Keeping a engine fan after a KA24DE swap

[sean1978]

(engine)- can't edit title.

 

I'd rather not use E-fans on my KA24DE swap if I don't have to. I found this 510 running what looks about like a L16's fan. Any idea how to run an engine fan instead of e-fans after the swap?

 

[Pumpkn210]

I would guess that any fan that fit would work. My question would be Why? Belt fans rob power, generally get in the way of tuning/working on the car, and make the car take longer to warm up. E-fans are easy to install, are controllable and they only use a minimal ammount of power.

[sean1978]

 

I would guess that any fan that fit would work. My question would be Why? Belt fans rob power, generally get in the way of tuning/working on the car, and make the car take longer to warm up. E-fans are easy to install, are controllable and they only use a minimal ammount of power.

 

Guess I'm about as half-witted as the guy with the KA-T in the magazine shoot above.

 

the KA fan clutch is too long and I'm not sure how you would use an L-series on the KA.

 

Please, no more "why would you do that" comments. "Why" was not the question, "How" was.

[Pumpkn210]

Shit, sorry man, I was just wondering :huh: Never said you were half witted, those are your words! So Hang me for being curious! :rolleyes:

[sean1978]

Shit, sorry man, I was just wondering Never said you were half witted, those are your words! So Hang me for being curious!

 

Sorry I came off as snappy. Here's the short answer. Don't want to turn the thread into a E-fans vs stock fans debate but I'd rather not trade off the dependability of stock fans over e-fans for the minuscule amount of power gain.

 

I have known several people with E-fan setups on SR's and KA's in S13's and S14 that went back to the clutch fan setup.

 

anyway. Might just need to track down the owner of that car and send him an emiail. From what I have seen most people around here seem to go with e-fans.

[Pumpkn210]

I would go to the junk yard with a tape measure and see what would be small enough to fit. I know that my little stock engine fans on my 210s cool just fine with a virtually no shroud and no clutch. Small enough to fit inbetween there, I think. Kinda looks like what he has on that car. You may have to make a spacer or cut one down to size.

[sean1978]

I'll have to look at both of the engine again tomorrow night.

[NorCalDime]

My ka was reallllllllly close to the radiator. probably only had 2.5 inches from face of pulley to radiator. ( that was with a fiero radiator. Not sure what fan would fit in that.

 

Just measured a ka fan i have in the garage... It is about 2 5/8 from mounting surface to outside edge. You should probably run a shroud too... not sure why other dude didnt have one, but then again he does have a strut tower brace :P

[sean1978]

looks to me like his fan sits almos on the radiator, kind of like efans without shrouds.

 

I have a L-series shroud I'll use if I can. Might have to do some fabwork.

[fo0manchu]

it looks like his engine sits further back. I would think, custom motor mounts that shifts the engine closer to the firewall would help with radiator clearance.

[sean1978]

Obviously you missed the last 35+ years of automotive evolution where old, low tech, "dinosauric" items became obsolete and replaced with newer, more reliable, efficient technology. I agree with Pumpkn210, why would you add parasitic drag, and spend so much time scratchin that backwoods southern brain of yours trying to figure out how to add said dinosauric equipment to your new nice looking motor. Seriously, what more efficient than a fan that turns on when shit gets hot, then goes off when it's cool enough?

 

Thanks for the insult. I have lived many places in my life. Including the south.

 

I guess we ARE going to take it there.

 

Riddle me this batman,

 

my Skyline, my J30, my S12, my S13, my S14, my Frontier pickup, they all came with clutch fans. If the technology is so "dinosauric", why did they come from the factory like that? you would think that the engineers who designed all of the cars would have used efans on all of them since obviously they have no disadvantage whatsoever right?

 

this guy shares a lot of my concerns:

The Myth Of The Electric Fan

 

but this is probably the biggest concern for me:

 

Lastly, there is the question of reliability. The stock clutch fan can have two failure modes: the clutch will fail, or the fan will physically break. The electric fan introduces many more failure points: fuse, all wiring connections, physical failure of the fan, failure of the motor, failure of the thermostat.

 

If you feel a need to belittle me more because I would rather keep a clutch fan than go with an electric, go ahead, however my logic is justified and I don't see the need for comments about my "backwoods southern brain" .

[Guest DatsuNoob]

AdH, you're a dick... mildly entertaining, but still a dick.

[sean1978]

. I'll bet you even have quite a few V-8 swap " Z280" fellers out there in your carolina group, huh? I rest my case.

 

well, a couple guys are putting LS1/T56 into 240's, and the guy who is helping me with my 510 is putting a VH45DE with a Z32 5 speed into his. Just a bunch of crazy backwoods "fellers" down here.

 

I test fitted it into my wagon, you can see that in another thread.

[fisch]

Pumpkn sounds like he was trying to help you and you got all snooty when he replied to your post.

 

ADH chill out man. Pumpkin and Sean settled their disagreement, and yet you feel the need to come here and stir it up? Is this thread called "Electric vs. Clutch fans?" No. People want to do things differently. Carb VS EFI, whatever it is. Sean wants to run a clutch fan, more power to him. I am deleting your posts in this thread. -1

[bonvo]

how does the ka fan clutch mount? is it bolted in or is it welded to the pully like the l/z series? if its bolted the stock fan might just bolt up with the stock spacer and longer bolts the stock l series fans without the ckutch is rather thin so it might fit rather well

 

i feel electric would be the way to go as well but to run the stock style shouldnt be to terribly difficult if you like i have the stock fan and spacer as pictured in the above pics if you need them as well as the shroud to go along with

[Unclejesse88]

Definitely go with a clutch and fan if you can find one that fits. I don't know about nissan clutches, but the toyota clutches can be "tuned" by changing the weight of the oil inside. By doing this you can make the clutch lock up harder earlier, or softer later, etc. This may come in handy for fine tuning the efficiency of the fan itself, to save you some of the losses you gained by adding a clutch fan. I will say that I believe a stock l16 type fan would do more harm than good, being that it is always on. During the summer my car runs cooler in town than on the highway because the fan isn't working against natural airflow. If you do in the end wind up having to run an electric fan (due to space limitations etc.) then just take your time with the install, and do it right the first time. Such as, the correct size wiring, proper relay usage, wire routing, shrouding, mounting, and so on. If you do this, your electric fan worries you posted earlier won't be so worrying.

[BJW's FiveTen's]

(engine)- can't edit title.

 

I'd rather not use E-fans on my KA24DE swap if I don't have to. I found this 510 running what looks about like a L16's fan. Any idea how to run an engine fan instead of e-fans after the swap?

 

Hey thats is my Engine??? That is Kevins car, and I have the First Ka set up he had before he went to Aem Standalone. Any how the engine sits on custom mounts, and the intercooler is behind the valance. So the rad is in the stock location. I believe it is a Ron Davis Rad. That yellow dime I believe will be for sale soon.

I have the fan. I will see where it cam from

Thanks

Bryce

[HRH]

my Skyline, my J30, my S12, my S13, my S14, my Frontier pickup, they all came with clutch fans. If the technology is so "dinosauric", why did they come from the factory like that? you would think that the engineers who designed all of the cars would have used efans on all of them since obviously they have no disadvantage whatsoever right?

 

The answer you're looking for is cost. It's cheaper to produce clutch fans. No relays, no wiring, just bolt it on and go. That's the only reason. And they do work just fine. Me, I take them off as they usually take up more space than an electric fan and can fail just as easily. I sell fan clutches at NAPA all day long in the summer. Some stick on, some freewheel.

 

As far as the reason for using them, I'd say for a motor that runs hot most of the time, a clutch fan might be a better idea as an electric will always be on unless you use the correct size. If you use the proper size of electric fan, it should cool just fine. I went to an electric simply for more stable heating/cooling, but then I previously ran a stock L16 fan without clutch. Problem was it overcooled in the winter and didn't cool well at idle in the summer.

 

As far as Nissan goes electric fan systems are near bulletproof; in fact, I grabbed two extra fan switches from '86 Maximas in the wrecking yard that are now on Datsuns in the area that have converted to electric fan. My dad hasn't replaced the electric fans or switches on his 91 NX2000 ever, and it's 118k strong, autocrossed a lot.

 

One of the best benefits I can think of for using one is in conjunction with an electric water pump. That way, once the car is off, you can wire the pump to the same thermostatic fan switch and have both operating until the motor is cool. So far I'm still running a stock water pump on my L, but I may well go to an electric water pump for just that reason. The more the motor maintains a constant temperature, the longer it will last.

[Spades]

you could do what I did on my naps swap and re-shape the core support so you can move the radiator forward...or get a custom or smaller radiator to go under the core support so it can be moved forward enough to mount the fan...

 

or you could do what the guy in the pic prolly did...find someone with a proper lathe or CNC machine or something, and have a custom bracket made so you could mount a fan that will fit in the confined space.

[compression]

The clutches on clutch fans are normally pretty tall. Most people dont run them in a dime because of limited space. Looking at Kevin Kofords car (the yellow one in the pics above)...I am not suprised to see that he managed somehow, there is alot of custom stuff on that car that if you dont look for it, you would never know...Like can you tell that KA throttle body is pointing down instead of up? Yep, custom.

Both types work well, if you can fit a mechanical fan go for it, if not, electric fans are easy to install also.

Good luck.

[510love]

anyone ever think about trimming the clutch fan? ive sharpened the blades on my clutch fan in my 240sx and it might not do much but i think it pulls air better when its more of an angle slicing the air and pulling it through the radiator etc.

 

what you might be able to do is cut off like 1 inch or less of the plastic fan. it should be fairly easy just sand it down with a power sander and re-install.

i dunno thats my best shot at it without going to the junkyard and trying to fit some other fan that might not work!