<VV>Fan HP

[Britt Griffith]

I'm in the process of setting up an "experiment" somewhat like Padgett
described. I want to see if adding a shrouded electric fan to the condenser
in my 65 coupe was possible and/or beneficial.

Right now, I'm looking for a 65 condenser assembly I can modify. I want to
remove the tube and fin portion from the frame and replace it with a R134a
unit I have. The new condenser is a lot thinner than the original one and
there ought to be about 2 to 3 inches difference between their widths. I was
thinking (or maybe not) that I could fit a shrouded 14 inch diameter
electric fan in this void. For this trial, I plan on using ample amounts of
duct tape to seal around the condenser and fan shroud so that all of the
cooling air will pass over the new condenser, through the electric fan and
then into the suction of engine fan. Also, duct tape or foil tape will cover
over the holes in the sides of the condenser frame where the copper tubes
used to come through, at least during the trial period. If this works, I'll
fix up the condenser so that it will look stock ..... sort of.

My plan is to remove the engine hood and take direct cfm flow readings (with
a flow hood) at various engine speeds in the current condition. Then, I will
install the modified 65 condenser, energize the electric fan, and do the
same cfm checks. Finally, I'd like to see how the electric fan works alone,
without the engine fan in the picture.

My guess is this arrangement won't be able to replace the engine fan because
the fan will either be too small (cfm wise) or there will be too much air
leakage around the existing metal shroud where the belt and accelerator
cross shaft go through it. In the EM and 65 condenser arrangement, this area
is always under a vacuum when the engine is running. In my experiment, it
will be at a positive pressure through some, or all, of the engine operating
range.

I won't be too upset if I have to keep the engine fan. I was originally
thinking of ways to lower the temperature of the air that leaves the
condenser and enters the engine at idle and low rpms. My hope was that the
electric fan would force enough air through the engine, which would keep it
cooler while improving the efficiency of the A/C system at low engine
speeds. At higher engine speeds, I figured the engine fan would just pull
through the electric fan.

I did check the Virtual Corvair Club archives to see if anyone else has
tried this. I couldn't find anything. Since I've only been playing with a
Corvair for less than a year, I was hoping to get some feedback from the
impressive knowledge base, here.


Britt Griffith
65 Coupe
Corona, CA


-----Original Message-----
From: Padgett [mailto:pp2 at 6007.us]
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 8:34 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV>Fan HP

>Understand that the elecric fan concept has probably been beaten to death
>but has anyone done a flow analysis of the engine compartment without the
>fan?

>Think a cheap experiment would be to remove the centrifugal fan entirely
>and mount a 90's 3800 radiator fan ($20 from a pick-a-part) to pull cooling
>air from under the car and exhaust through a deck lid propped up an inch or
>two. Has anyone ever tried that?



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