Barry, (and all)
I bought an electric fan kit from VB last year for my Spit. I installed
it according to the installation instructions on the "Front" of my
radiator. I hooked up all the wiring as per the instructions and turned
on the switch. Red light in the switch illuminated, fan roared, all
seemed to operate ok. Later, I was doing something under the hood while
the fan was on and I noticed it was turning such that the air was being
thrust forward, not pushed through the radiator.
I thought, "Oh, I must Have wired it backward." I rechecked the wiring
against the schematic that was provided and no, it was according to
spec. So, knowing that reversing the rewiring on a de motor reverses
rotation, I did so and corrected the air flow. It now pushed air back
through the radiator. However, the light in the switch no longer
operates.
Because there is no schematic for the switch that shows how the light is
wired, I can't resolve that issue, but it appears that unless there was
a miswiring at the factory, the fan was designed to mount to the back of
the radiator and pull air through it. However, nothing in the
advertising or literature that come with the fan suggests that.
At any rate, the fan is mounted in addition to the plastic 1500 belt
driven fan and is switched on manually when the car starts to overheat
(standing in stalled traffic on a hot summer day). Works just fine
except for the light.
Joe Curry
Barry Schwartz wrote:
>
> >You will get even better cooling if you were to remove the belt driven
> >fan all together. When the electric fan is on with the mechanical you
> >will get a turbulance that slows the air through the radiator.
> ***********************************
> Hummmm,
> I disagree. I have both electric 'pusher' fans and the engine driven fan
> on the Spitfire (custom radiator and shrouds). It has two 10" electric,
> front mounted, pusher type fans, that are thermostatically controlled that
> cover the width of the radiator, and a 10" flex type engine driven fan in
> the center. I tried removing the engine fan and it ran noticeably hotter,
> and got hot quicker. I believe, in this situation (especially with push
> through configurations) that the engine driven fan arguments the push
> through by helping to pull air through the radiator which is more efficient
> than trying to push it through. Space restrictions prevented me this type
> of installation. I put the engine fan back on and has been there ever
> since. Just to add a little side note about efficiency of this type of
> pusher puller type of design look at the Cessna push-pull configuration,
> and the German designed in wwII (can't recall the names) had this same type
> of prop, one in front and another in the rear. Darn, there goes that
> airplane thread again :-)!!
>
> Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
>
> 72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
> 70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
> 70 Spitfire (project)
> 73 Ford Courier (parts hauler, rain vehicle, getting a V6 soon!)
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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