The Flex-a-lite 150 Black Magic has been all over this forum for years as the one to get, but...

I measured the radiator and got 12 1/2" x 22". The Flex-a-lite 310/320 series is a perfect fit to the radiator. It's 1800 CFM twin fan design.

Am I missing something ? Is the fan supposed to cover the oil cooler as well ? which changes the dimensions to more what the 150 is.


Hmmm...

 

I don't believe the efans are designed to cover the oil filter.

I've also heard from some more frugal people that the stock cooling fan from an earlier series ford taurus works great as an efan.

 

Yes. And that 1800 CFM is not enough for our heat generating beasts.

 

Doc, I am concerned about that, but I have been running 10 years with the stock clutch fan and NO SHROUD and no overheating problems. I do have a modded radiator, so I attribute some of the efficiency to that, but the 1800 CFM with a shroud would certainly do better than my current situation. Agree ?

When I gave the measurements above, I was hoping that someone could explain how the Black Magic 150 could possibly fit since it is wider and taller than our radiators on SA's and FB's. Anybody ?

 

Stock Fans pull a ridiculous amount of air. Well over 4500 CFM. That's why they are still one of the best ways to keep things cool. I agree 1800 CFM won't do diddly squat on a hot day.

Don't use the Black Magic 150. Use the new Black Magic 180SX fan. It's the perfect size for a 1st gen radiator - covers it completely. It's also 3300 CFM and has "S" shaped blades. Very quiet - but pulls alot of air. Works great on my car - even in South Florida heat.

Only modification you'll need to do is trim a little of the shroud around the lower radiator hose connecton.

 

I don't think any of those after market fans can keep up with my cheap old junkyard taurus fan!

Biggest draw back on the single e-fans is the lack of a shroud. IMO the shroud is the most important part of getting air distributed evenly over the rad. W/O one you are only running at partial efficiency. Why try to compensate with a high dollar super fan when all you need is a shroud and a junkyard fan? I don't even use the high setting on my fan. It's unnecessary. I'm running a radiators.com radiator ($99) And with the fan on with ac idling at 750 on a 90 * day I still sit under halfway on the temp gauge.

Heres the install w/ pics. Best bang for the buck IMO.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...&highlight=fan

 

The Fb's with the Beehive cooler have larger(taller) radiators in them. And no I would not feel comfortble with a 1800CFM fan with a shroud, just not enough even with a modded radiator.
Directfreak, thanks for the heads up on the new fan, sounds like a good one.
The fieros and alot of the others have their built in shrouds on them as you will see in the 1st picture a GSL with a Fiero fan.
The Sa's have the wider(more cores), shorter radiator as in picture 2.
The Gsl-Se has the same witdh and height as the ones with the beehive coolers. And you can see that the fan shroud covers a large area of the oil cooler on the Sa.
And I always state the same thing. Use redlines watter wetter. Also make sure you have the engine undertray underneath. This also is vented to feed air into the engine compartment. And keep the engine free of excessive buildup of grease and oil.
1st picture again is a 83 GSL with the Fiero fan, as you can see it's quite large.
Because the engine is in the back the radiator is in the front with the fan on the Fiero. It's t his reason the Fiero fan is so powerful.
2nd picture is a 79 Sa with the shorter/thicker radiator. Notice how the shroud extends down to the oil cooler. Because our engines cool down alot from the oil that is feed thru the cooler needs to have more air drawn thru it. On the Gsl-Se the cooler is in front of the radiator at the bottom portion.

3rd picture is a 85 Gsl-Se.

 

I personally like my Escort fan a lot. Has the S blade design and seems to move a lot of air. Has a shroud that almost exactly fits the stock tall style rad. The only drawback is the shroud has a cutout section right at the lower rad hose thats bigger than needed to clear it. I'll get some pics in a little while. Best part of all, it was free for me to get and it looks better than the Fiero fan. The fan motor is a pancake design so its more sleek looking.

 

Hey, you casing on my Fiero fan? I'll let you know that I spent $15.00 for that fan.
Did you see the blade size on the Fiero's though, huge. And yes it flows more air then the escort's.

 

For those non-junkyard items, you can go with a 16" derale and that should flow with no issues. It covers both radiator and under coil cooler. I used that in my other RX-3. With my FB's, I went with Fiero fan to cut down in my expenses per "wifey's" order.

And yes, RX7doctor loves brokeback mountain.

 

You meant to say to cover your gambling losses,lol.
Yes, i can sit here up on Brokeback mountain and brew my Moon-shine all day long, then go out and shoot me some ground squirrels for lunch.

 

Wacky is on break right now. Installing my motor in my newly acquired RX-3. sooner or later, I will have an extra FB to junk. thats in additon to Nolucks's GSL-SE.

 

I don't get why you all have such a problem with overheating? I've got a cheap radiators.com rad. and a shrouded taurus fan on low. It's more than enough. Maybe your just trying to salvage the original radiators or something? Not sure why? It was only 100 bucks for a new one.

I had to install a thermostatic switch just to get my car to run at operating temp. I had the fan relays rigged to the IGN. at first but it would run to cool (130* or so). Now I have the fan switch set to come on around 190ish. My MPG went up around 5mpg just by letting the car heat up to operating temps. I had to put a alum sheet covering half the rad so I could get it up to temp in the winter here. I'm even running 100% coolant now. I was 50/50 with distilled water last summer.

I just don't see the prob...

 

No-one stated they had a problem with cooling.
David just wants to run a adequate sized electric fan that will work in "ALL" temps.
During winter months you are going to run colder, that's a given. When you get into warmer weather or stop and go traffic then you want to make sure that the fan you are using will do the job.
And you might want to re-think your 100% Anti-Freeze solution. 50/50 or 60/40 is the maximum that you want to run.

 

this is a little off topic, but just for some of you guys that are running an efan with a seperate switch, using a switch with an LED light to show it in the on position will help you remember to shut it down once you get out of the car without killing your battery

 

In case there was some confusion...

The 180SX fan I described DOES have a built in shroud, and is very narrow compared to the old Black Magic 150.



(Click on picture for link)

 

The switch can be hook-up directly to an ignition switch, meaning not running = off. Thats how mine is done so I dont forget to shut it off.

 

I'm sure I'm not pulling over 1800 CFM with the taurus fan on low speed. And without some alternator mods you can't even run it on high. ( I happen to have those done too ) I Was just saying that with a new rad. and a good tight fan shroud fit I'm sure 1800 cfm is pleanty to cool these little buggers. Unless my car is some sort of oddity.

Why not? I can't think of a reason not to run 100%? Unless it's hard on the water pump or something?

If you car isn't over heating why not run 100%? You will get less garbage built up in your motor and radiator. I use distilled water anyway but I think half the people having problems are tying to use a OEM orig. radiator that has had hose water in it for 20-25 years and the rad. is probably so built up with mineral deposits it can't cool properly. SO yes of course they are having cooling issues. And they'll need some kind of mega fan to cool the car down. (I.E. factory clutch fan)

We'll see once summer rolls around if the 100% coolant mix is to much. I just happened to pull my manifold about amonth ago and when all my coolant rushed out I topped it off with pure coolant. I didn't have a coolant tester and a I wanted to make darn sure I didn't freeze this winter. So far so good. As stated above I still had to fab up a block off plate to keep the car at reasonable temps.

:cheers:

 

Are you running the factory temp T-stat?
And you did not lose all of your coolant, only a small portion comes out of the manifold so you still probably have a fair amount of watter in the system which is good.
And when hot temps come around in summer time I hope that you do not rely on the low speed operation of that fan or we will see you posting again on how to rebuild a motor.
Included a link to our most recent discussion on cooling systems and the use of Coolant/Anti-freeze.
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/things-look-if-overheating-598729/

 

So I'm not ruinning 100% coolant. But check out a cooling system that has been running 100% VS a 50/50 Esp since most people run hose water in there cars. I'm just saying it's alot cleaner and if your not over heating or freezing... Why not. That is some good info on that link though. Not sure how I missed it. I had no idea pure coolant has a higher freezing point than coolant and water. Seems odd to me.... In FLA I would run 100% in all my cars just to keep the coolant system clean. But never had to worry about freezing. And oddly enough never had overheating problems either. Point taken...



Yes I'm running the factory t-stat. I went through several autoparts store models as well. The factory T-stat is the only one that let the car get up to 150*ish I used a raytech temp gun to get these readings because I figured I had a bad temp probe or something. Ever since the new rad install I can't seem to get my car to run hot enough. heres the story....
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=thermostat
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=thermostat
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=thermostat
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=thermostat


And I have already been running my car in 90*+ temps this last summer with my fan on low and my car would still run 170* sitting and well under when cruising. That is the reason I bought the thermostatic switch. SO I could keep the fan off until it is needed. So when sitting at lights the temp comes up 180-190 depending if I have the AC on or not. I'm happy with it now...

 

short radiator


tall radiator

 

I just noticed the Flex-a-lite application PDF recommends two (2) 108's for the 1979-1982 RX-7's. Hmmm. Those are 10" 800 CFM fans. I'll pass on that.

The best thing I've gained from this thread is to realize that the fan covers the rad and oil cooler, so that explains how the 150 or 180, etc. can work with my short radiator. I understand that trimming the shroud for the radiator line on the lower passenger side is not a problem ? Doesn't interfere with the path of the blade ?

BTW. On our cars being heat generating beasts... how do we compare to boingers ( I know our exhaust temp is much much hotter) ?

 

Thanks, Wacky.

BTW, what did you use to trim the shroud? Was it a steak knife.

 

lol.

 

Ding ding ding!! We got a winner!!! a steak knife. lol.
I paid extra $1 for that item when I bought the fiero fan. I used it for my mock-up as I didnt want to ruin a good set.