Has anyone put in an upgraded electric fan to replace or ad to OEM? I had a 09' Saleen S331 (Ford F150 platform) before the max and the stronger electric fan, made a huge noticeable difference over OEM. Any benefit for our set ups?

 

I never heard of any OEM fan being undersized or causing the engine to overheat. Fans when needed run on high speed, much faster than the earlier engine/belt drives. As such they do not run continuously. Cars are designed to run in extreme hot and cold conditions (tundra to desert) which you will probably never encounter. To me it is just a waste of money. In short don't fix something unless it is known to be broken.

 

Its not that its undersized or causing over heating, but the colder the engine bay the better. being that they don't run continuously I had my bigger fan on my truck wired to never shut off while the truck was running. It was also very helpful when I would take the truck to the track.. In between runs I would shut off the engine and blast the fan to cool off in between runs.

 

Daily driver vs. track use are two different applications.
I agree with what you say about under hood heat but your efforts would be better served by pushing or scavenging the under hood heat OUT instead of trying to push additional cooler air in.
The electric fan on my bracket car was switched so I could activate it after making my pass down the track, it didn't need to be on during the run because on the ram-air effect through the radiator. My hood hinges were also altered to prop the cowl area of the hood upward to let engine heat OUT.

 

so do you think it would be a benefit at all to have a more powerful fan blowing at all times? Or am I wasting time and money? Has anyone ever tried it?

 

I agree with Silberma^ Why even bother, your engine is designed to work well as configured and I assume you don't have an engine over-heating condition.

 

At speed, the cowl area is a high pressure area and air goes IN. That's why your A/C fresh air intake vents are there.

To the original poster, unless you plan to bracket race your car and need cooling between runs with the engine off, then don't bother with your fans. FWD applications are different than RWD applications with a clutch-type fan.

On a FWD car, the A/C fan will kick on as needed to draw air through the condenser, then the second fan has two speeds to draw enough air through to cool the engine while sitting in traffic. once you're at speed on the highway, there's enough airflow through the front of the car that the fans usually don't even come on unless you're driving through the Sahara.


Also, note these cars are designed to operate at certain temps. overcooling the engine causes loss in fuel efficiency, power, and increase in emissions. These cars have a thermostat in them, and they spend much more time than you'd think closed- especially when you overcool the radiator. In those cases, you're just wasting electricity (which means load on the alternator, which means horsepower) by cooling water that's only going to sit there and wait till the engine is hot enough to need it.

FWIW, my 240SX race car with NO fan and the stock radiator only goes above 210 when it's 90+ outside. when it's in the 60s and 70s, my water temps never go over 200. (well there is a fan, but it's wired to come on at 205 and that only happens on really hot days or when the car is stopped.)

 

they also have fans with the ability to push/pull air (not replacing stock fans, addition). How about pulling heat out of the engine bay instead of pushing in cold?

 

You miss interpreted my statement, the use of my electric fan was after the (at speed) pass and was used to blow hot air out during the return road drive and pit area until the hood could be opened.