<VV> Straight talk on electric fans RE: Fan HP

[Jim Burkhard]

Matt -

Are these real STREETABLE cars or purpose-built limited-use
autocross/drag/hillclmb vehicles that only need to run for 2 minutes at a
time?  I've seen a couple electric fan Vairs at recent conventions, but they
were only vehicles that need operate for a couple of minutes at a time. It's
a whole entirely different story to do a car that must operate for hours at
a time continuously in the real world @ 70 mph on a 90F day.

On the cars I've seen, there has also been little attempt to do real
engineering of the fan itself -- they usually just graft a tiny axial fan
onto the upper shroud and brag that they "figgered out" a way to do an
electric fan Corvair.  Anyone who wants to do such a task on a "real world
car" must first duplicate (or better) the air handling capacity of the stock
system, THEN do it at much less mechanical hp (because electric fans have
another energy conversion loss the mechanical fans don't). Oh yeah, this
high hp electric motor will need to be light.  How much more will it weigh
over what it replaces?

Personally, while I think an electric fan on a 2 minute  event car might
have some merit, on a real world car or a roadracing car, it's just plain
silly jousting at windmills.  What are you really trying to accomplish &
why?  The stock fan works fine (properly adjusted it will not throw belts
all the way up to the stock redline and more) , except for maybe the very
high rpm road race guys. They wisely engineer ducted belt driven axial fans
and I think that works out pretty well. 

Jim Burkhard


> -----Original Message-----
> From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org 
> [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of 
> UltraMonzaWest at aol.com
> Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 1:17 AM
> To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Subject: Re: <VV>Fan HP
> 
> 
> In a message dated 6/25/05 9:37:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> pp2 at 6007.us 
> writes:
> 
> 
> > Understand that the elecric fan concept has probably been beaten to 
> > death
> > ************************************************************
> 
> Come to Portland and there will be 2...maybe 3  with electric 
> fans!   One's 
> Dual Turbo'd..from Reno!  The other is owned by one of Kurt Walls 
> friends....he's running NOS!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Matt Nall
> 65/66/69/DB/BT
> Coos Bay, Ore.
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