Electric Fan

Here in southern Arizona the hot summer days and slow traffic are a real challenge for electric fans. I tried a couple of different ones that were supposedly rated at over 2000 cfm which, in theory, were supposed to keep things cool, but, no luck. Finally, I asked Bob at Century Auto Air Conditioning here in Tucson what he would recommend and he said that the electric fans used in the 6-cylinder Ford Taurus and the ones used on the later V8 Lincolns were just what the doctor ordered. I hopped on eBay and bought one for $35 plus shipping. Here are the results:

Here in southern Arizona the hot summer days and slow traffic are a real challenge for electric fans. I tried a couple of different ones that were supposedly rated at over 2000 cfm which, in theory, were supposed to keep things cool, but, no luck. Finally, I asked Bob at Century Auto Air Conditioning here in Tucson what he would recommend and he said that the electric fans used in the 6-cylinder Ford Taurus and the ones used on the later V8 Lincolns were just what the doctor ordered. I hopped on eBay and bought one for $35 plus shipping. Here are the results:
	This is a '91-'95 3.8L Taurus fan and it comes with it's own shroud which fit very nicely over the '65 4-core radiator and supposedly moves 3800 cfm. I had to fab up a couple of simple brackets for mounting. The fan has two speeds and measures about 22-7/8" wide X 18-7/8" tall X 4-7/8 deep. If you don't want to mess around with eBay or junk yards you can buy a new assembly at your local auto parts store. A Dorman 620-101 runs about $140 (circa 2007). I bought my first fan used - a Ford product - and the motor froze up after a couple years. The motor is supposed to be placeable but I couldn't find one. They used 6 different motors on Taurus in those years so my luck of finding one to fit was slim - actually none! You gotta love Ford!
	I used the stock shroud mounting flanges as mounting points for the fan and had to drill a couple of extra holes on each side to line up properly with the fan.
	I bolted the fan shroud directly to the flange on the driver's side .......
	...and the fabricated brackets to the flange on the passenger's side.
	It's very important that the fan shroud not actually touch the radiator core. Trim off any area of the shroud that touches. Get it close but no touchy! There is a possibility that it will wear a small hole in the radiator and cause all the coolant to run out on the ground - don't ask me how I know!! This fan really does a nice job. It keeps the temperature gauge under 200°F on the hottest summer day. One thing to be aware of: this fan draws a lot of current - 40 amps, I'm told. I upgraded to a 100-amp alternator and ran a nice 10 ga wire to the fan relay. Since I didn't take a lot of thought when doing my installation I have it wired to run on the high speed only. Some day I just might try to make both speeds work, but that's another project.

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