Was wondering if anyone has put in electric fans and remove the horsepower sucking belt driven fan. And is there a direct swap like out of a Celica or something? I did a search here already under, "electric fans" and all I get is sticky or unrelated stuff.

 

I live where it's hot as it gets. No electric fan setup is the equal of the factory fan, clutch and shroud combination. But, then, I guess that doesn't answer your question.

 

I researched it, but the only way to match a belt-driven fan is a high CFM electric fan which sucks down the amps. What's worse, sucking HP or sucking down amps? Decided to just rebuild my orig clutch fan.

 

I did it using the two speed fan from a Mercury Villager / Nissan Quest (same car).
I did the change because I thought the stock fan sucked too much HP.
The elec. fan has a draw of 60 amps inrush, 40 amps hi-speed, and 30 amps lo speed.
It was too much for the stock alt.to keep a good charge in the battery.
So.... I upgraded the 65 amp alt. to a 140 amp GM CS-144, and installed an AGM dry battery.
Did all of this solve what I originally thought? In a word NO.
So my advice is: just buy a new clutch for your stock fan, and be done with it.
Art.

 

What are you working on anyway? Gremlin? Kenworth?
you can check out my build thread (link in my signature) I tried the electric fans so that I could shut them off for water crossings. It worked ok on the road, but as soon as I got on soft ground at low speeds it overheated. I went back to the stock fan after trying a lot of work arounds, even making the A/C fan run with the twin radiator fans didn't help much, but I also didn't have room for a thick high power fan.
Maybe after my 3.4 swap I'll look into anther try, but as said by millball the stock mechanical fans move a lot more air than the electrics generally do. And they use a lot of power, so if you have lots of lights or a big stereo, or everything from wipers to heater running at the same time you'll end up killing your battery and alternator. Just more trouble than it's worth.

 

Yeah I put the Black Magic S-Blade fan from LCE in my '85 22r. With the e-fan I consistently got too hot on the freeway and on trails at high rpm. I wouldn't let myself admit the fan was the problem. Spent countless hours trying to optimize, put in a soft start controller, the most expensive radiator money can buy, etc. etc. Helped a little, still ran 3/4 of the way to red with outside temps in the 90's. Went back to the stock setup (with the stock shroud) and all my problems went away. I don't think the e-fan spins fast enough to keep up at higher rpms for my application at least (a severely wind-burdened '85 PU). But depending on a variety of factors, your results may be better. I do still have the e-fan here in Vancouver Washington, willing to let go for a fraction of new cost if anyone wants to beat their head against that particular wall.

 

Keep in mind that an electric fan that moves the same CFM as the mechanical fan will also suck just as much horsepower as the mechanical fan. The only difference is if the HP flows through the fan belt or through the alternator belt. Electricity on a vehicle isn't free - that alternator takes power to turn when it pushing out the amps.

A 3 horsepower electric fan would pull 175 amps. Not many of those out there. No real wonder they don't keep up with the mechanical fans. 12 volt systems are a bad way to produce mechanical power.

 

I used a 16" Zirgo but shrouded the backside of an aluminum 2 row G-Plus Radiator. I run a 180° Derral thermal switch to turn it on and off. The switch is mounted into a brass elbow at the drain cock for the radiator. A 40 AMP relay and fuse are used to supply power from the battery and to switch the fan on and off via the Derral switch. The only time the fan seems to be needed in Southern California is when I get stuck at traffic lights after a freeway sprint has been completed. Off roading in low range with no air flow and doing hills it comes on then too. The temp Gauge never goes beyond halfway once things are warmed up. I am convinced the custom made aluminum shroud is very good at increasing the fans efficiency in pulling the air needed to keep things in check. The air space between the back side of the radiator and the fan is about 1" in thickness. This maintains a clearance between the auxiliary shaft (were the clutch fan used to be) and the backside of the Zirgo's motor housing. This is on a 3VZ-E and works great. The only other addition I made was a 170 amp alternator as I have an audio amplifier and an X-Bull winch being fed by an oversized AGM battery.

 

One of the dumbest things you can do

So many points that can fail.

I have restored so many back to factory most often after head gasket failures

Electric Fan if your doing a swap and the stock fan will not fit.

After all it is your vehicle go for it.

 

Before changing out your fan, read the threads on those who've gone down this path before.

The only compelling reason I've seen to changing the fan is if you drive through deeply flooded areas often. And then you'll probably want a snorkel as well.

 

welcome to one year ago.....

 

I feel so alive... and somewhat younger!!

 

I hate when that happens better then 10 years!!

 

I love it when people think that they're so much smarter than Toyota hack engineers and their calculations/testing/prototyping/measurements/iteration. Yeah, sometimes things are done for cost- or weight-reduction measures, but I'd argue that most of the engine design is pretty well thought-out. Don't get me wrong, experiment away! It's your truck, darn it, do what ya like and be proud. Just be ready in case your experiment bites you out on the trail because you didn't have an army of test engineers to beat all the bugs out of it. I'm willing to bet that the Gen1 Hilux/4Runner designers knew about the e-fan option and they dismissed it for some reason. Like I've said, water crossings are the only reason I've heard so far where they might be better than the belt driven option.