one to the 22 inch radiator in the 68 Barracuda by making a simple aluminum panel to block off the overhang.
The thin motors and shroud fit in the space between the radiator and the slant water pump snout.
I have one fan wired to energize with a temperature sensor and the AC. I have the second fan on a manual switch. You can buy a new 2000 v6 Ford Contour dual fan assembly with shroud from RockAuto for about $100.00


A nice fitting electric fan for a D150 is from a mid 90’s v6 Dodge Caravan. The perimeter fits about perfect to the radiator. This is a single fan, but has three speeds. I wired in the oe Dodge Caravan relay module. Using the other relays to control headlights, HEI,,,, the radiator has a low speed fan that activates with the AC, a higher speed fan that activates from the engine temp sensor. And a much higher speed that activates when the AC is on and the engine temp sensor activates the fan.
You can buy a new 1995 v6 Dodge Caravan fan with shroud from RockAuto for about $90.00

You can get the fans and pig tails at a pull a part for probably 1/3 of the new prices.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Cool Stuff, thanks for sharing John!

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

If anyone decides to go with the Contour or Caravan electric radiator fan send me a pm, I can dig out the wiring diagrams and will forward a copy to you.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

How much juice can these be expected to draw? I have an 08 caravan in my bay for other work at my work and was noticing the heaviness of the wire gauge going to it's fan, ( looks to be about 10ga) probably because of the recent discussion here.
(It's not in the shop for anything that has to do with the fan, but it's front and center, wiring across the top, hard on that one, "not" to notice)

IIRC,, 30 amp fuses

that does not mean they draw 29.9 amps

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Yup I got that ... But I'd bet initial surge would be pretty close to that.... And then once going, would settle back some... 30 amp..... Same (fuse) amp rating as most blower motors..... Interesting