Electric cooling fan Options

[Ctrout]

I was chatting with a Porsche guy this past week talking about building an engine for the teener (I have the core now so I can get started). He said that it is possible to convert the 914 to electric cooling and get rid of the fan and shroud at the front of the engine. Anyone tried this before? Is it a reasonable mod?

[So.Cal.914]

I have seen a web site that had them. The stock fan is driven by the crank, not

likely to fail. The electric setup I saw had two elect. fans, one for each side. If

one or both fail it wouldn't take long for your engine to fry. But do what makes

you happy.

[Dominic]

I was thinking about trying this at one point, but common sense got the best of me and I decided to go with Jake's 914 DTM.
I would stick with the stock cooling set up or the new 914 DTM system since these are the only systems that have actually been through the R&D / testing and are proven to work well.

[JPB]

I have seen many of these Efan setups and concluded that anything that needs power to run will still use some HPs somewhere; crank belt, alternator belt ect. I prefer the 911 aftermarket cooling system which can be purchased for a four banger. Gene Burgman has some for T4 engines. Don't fix the tire if it dosen't have a flat though.

[Cap'n Krusty]

I have seen many of these Efan setups and concluded that anything that needs power to run will still use some HPs somewhere; crank belt, alternator belt ect. I prefer the 911 aftermarket cooling system which can be purchased for a four banger. Gene Burgman has some for T4 engines. Don't fix the tire if it dosen't have a flat though.

You seem to have Bernie Bergman and Gene Berg confused. The late Gene Berg was a T1 guy, selling race proven (and expensive) parts and engines. Bernie Bergman is a well known seller of substandard (and cheap) complete "performance" engines for T1s. He may sell some T4 stuff, as he's been known to jump on whatever bandwagon happens to be passing by. Like our friends at MM, he buys huge ads in the VW rags. Probably because he has to do so in order to remain in business. The Cap'n

[Brett W]

Most electric fans can't generate the pressure required to keep our engines cool. You can have plenty of flow without pressure, but you have to a pretty sizable motor to have pressure and flow. Keep that in mind.

Back in the IMSA days Wayne Baker's 914-4 ran three electric cooling fans from a 911 and it worked at race speeds but would not be acceptable for a street car.

[JeffBowlsby]

How timely. this fan just went ponto the PP 914 parts forum. New they are about $500 if I recall. Its a proven system. From the ad:

"This flat fan system is a must for RACING a 914 Type IV! The system was manufactured by Air Cooled Classics of Knoxville, TN. This system is electric, so it doesn't steal HP from the crank, it adds 10% HP over the upright 911 fan shroud type and 20% HP over a stock fan. The fan air output is 1250 cfm and directs more than air than the stock unit over the cylinders & heads. This system weighs 5 lbs and is 22lbs lighter than the stock fan assembly. Throttle response is greatly increased, and with a lightened flywheel its bye to your competition!"

[Brett W]

# 1 will run hot. Even after you mod the fan. NEXT.

[Ctrout]

Does that fan fit on top of the engine? Also, why will #1 run hot and how do you know that for certain?

[lapuwali]

This has been discussed, at length, before.

For a racing car used for short sprints, a battery can drive the fan with no alternator in total loss mode. This only works for 20-30 min at a time before the battery is drained, but that's usually enough to finish a typical sprint race. This will substantially reduce the power loss to drive the fan, esp. at high revs.

For a street car (or a long-distance racer), this obviously isn't practical. The alternator would have to be driven harder all the time, and driving an alternator to generate electricity to drive the fan is much less mechanically efficient than just driving the fan from the crank, so you'd actually use more power to drive the electric fan(s).

[Brett W]

I have seen head temp data with one of these fans. Also look at the way then fan turns. There are no air deflectors under this fan. What happens is the airflow under the fan tends to rotate away from #1 and towards #4. Then the corner near #4 will catch the rest of the air and keep it from ever getting back to #1.

[nein14]

There is a company Fiberwerks that mfg. them and had very good sucess on the track and said he had them also on a street car. Here is a pic of a completed motor .Whats nice about this set up is that it works with FI and carbs.
I have one of the last set they had , haven't installed them.