13 replies to this topic

[minimanjay]

Hi I have a kenlowe fan will it be efficient enough to run my 998 mini and where is the best place to mount it I understand it has to blow out of the engine bay I was wondering if it is possible to put it on the engine side of the rad not Wong side and blow the air tthru the rad same way a standard fan does is this possible ?

[maccers]

The one I have fits right onto the outside of the radiator and is held onto the radiator with plastic ties that go through the small gaps in the rad. Need to chop out the metal inner wing slats if you have them.

[cooperrodeo]

I don't rate those Kenlowe fans with the curly blades. They are effective at moving air when they are on but when they are off they present quite a considerable restriction to the air flowing through the radiator. Also, don't use that dreadful Kenlowe switch arrangement.

[minimanjay]

Basically can I get rid of the mechanical fan and just use the electric on a switch ?

[Cooperman]

Not a wise move as those fans are not designed to have a 100% duty-cycle. You wouldn't gain much and on a road car it's simply not worth the risk. Might be different on a race car where you might be running with no alternator and just using the charge in the battery to cool it for, say, 10 flat-out laps.

[minimanjay]

Ok copper man I have one of them four blades fans the ones that springy and back of at higher revs ?

[Cooperman]

Ok copper man I have one of them four blades fans the ones that springy and back of at higher revs ?

Is that a viscous fan? I guess they are fine.
For a 998 the standard 11-blade plastic fan is good at all revs as a 998 does not generate so much heat as a 1275.

[Carlos W]

I think I've got 3 of those 11 blade fans lying around!

Due to the fact a minis radiator is side mounted, an electric fan isn't a suitable replacement for the mechanical one.

If the cooling system is healthy it should be perfectly adequate unless you're driving a highly tuned car!

Edited by Carlos W, 25 July 2012 - 07:59 PM.

[minimanjay]

My engine spec is in the engine build bit of the forum fast road 998 ?

[Tupers]

Juts fit an 11 blade fan to the engine and a Kenlowe or other electric fan to the inner wing. We fitted this system to a 105bhp supercharged Mini and work perfectly. The same system should be more than up the job on a 998.

[donjarr]

Total cack that an electric fan is not suitable for a mini because the rad is side mounted. I'm not sure how many blades my Pacet electric fan has, but its mounted on the wheel side of the inner panel and I made a cowl to go round the rad so it only sucks air through the rad. I also have a alloy rad, but have found its so effect that I have blocked up the front grill. I'm running a 1380 putting out 126 bhp at the flywheel and even on the hottest day in traffic it never overheats. In the winter the car warms up so much quicker because the stupid mechanical fan isn't needlessly sucking all the hot air out the engine bay, and in the summer when stuck in traffic and you need the fan the most the electric one comes on when needed unlike the mechanical one which just ticks over while the temp gauge climbs higher and higher. Not to mention blow through fans are far less effective than suck through because the air has to be pushed through the tiny rad grill holes which in themselves cause resistance and turbulence to the air as it all tries to get through such a confirmed area. Prior to fitting it I did some experiments with a chum and we put a smoke generator by the grill and the mechanical fan sucked it in ok, but swirled a lot around the engine bay because of the turbulence created by trying to push the air through, where the electric fan fitted on the outside of the inner wing acted more like an extractor and just sucked the smoke straight out. As for control you need a proper adjustable probe type so you can set the fan thermostat to come on at a set temperature, plus a digital thermometer to set the fan thermostat to the correct temp. As for lasting my fans been fitted for ten years and still works and I even fitted a light to the dash board to see when it comes on, and when you look and see the temp gauge hit 95 degrees on comes the light till its dropped to 93 or 94.

Personally I would never go back to the mechanical one.

[Midas Mk1]

Its really, really daft to get rid of the mechanical fan, as said, fit an electric one to the inner wing.

And to quote above, I challenge you to do L2b on a warm day on just an electric fan with a normal rad, as per the op's spec....

[monkey8414]

So if an electric fan is fitted to the wing side of the rad it should suck the hot air out of the engine bay rather than blowing cool air into the rad? and after reading all the comments about the standard fan i will be fixing mine back on, i was unsure whether or not the 2 fans would work together or just fight against each other

[Cooperman]

I have a 6-blade export mechanical fan in the normal position and a Kenlowe manually switched electric fan under the wing on my 1310 cc 'S'. Works very well. Temp gauge is a capillary-type which is very accurate.