It's spring and time to contemplate the next mod. Past threads have discussed the Pros & Cons of Dual Fans, but unfortunately the search engine is out of commission. I would like feedback if you have Dual Fans, type, etc., and what you think of the change.

Would it be $$$ well spent, or should I channel the $$$ elsewhere?

 

I'm looking into all the fan options now, shoot me an e-mail, maybe if nothing else we can get a group purchase going.

 

I recently installed 2 Hayden 16" fans with the Hayden adjustable controller that can operate 2 fans with the same thermostat. I bought all at Autozone. The fans were $69 each and the controller was $35. I spent another $15 on wire, wire loom, 2 circuit breakers, shrink tubing and electrical connectors at a local surplus store. I used that stuff to build a nice wiring harness that will allow me to easily swap out either of the two fans or the controller in the event of a failure.

I can easily and quickly bypass the controller in case it fails to operate the fans by hard-wiring the fans to the battery using the connectors I soldered into the harness. I replaced the fuses with 30A self-resetting circuit breakers. I added a waterproof switch under the hood to turn off the ability for the AC compressor clutch to operate the cooling fans in the winter when you have the defroster on. I also hard-wired the ignition wire to +12v so the fans will run and cool the radiator down after you turn off the ignition in hot weather.

I've seen an honest 0.5 to 1 mpg improvement in gas mileage but have not 'felt' any power gains. The engine is also quieter and warms up a lot quicker in the winter time. When I tow for the first time I should be able to tell if there was any power gain. When you're on the highway common sense suggests that there should be better throttle response and a bit more hp/torque since the stock fan is gone but I really can't tell at this point. The gas mileage improvement made it worth while I think.

The crown vic fan is probably a less-expensive way to go but I liked the redundancy of the 2 - 16" fans and thought that was relatively cheap insurance.

 

How did you mount the fans?

 

Each of the fans came with 8 rubber pads, 8 copper plated steel 'pins' and 8 rubber/plastic retainers. The pins go through the frame of the fan, then through the rubber pads, through the radiator core and then the the retainers go over the pins. You clip the pins about 1/2 inch from the front of the radiator core after you push the retainers on. Those things are on there very tight and don't vibrate at all.

 

FYI...............I looked at those fans, they only draw 1500 to 1700 CFM. even according to Haydens own litature it recommeds at least 2 of them.

I would think if you live in a hot climate or tow, it would be marginal.

 

HI!... This is the twin 16" electric fan kit I use from "NPP".

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-7163.jpg
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-6935.jpg

 

Is it available yet?

 

HI!... SOON!!!!!!!!

 

I also am in the process of installing an electric fan, but I'm having a bear of a time with the wiring. What wire did you connect to on the A/C plug? I have a black wire and a white wire with a grey stripe and can't figure out which one to use. Also It sounds like you might know a little about those Crown Vic/Mark VIII fans. Does one of them only have a single speed or do they both have the dual speed? I"m having a hard time hooking up to the low speed side of the fan with the Hayden unit. It seems to be only able to work when hooking up to the high speed side. Any suggestions would be helpfull. Thanks

 

HI!... It's the white wire with the grey tracer on it. That's the one I taped into on my truck until my A/C compressor's bearing went and I just removed the A/C system all together. A easy way to find the proper wire is to have the truck running withe A/C off. Take a 12v test light and probe the white wire with grey tracer on it. Then have someone turn the A/C on. If the test light, lights up then that's the one. That's how I found mine. Hope this helps you out. I used a PERMA-COOL electronic thermo switch, so I can't be of much help with your fan controller, sorry.

 

Thanks Neal thats more of a help than you know. Slowly the riddle starts to unwind.

 

Yes kamanakai, I used a digital volt meter like Neal said. The only thing is that I spliced into the wire up on top of the valve cover instead of digging down by where the plug is like most of the guys out there did. I looked down there and said screw-it, I'm tapping in right 'here'.... I soldered the wire into an area I cut away the insulation from and coated the connection with liquid electrical tape and then wrapped the whole thing up with heavy duty vinyl tape. Can't even tell anything is different from stock.

I've never seen the Mark VIII fan install. I actually followed Neal's past advice from several months ago. The dual fan install worked out great. Easy to deal with, built in redundancy and the cost was reasonable. His NPP kit, when it comes out, sounds a lot like what I did but there you would get one stop shopping. I screwed around with various install options and more or less did it a little at a time over the winter. In fact I had my stock fan and shroud removed for most of the winter while I did the wire routing, wire splicing, control and fan mounting, etc...

I enjoyed doing it, when the weather cooperated...


Good luck...