Credit for this one goes to my buddy fordfan who thought up the idea. Basically you just cut up one of the many OEM electric fans and mount it inside the stock fan shroud. The idea here is that the stock shroud fits the radiator perfectly and will distribute cool air better than without it. It also works well for anyone who likes to keep things stock looking or a little stealthy. If nothing else it's something to do with a stock shroud when you upgrade to an e-fan.
We used the Taurus fan because they're so easy to find. I test fitted a Lincoln Mark VIII fan and it fits even better but they're not very common around here (the one i got already burned up).
Here's the stock fan where i've started to cut it out. It's a good idea to remove the motor and fan blade so you don't hit them while cutting:
You don't have to be real perfect with the cut, since you won't see it. I used a jigsaw which really wasn't ideal but it was a lot faster than using a dremel:
Here's the finished cut out center (minus motor and blades):
Now, the way we mounted them was by using 3 inch bolts and 2 nuts on each one. It takes some measuring and you'll need to drill holes just right to make it work right so take your time. In the end it looks something like this:
I used the bolts with the flat head (or just flat head screwdriver headed bolts) and slid them in from the inside of the center section of the fan so they're nice and low profile and the blades won't hit them. Then i used a nut on each side of the shroud. I would recommend using nylon lock nuts or at least lock washers. The beauty of this is that the fan is solid inside and if you do it right it's not going anywhere. Then, if you end up burning out the fan motor you don't have to replace anything, just get another fan and swap the motors out and you're good to go.
Here's the in-car shots:
Be careful where you mount the fan so that 1) the blades aren't sitting against the radiator once installed, and 2) you have plenty of clearance between the fan motor and water pump pulley.
If i can get my hands on another Mark VIII van i'm going to swap it out, since the circle section is much larger and fills the shroud a lot better, but the Taurus fan has no problem cooling even a well modded engine so either one is good.
Hope this helps someone! Feel free to put this thread in the useful tech sticky.
We used the Taurus fan because they're so easy to find. I test fitted a Lincoln Mark VIII fan and it fits even better but they're not very common around here (the one i got already burned up).
Here's the stock fan where i've started to cut it out. It's a good idea to remove the motor and fan blade so you don't hit them while cutting:
You don't have to be real perfect with the cut, since you won't see it. I used a jigsaw which really wasn't ideal but it was a lot faster than using a dremel:
Here's the finished cut out center (minus motor and blades):
Now, the way we mounted them was by using 3 inch bolts and 2 nuts on each one. It takes some measuring and you'll need to drill holes just right to make it work right so take your time. In the end it looks something like this:
I used the bolts with the flat head (or just flat head screwdriver headed bolts) and slid them in from the inside of the center section of the fan so they're nice and low profile and the blades won't hit them. Then i used a nut on each side of the shroud. I would recommend using nylon lock nuts or at least lock washers. The beauty of this is that the fan is solid inside and if you do it right it's not going anywhere. Then, if you end up burning out the fan motor you don't have to replace anything, just get another fan and swap the motors out and you're good to go.
Here's the in-car shots:
Be careful where you mount the fan so that 1) the blades aren't sitting against the radiator once installed, and 2) you have plenty of clearance between the fan motor and water pump pulley.
If i can get my hands on another Mark VIII van i'm going to swap it out, since the circle section is much larger and fills the shroud a lot better, but the Taurus fan has no problem cooling even a well modded engine so either one is good.
Hope this helps someone! Feel free to put this thread in the useful tech sticky.
I used a '96 Crown Vic police electric fan, it's already a round housing...you can also find them on Grand Marquis too...it's the electric fan that compliments the engine driven one. I used a Mark VIII motor/blade because the CV motor was noisy.
