<VV> Air vs Water HP

[Ron]

I get about five years per belt and they usually show physical signs of 
failing well before they do.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <CorvairEd at aol.com>
To: <Corvair at fnader.com>; <VirtualVairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> Air vs Water HP


> In a message dated 7/8/05 2:07:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> Corvair at fnader.com writes:
> So my question is... what makes the vertical fan assembly as used by 
> Corvair
> racers cool the engine when it uses a fan most often replaced with 
> electric in
> its original application, yet the same electric fans can't directly 
> replace
> the Corvair fan?
>
> Bill,
> I'm not sure of this but I think if you were to check the RPM of the two 
> fan
> applications you'd find that the mechanically driven fan is running at a
> higher speed, when the engine is above normal cruse, than the electric 
> one.  This
> of course would flow more air through the engine when it's needed most. 
> One of
> our club members, Orville Eliason, tried for several years to cool the
> Corvair engine with electric fans but was not successful.  He ended up 
> with three
> fans located across the front the engine compartment of a 65 which were 
> ducted
> to the top of the engine cooling inlet.  There was one fan under the top 
> cover
> and one on top turning in opposite directions.  The opening in the top 
> cover
> was enlarged several inches.  The fans were turned on by an adjustable
> thermostat mounted on top of the left head.  No sense running the fans 
> when the engine
> was cold.  He found that the best he could accomplish was to be able to 
> cruse
> at 55 with the outside air temp above 90.  As the air went higher he had 
> to
> slow down to keep from overheating.  The system did work fine for short 
> trips
> or in heavy traffic.  The system also worked fine for high cruse if the 
> air
> temp was below 75.
>
> Believe me, if Orville couldn't make it work, it probably can't be done. 
> He
> had to run a very heavy alternator to power all of those fans so it was 
> not a
> HP gain.  His main objective was to eliminate the fan belt to get more
> reliability.  I don't know about you but I don't have any trouble with fan 
> belts.  I
> get up around 30,000 miles on a belt but change them about every two 
> years.
> That holds true for water pumpers too.
>
> Ed Corson (CORSA member)
> Inland Empire Corvair Club
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