Electric Cooling Fan Install

[HealeyRick]

The Big Healey cooling system is quite adequate when used according to its design parameters ... 50 degree damp, foggy spring days in England. Add some additional heat from a typical stateside summer day, or worse yet a warmed over V-8 motor, and you'll find yourself spending some nervous moments staring at your Smiths dual gauge.

When doing my motor swap, I had added cooling rows to the recored radiator and installed a Texas Kooler mechanical fan. And on the possible eventuality that wouldn't be enough and I'd need an auxiliary electric fan, I wired in a 130 amp alternator.

My set-up cooled fine when the car was in motion, but began to overheat in traffic or at idle. The mechanical fan has a couple of problems. First, when you most need it, it's loafing along at idle. And second, because of the vee-shaped crossmember of the chassis, the fan only covers about 2/3 of the radiator core. And that crossmember also makes it tough to design a fan schroud that will cover the entire rad core.

So the search was on for a suitable auxiliary electric fan. When it comes to engines, I subscribe to "There's no substitute for cubic inches" theory. And when it comes to fan motors, "There's no substitute for CFMs." Trouble is, putting a big Cubic Ft/Min fan in a Healey is like putting in a big cubic inch engine ... there are packaging issues ... not much extra space.

What finally produced the best numbers was this 14" Maradyne fan: https://www.thewedgeshopstore.com/products/Maradyne-14in-Electric-Fan.html It puts out over 2000 cfms, draws low amps and is only 3.32" deep. And at 14", it will cover just about the entire front of the core to push air through:

I used some drilled stock to make some brackets that mount to the top and bottom bolts on the radiator sides
and had to push out the cross brace to get sufficient clearance for the motor: https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/u...Hack#Post856756 You should also undo the three bolts holding the shroud to the upper crosspiece as they are likely to pull through when jacking out the crossbrace. Reinstall after you've established the appropriate clearance.

I wired in a Derale adjustable fan controller: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/DER-16759/ , set to kick the aux. fan in at 190 degrees.

The Maradyne fan can be used as a pusher from in front of the radiator or a puller from behind. It comes set up as a puller and to make it work as a pusher, you need to flip the fan blade over AND reverse the polarity of the fan motor wiring. The instructions kind of overlooked the second part and I was less than happy when I first installed the fan and watched the temp climb to 230 degrees. I was even less happy when I walked to the front of the car and felt the tremendous airflow BLOWING OUT THROUGH THE GRILLE! After taking everything apart and fixing that little problem, the fan now triggers at 190 and blows plenty of cool air through the rad and it seems to be sitting there pretty well at idle. This is what it looks like installed:

Hope this is helpful to those of you fighting overheating.

 

[Lin]

Rick,
Did you keep the mechanical fan, or is the electric fan a replacement rather than a supplement?

Lin

 

[HealeyRick]

Lin,

So far I've kept the mechanical fan. The car was cooling fine on just the mechanical as I was driving at speeds over 30 mph. The electric is just to act as an auxiliary once speeds start to drop and the temp climbs. I've read differing opinions as to whether a pusher fan installed with a puller will "fight" each other, but so far it seems to be working ok with both Time will tell.

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Rick,
Got a pusher fan on my 100M along with a larger capacity radiator and Texas cooler fan. Have not had to use it until this recent awful heat wave and then only if I get stuck in traffic or stop lights. Then I turn it on - set up a toggle switch under the dash - and the pusher will keep it from running hot. But if not switched on in this 95+ heat, engine will start to creep up from its normal 160 to wards 190 or 200 quickly if stuck at a stand still. Think the larger radiator and Texas cooler work great under normal circumstances.
Regards,
Mike

 

[Healey_Z]

Hey Rick, looks like a practical set up. I have pretty much the same thing on my ride, with the fan tied to a correct looking toggle.

 

[HealeyRick]

The Derale controller has the capability to be wired for a toggle override and I thought about using it, but since every car I've driven that was manufactured after about 1970 seems to activate it's thermostatic fan without the aid of a toggle, I decided to skip it.