<VV> fanz

[boB]

Apparently the electric fan works.  Great, I say!  After 40 years we 
*should* have something better than the 1965 fan.

I have worked with Spal and they make a good product, but they have not 
just developed a miracle motor that makes 10x the power of previous 
offerings, nor have they designed a miracle fan that delivers 10x the 
airflow of other fans.  In this case the Spal unit may just coincidentally 
be a good match for the airflow and pressure requirements of the Corvair 
engine.  That's good!  Here's maybe better...

In this conversion from mechanical to electrical back to mechanical there 
are losses and they all show up in the form of heat, heat which is 
introduced into the airstream.  Heat which is not needed and can be avoided.
Since the Spal motor is not magic, the great improvement must be the fan 
design (and I believe it is) so *why can't we mount the Spal fan blade on 
our current fan bearing and drive it with our belt, saving the conversion 
losses and getting even better performance?*

The motor only takes less than 1/2 HP so our current belt wouldn't even 
notice the load, belt life would be great and the engine would stay even 
cooler.  Plus we can drive the fan with 2 or 3 HP if required!

One downside with electric fans is the life, they are not made to run 
continuously.  In a radiator application this is ok, and 1000 hour life may 
give 150,000 miles of operation with the intermittent use.  In continuous 
operation we may only get 30,000 miles although that is a lot for most 
Corvairs since many are not daily drivers.


boB