Getting rid of the fixed fan EA81

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:27 am

I have the evil power sucking fixed fan in the brumby. I also have a couple of slim electric fans. What do I need to do to replace the fan? Rip it off and whack the lecco in and power it off the second leccy fan in the brumby? Just wondering if anyone has done this before too and if it is actually worth my time?

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:23 am

I don't think the clutch fans really suck much power at all. A thin thermo fan would be a downgrade cooling wise unless its a very powerful one.
Your best off just replacing the other standard electric fan with a newer one - but again, only if its a more powerful one.
Electric thermo fans are pretty hard pressed to blow more of a gail than the clutch fans.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:16 pm

[ATTACH]530[/ATTACH]It's not a clutch fan, it's fixed!

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:30 pm

EA81's are no ball of fire trust me , prove it to yourself by removing the fan and going for a short run . In factory form the US type EFI and turbo ones were as good as they got .

Such a pity EA82's were a SOHC cam box conversion to the basic EA head .
Had they been more like the SOHC EJ's and with a single belt like EJ's they would have been more compact and a better fit in MY's .

Cheers .

90brumby · Post by **90brumby** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:17 pm

does this fan really take a lot of power???????

ive got 1 on my brumby n if it takes power im gonna llook into changin it ive got a few electric fans here im sure i can make 1 fit

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:22 pm

Aything that converts mechanical energy to something else (airflow, noise, heat etc) uses power. The fan, the water pump, the oil pump, the alternator, the tyres etc etc etc

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:31 pm

To actually answer the question rather then bitching about the physics:

You can get a tensioner pulley from an EA81 that had air con so that it doesn't have the fan mount sticking out, other than that you just need to wire up the second fan, I would rewire it so that both fans run off a relay, I found that the standard wiring struggled with just one fan, running a second fan made them both run slowly and the wires VERY warm, using a relay made a significant improvement in the fan speed and temperature stability.

Jordan.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:14 pm

In comparison, if both the electrical and mechanical fan could push the same amount of air, they both need to pull the same amount of power. Being mechinal or electrical, it still has to come from the engine.

The only advantage the electrical has is that it is off and not using power during most of your driving and only comes on when you are pulled up/moving slowly

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:44 pm

I reckon chucking my clutch fan on the sh*t heap was a good decision - engine more responsive & no more ea falcon-esque whine. Wiring twin thermos up to be integrated with A/C and to remain on with my turbo timer was complex & time consuming to say the least though

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:40 pm

my Brumby (the red one anyway) has no fixed fan so uses two electric ones. This may have been part of the aftermarket or at the dealer air cond installation stage. The second fan was wired in to kick in with the air. Since deleting the A/c i still run the two fans, the A/C as a manual over ride only and the other is triggered just above half way on gauge and I have another manual switch for him too. It is good at standstill coz they can draw more air than a fixed fan will at idle, and have the added advantage of knowing before the engines sensors do that it is going to require cooling soon, as on a hot day in traffic at a stand still or about to climb a mountain.

subanator · Post by **subanator** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:24 pm

steptoe wrote:my Brumby (the red one anyway) has no fixed fan so uses two electric ones. This may have been part of the aftermarket or at the dealer air cond installation stage. The second fan was wired in to kick in with the air. Since deleting the A/c i still run the two fans, the A/C as a manual over ride only and the other is triggered just above half way on gauge and I have another manual switch for him too. It is good at standstill coz they can draw more air than a fixed fan will at idle, and have the added advantage of knowing before the engines sensors do that it is going to require cooling soon, as on a hot day in traffic at a stand still or about to climb a mountain.

When I had my old MY is had A/C, and the standard fitment is 2x elec fans.
I also ran the non A/C one with a manual overide, tip is that through the relay is to run from radiator thermo switch to ground to operate, as the thermo switch (single pole) grounds, where the L Series one is a 2x pole and can be a better replacement due to better contact surface area.
The reason the A/C fitted ones had 2x elec fans was to get the compressor pulleys and belts to fit in front of the radiator.

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:40 pm

since the thermo/clutchless/clutch fans are only going to be effective at low road/offroad speed then I think it's a good plan. All a fan has to do is draw air over the radiators when the speed isn't high enough. At speeds over 40km/h or so the fixed fan robs you of more power than it's worth.

redskin · Post by **redskin** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:06 pm

Ben wrote:I have the evil power sucking fixed fan in the brumby. I also have a couple of slim electric fans. What do I need to do to replace the fan? Rip it off and whack the lecco in and power it off the second leccy fan in the brumby? Just wondering if anyone has done this before too and if it is actually worth my time?

Yes, l flicked the fixed fan and have been running twin thermos for 4 months.
l bought one of the slim curved thermo fans, (12"), off ebay and wired it up as per the instructions. Positive wire fused direct to ignition, neg to body/earth so it starts up as l turn on the ignition. l have retained the original electric fan as the secondary, but have bypassed the original wiring to the thermoswitch with 15 amp wire through a fused 30amp relay to a switch.
Is it worth doing? if your radiator is good, yes, l only need to turn on the secondary occasionally in heavy traffic or similarly on very hot days.
Just to be clear, at the same time l also fitted a New radiator and high flow thermostat but the car was tried with both set ups and ran alot cooler especially in traffic with the current set up.

subgiraffe · Post by **subgiraffe** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:54 pm

A more important reason to dump the fixed fan is that you can't turn it off when attempting water crossing -- one sure way to spray water all over the electrics and ruin the radiator when attempting a water-crossing a little too quickly

I'm sure someone's got a photo of that red/silver MY doing a watercrossing like that in Mundaring

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:11 pm

subgiraffe wrote:A more important reason to dump the fixed fan is that you can't turn it off when attempting water crossing...

Good point.

BBoypebs · Post by **BBoypebs** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:01 pm

When i ditched the fixed fan i used a A/C fan so it would bolt straight up to the radiator and it clears the old fan mount by heaps.

Then i used a aftermarket thermo switch to run both fans at once and sourced the power from the battery.

The power increase is realy noticable off road.

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:04 pm

Yes its worth it and you should, as already mentioned, use relays with power direct from the battery. On the EA engines you free up alot of usable power, you wont dyno it to find you've gained 600hp but you will notice it offroad especially in sand.