In order to get more horsepower, I would like to convert my manual fan to an electric cooling fan. I have a 1987 Nissan 4X4 pick-up, 4 cyl, 5 speed. Where do I put the temperature sensor? Advice on how to do this mod will be greatly appreciated.
I would not recommend it. It will cool only slightly better at idle...maybe...but under load, it will not cool as good, especially if you're towing something or have a load in the bed. Your clutch fan only takes maybe 2-3 horsepower to run when the clutch is disengaged, which is almost all of the time. I've never heard my clutch engage the fan...only in the early morning when the silicone fluid is thick. After 5-10 seconds, the clutch disengages and I never hear from it again. I'd leave it be.
Drill and tap time! You could mount a quality(OEM type) fan switch in the radiator or thermostat housing......
Properly wired electric fans(along with correct fan choice) will not cause overheating issues. Only the hack jobs that most people do--will!
Measure radiator width/height and see if the fans from a Maxima/Altima/Stanza will fit. You could even wire the OEM high/low speed settings. Low for A/C use and high when water temp enables fan switch.
Because you are up north, the Efan shouldn't cycle much. People down south are probably better off leaving the mech fan alone since most E-fan conversions that I've seen were pathetic at best.
Remember to use relays/fuses/temp switch/quality wire/ and an override independent circuit breaker.
For more HP, get a decent catback and an intake. I also vaguely remember headers/freeflow cats...... for that application.
Fan choice is of utmost importance. Wiring is easy. But you can have the wrong fan running 100% of the time and have it still not cool the vehicle properly. In most cases, you just cannot find an electric fan that will pull as much as a mechanical clutch fan. Period.
My example is a V8-powered Grand Cherokee with a heavy duty cooling system pulling a 7000-lb trailer in the summer with the A/C on. Compared to that, anything a Nissan does is light duty. The point is, we attempted to gain more power by going to an electric fan, had a speed shop install it for us so we knew it was done right, but it still didn't work as well as the real fan -- so we put the real fan back on and were back to where we were when we started -- the correct setup and no loss in cooling.
It used to be, in the mid 90s, that the civilian Crown Victorias had a clutch fan and the police cruisers had electric fans. This was because of the extensive idling they see, and clutch fans aren't up to idling for hours on end. An electric fan will do that all day. At the same time, they don't pull as much CFM as a mechanical fan does, so you WILL lose cooling capacity with an electric fan over a clutch fan. Whether or not it's enough for you to tell, you'll have to find that out on your own. You may never use the truck to its capacity, but if you do, I'd highly recommend sticking with a mechanical fan.
When maximum cooling is required, you will always see mechanical fans vs. electric.
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