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MG MGA - Electric Fan - Needed ?

I posted an earlier question regarding overheating, and got some good tips. Barney's site:
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/cooling/cool_101.htm
pointed out a number of things that are an issue with my car (fan backwards, forward air tubes missing, felt pad on hood missing).

My car came with a second party electric fan that has stopped working. Should I repair/replace it or get rid of it ?

Thanks,
Chuck Mosher
Chuck Mosher

Chuck

I found that my car ran cooler with fan removed. It seems to block far too much air flow. My final fix was to recore the radiator with a 5 pass core.

Bob
Bob Wrenn

I found that when the fan was not running it made no difference in the temperature of my engine if I removed the fan or not. I run my fan only when traveling at non highway speeds and on very hot days. Then it does make a positive difference. Have a good day!

John
John Progess

A stopped fan can limit airflow if it is bad take it off. A running fan of too small a capacity also can limit the amount of air through a radiator. Too small of a fan can limit air flow at highway speed and cause overheating.
R J Brown

Chuck, definately take off that non-running air blocker. Then see how you do. I took off my fan so that it could be reinstalled. I agree though, they don't help at speed and seemed to have a negative effect. The right fan might help in traffic.
Steve
Steve Meline

Thanks, all, for the tips.

Got my "felt pad", forward air tubes, and radiator shroud in the mail yesterday, so will install those and remove the electric fan.

Also - I have a Judson supercharger that required moving the radiator forward a bit. I used some simple spacers that left a gap between the radiator and the original mounting surface, so this also left an air gap. I have the correct spacers now (solid aluminum bars), so will put those in also.

It should be air tight by the time I get done.
Cold front also brought temps down from 80s to 50s, so I may not notice anything till next summer !

-Chuck
Chuck Mosher

I would be interested to know if you guys removing electric fans had the "sucker" or "blower" types. I am about to instal a "sucker" type, which means I can remove the fan blades, giving an extra 2/3 BHP according to the experts. The electric fan will have an override switch.
Gary Lock

I also removed my electric fan. It was a blower, it was at the front of the radiator and only works well in heavy stop and go traffic at very high temperatures. Normally it always limited the airflow. With the fan removed the car runs much cooler, even no problems in stop and go. In addition, of course, I do all the other "cooling things" like felt pad, and opening the angle of the vertical struts of the grille.-

I think you are right, Gary, the only way I see, if generally necessary, is a sucker type of electric fan behind the radiator instead of the normal fan.

But don't forget: In the early days the cars didn't have any other fan, even the racing cars. So I think if there is any overheating you should find the real reasons and clear them.

Robert
Robert Mueller

Just finished up my R&R on cooling system. I ended up removing the radiator, turning the fan around the right way, installed "aluminum bar" spacers (for Judson) instead of my improvised ones, installed a short length of 4" forward air hose on the carb side of the engine, and the felt pad on the underside of the bonnet above the radiator.

I couldn't get the radiator shroud to work as I would have liked due to space limitations from the Judson installation, so left it out.

I found a loose fuse link for the electric fan, so it now works. Based on the split reaction from other owners on whether to leave it in or not, I decided to leave it on for now. OK, the truth is that while trying out the Judson spacers for fit, I had to wrestle with parts so long that by the time I got things to fit I lost enthusiasm for taking it out again and removing the fan.

The forward air hoses were a problem. Hardware from the grill and bonnet latch made it impossible to route the hose all the way forward to the grill. I would have had to squash the hose almost in half to fit, so ended up putting in a short piece to at least make it harder for hot air to recirculate past the opening.

On test runs I'm running at 190F now, rather than overheating. Last item to fix is an improper radiator cap that is too short for the long neck.

Thanks again to all for the tips and comments !

-Chuck
Chuck Mosher

This thread was discussed between 13/11/2005 and 23/11/2005

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