The Dodge Challenger Message Board

whats the best brand of electric fans (any combo)? i have a 360 c.i.

I don't know what brand is best other than to say the one with the most blades for the least amount of cash. You can find them all over the best deals I have seen are in the junk yard on newer cars. Call around to the bone yards and see what they have to offer. The brackets to mount them are easy to make or have made.

www.summitracing.com also has a lot of different ones to choose from

You want the highest amount of air flow for the least amount of amps.

You also want to cover as large an area of the radiator as possible. Sometines two small fans are better in that case.

dave, do you have only one electric fan on your car?

Yeah. It is from Summit. You can see it in the thread of photos of my car.

Here is the image.

I have also fitted a tube from the top inlet of the overflow bottle that hangs down to within an inch of the bottom of the bottle. This makes it work as a coolant recovery system and the radiator now stays completely full to the brim.

then why would you say my car can not sit and idle w/o overheating? I have 2 fans on a 26 inch wide Griffin aluminum rad. w/ dual 1" cores. The only thing I have not done AGAIN is replace the water pump. It is new but i got it from a parts store. Its not Mopar Performance or Edlebrock. I am at the end of my options list.

The stock type pump is not very efficient but I doubt it is the cause of your problem.

You have a lot of electrical equipment right? Big sound system etc?

Put a volt meter across the electric fan supply (hot and ground) when the car is idling and the fans are on. Turn on any other electrical systems you might use as well like the ICE system.

If the voltage is not high enough under these conditions the fans will run slow.

This was one of the problems I was having. It was caused by the performance pulleys not spinning the alternator fast enough at idle (mopar alts are poor at idle anyway) and also my battery was poor due to the charge not being topped up often over the winter. So the longer I sat in traffic, the worse the voltage got and the hotter the engine got.

I still have a little problem with this but only once this year did I get worried about it. As soon as the car started moving again it was fine.

So check the voltage and maybe try one of those high output water pumps they sell at Summit.
An oil cooler might help too.

Last resort. If it is a electrical supply problem and the battery is GOOD. Fit a GM alternator. They work better at idle.

Dave, do you happen to know the part# of your fan? This winter I need one too but still haven't decide which one. I like to throw out the flexfan and install electrics to cool it all down. Only prob is that it needs BIG cooling as I have bad plans for the next season. I have already an uprated radiator and bought a HV waterpump. Maybe a fan on both sides of the radiator will work or will one kill the works of the other then? Any ideas here?

Von, the stock waterpump shouldn't be a problem. Anyway mine doesn't give me any trouble. Just a good rad. and a flexfan w/ shroud is al that cools my 340 and it only reach 185 in a traffic jam. I think Dave made a good point about the alt.

I have a flex fan pulling and a electric fan pushing (controlled by switch on dash) that seems to do the trick with a stock 26-inch radiator. I chose March reduction pulley’s to keep the horsepower loss at a minimum. Summit has the fans and wiring kits, and the cost was less than a $100 us.

The March pulley's cost more than I care to comment...

If you look at the picture of mine and look in the Summit catalogue you should be able to find it easy. They only do the one own-brand chrome fan I think. You want to cover as great an area of the radiator as possible. Dual fans on one side do that best I think and you can get good shroud kits to fit those at Summit. Fans that pull work better than fans that push.

Using one in conjunction with a standard mechanical fan only when needed sounds like a good idea Insuranceguy.

A standard fan with a shroud is hard to beat. Electric fans are better at idle but the stronger the fan the more current it needs from the electrical system and if it is not up to scratch at idle it pulls the voltage down.

Also any large load on the alternator makes it harder for the engine to turn it and that robs power just like a mechanical fan. You cannot create energy from nothing.

When I am at idle with those darn March pulleys (900rpm with my engine) the battery and charging system can barely cope. If I put the de-mist fan on as well the voltage drops to 10.5 - 11 volts!!