I had heard about newer fans that are available for various engine so I did some research, My brother turned me on to a fan manufacturer that make custom fans have FRP blades and a hub that will allow setting the blades at different angles.

My OEM fan is an 8 blade all metal fan weighs about 16 lbs--HEAVY--, 24" diameter, blades are 6"X6", set at about 30 degrees. That means that the center of the fan 12" is just doing nothing but adding weight.

I had noted with previous tuft test that the air thru the enter of the radiator was minimal compared to the outer edges. I added outside puller fans to assist air flow and it did make some difference.

The new fan has 9 blades with a true airfoil design tapered width blades, near the hub is 5.5" and at the outer edges is 4" the blade length is 8". Blade angle is set at 30 degrees also. Total fan weight is 7.5 lbs. Diameter is same, 24" .

Testing the old vs.new fan using air speed measurements revealed an over all improvement of air flow by about 10-15% BUT more significantly, the airflow across the radiator was much more balanced, the airflow thru the center increased by 80%. Noise of the new fan is lower then the old fan, probably because of the airfoil design, lower noise means less HP lost to noise making function and probably increased efficiency..

I will do a write up about this with the airflow numbers later. The true test of course, is running thru the higher elevations of Nevada desert at 70-75 MPH and 100+ degrees outside to see if this has improved the cooling. The nice part is if I need more airflow, I just take the fan apart and reset the blade angle. It was a bit of a PITA to get the new fan installed as getting my big hands on the other side of the fan (between the fan and the radiator with a wrench) to tighten the retaining bolts. The offset of the new fan is a bit closer to the radiator so I may machine a new spacer, I could come out 1" before the blades are outside of the shroud.

quote:

My brother turned me on to a fan manufacturer that make custom fans have FRP blades and a hub that will allow setting the blades at different angles.

Hmmmm.................I wonder if they have a fan that would work on a P30.

I think all they would need is the center pilot hole/bolt circle, diameter, # of blades, blade width and length, blade pitch, offset. They have a catalog of common applications, I will get the guys name again and pass it on to you if your are interested.

Sure, I'm always interested in a fiddle that will improve something. My present concern is trans temp, but a bigger cooler will put more heat into the radiator air, so a better fan would be good.

Here ya go Bill!, I got this product thru a distributor that my brother uses for his trucking operation but you can deal directly with this company. Pricey but I think it was worth the cost and effort.

Multi-wing

I might get a chance to check it out in 2 weeks, our Church group is going to Mexico for a house building party and I may go. Hopefully the south AZ desert will be warm.

Merry Christmas everyone

OK, Thanks for the link. Got it bookmarked. That is where I will go if my added trans cooler puts too much hot air into the radiator.

I guess I can't ask if it is quieter, since you can't hear anything up front, anyway.

Yes it is much quieter, even thou I can't hear it in front while driving, during testing it was obviously better.

Where I noticed the difference was when driving with the window open and along side of a center barrier, the reflected sound is lower with the new on.

Does anyone have the link to the fan manufacturer? I have a 5.9 that I'd like to see run cooler.

Thanks and happy holidays!

Rick

Here ya go Richard,

Multi-Wing

You probably have the same fan or close to mine, I will get all the fan parameters from the distributor that I got mine from and pass it along to you. The nice thing about this fan is it can be set for various flow rates later. I am testing this fan this coming summer and if it is good leave it alone, if not I can change the pitch to get what I want.

I have long suspected that my original fan is a carry-over from the earlier 5.9L 190 engines with a 4 speed and carried much higher RPM, hence more air at cruise.