FYI FORD MustangSteve's Ford Mustang Forum / Picked this Spal fan to go with for cooling

**Posted by RTM** 9/16/2024 8:49 AM

Since I don’t have the clearance for the contour fan I had to go back and look at single fans again. Looking at this model Spal brushless fan. Says it’s flush mount, do I still need to build a shroud or try it without a shroud? I’ve read the curved blades aren’t as noisy as straight blades.

**Posted by MS** 9/16/2024 9:16 AM

It seems to me that if you don’t have a shroud covering the entire radiator core, then you are not utilizing the entire radiator.

**Posted by RTM** 9/16/2024 9:48 AM

MS wrote:
It seems to me that if you don’t have a shroud covering the entire radiator core, then you are not utilizing the entire radiator.

That’s true. I need to remeasure the clearance I have to see how thick a shroud can be made.

**Posted by RTM** 9/17/2024 7:07 AM

Found this on summit racing. Looks like it may fit my application.

**Posted by Steve69** 9/17/2024 7:27 AM

I was able to trim my Taurus fan down quite a bit so the fan was about 1/2 from the radiator. You might be disappointed in the SPAL fans performance.

**Posted by rpm** 9/17/2024 7:49 AM

Spal huh? I don't know how their fans perform, but I had their power window kits for a while until one failed. Could not find another anywhere as they apparently discontinued making then.

**Posted by BobE** 9/17/2024 7:51 AM

RTM - regarding the shroud, this appears to be for the original width radiator. I thought you were going with the 24" wide radiator?

**Posted by RTM** 9/17/2024 8:52 AM

BobE wrote:
RTM - regarding the shroud, this appears to be for the original width radiator. I thought you were going with the 24" wide radiator?

Based on the ACP core opening measurements this shroud almost fits that opening perfectly.

Steve69, I never thought about trimming the contour fan down. I don’t think it would take much to trim it down to get the clearance I need. Maybe I’ll buy one from a pull it yard and see what I can do to make it fit.

Glad I posted here. I really was about to order the fan. Lol

**Posted by RTM** 9/17/2024 8:54 AM

If I recall I need at least a 1/4 more of clearance.

**Posted by TKOPerformance** 9/17/2024 9:23 AM

The fan doesn't necessarily have to be centered if moving it up/down or to one side gives you the clearance you need. Building a shruud is pretty easy. I made mine from 1/8" aluminum plate and a perimeter frame made from 1"x1" angle. 4 more pieces of 1x1 used to make mounting legs, and its riveted together. I painted it semi gloss back and it pretty much disappears against the black radiator.

**Posted by RTM** 9/17/2024 10:13 AM

TKOPerformance wrote:
The fan doesn't necessarily have to be centered if moving it up/down or to one side gives you the clearance you need. Building a shruud is pretty easy. I made mine from 1/8" aluminum plate and a perimeter frame made from 1"x1" angle. 4 more pieces of 1x1 used to make mounting legs, and its riveted together. I painted it semi gloss back and it pretty much disappears against the black radiator.

If I use a single fan then I have roughly 5” of clearance by the water pump pulley. For the price of the shroud from Summit, I figured it would be the easiest way to go and not far from what I would spend in material anyways.

It’s the dual Contour fan that is my issue. It is roughly 3.3” thick and it’s right at the location of the tensioner on my motor. I think the blue bowl is roughly 3”.

**Posted by TKOPerformance** 9/17/2024 12:28 PM

RTM wrote:
TKOPerformance wrote:
The fan doesn't necessarily have to be centered if moving it up/down or to one side gives you the clearance you need. Building a shruud is pretty easy. I made mine from 1/8" aluminum plate and a perimeter frame made from 1"x1" angle. 4 more pieces of 1x1 used to make mounting legs, and its riveted together. I painted it semi gloss back and it pretty much disappears against the black radiator.

If I use a single fan then I have roughly 5” of clearance by the water pump pulley. For the price of the shroud from Summit, I figured it would be the easiest way to go and not far from what I would spend in material anyways.

It’s the dual Contour fan that is my issue. It is roughly 3.3” thick and it’s right at the location of the tensioner on my motor. I think the blue bowl is roughly 3”.

Ah, I would just do that then. You can probably sell the Contour fans and offset your costs too.

**Posted by RTM** 9/17/2024 1:04 PM

TKOPerformance wrote:
RTM wrote:
TKOPerformance wrote:
The fan doesn't necessarily have to be centered if moving it up/down or to one side gives you the clearance you need. Building a shruud is pretty easy. I made mine from 1/8" aluminum plate and a perimeter frame made from 1"x1" angle. 4 more pieces of 1x1 used to make mounting legs, and its riveted together. I painted it semi gloss back and it pretty much disappears against the black radiator.

If I use a single fan then I have roughly 5” of clearance by the water pump pulley. For the price of the shroud from Summit, I figured it would be the easiest way to go and not far from what I would spend in material anyways.

It’s the dual Contour fan that is my issue. It is roughly 3.3” thick and it’s right at the location of the tensioner on my motor. I think the blue bowl is roughly 3”.
Ah, I would just do that then. You can probably sell the Contour fans and offset your costs too.

I haven’t bought anything yet so I can go either direction. I really like the Contour dual fan setup so I can turn one fan on when the AC comes on. Plus I think the contour fan is 4,000 plus where the Spsl I posted is only 2400cfm.

**Posted by 6sally6** 9/17/2024 1:42 PM

RTM wrote:
If I recall I need at least a 1/4 more of clearance.

Can't ya shift the contour side-to-side a dab to miss the pull-ese ?
(Sorta like the Tupperware shroud though !!)
I don't have 'a-dawg-in-this-fight' butt.....seems like Tubo & friends used the contour set-up...
6sally6

**Posted by 50vert** 9/17/2024 5:23 PM

I'm using a 2 speed SN95 fan with an original sized radiator.I had to trim the shroud to fit the smaller radiator, this put the motor right in front of the waterpump, which wouldn't have fit without using the 95 front brackets and pulleys. I think that with a standard length waterpump and a 24' radiator, the offset location off the fan motor, should give you enough clearance. the depth of the shroud at the top of the motor is about 5.5'', but it does taper off a lot where the motors not in the way.

**Posted by RTM** 9/18/2024 6:29 AM

I have over 5” of clearance at the water pump. It’s the CVF tensioner that’s causing the tight fit where the blue bowl is. When I used the online drawing for the contour fan it has the thickest point sitting right at the tensioner location. I think I may just pull the trigger and order the contour fan and see if I can make it work. Not sure I can move the contour fan side to side, the tensioner is actually inline with any side to side movement of the fan.

I’ll look into the SN95 fan before I order anything.

The blue bowl is from a sterile procedure tray from the hospital. I get sterile blue towels to use in the garage and other things they just toss in the trash. Nothing comes from a dirty table/tray. I repurpose a lot of stuff from the hospital. Lol

sweet thames run softly spencer

**Posted by RTM** 9/18/2024 6:56 AM

My radiator opening is roughly 16.5 x 18.5. The SN95 is going to be over hang onto the tank portion of the radiator. I don’t like that so I’ll most likely proceed to testing the contour fan.

**Posted by BobE** 9/18/2024 6:57 AM

I have about 3/8" clearance between my single Spal electric fan (16") and the water pump pulley bolts (V-Belt).
My radiator core is 2-1/4" thick, from the mounting flange. The tank overhangs this dimension a bit, but it doesn't impact the are of concern.

**Posted by RTM** 9/21/2024 8:23 AM

Well I need more clearance than I thought or had hoped I would need. Do I need this resister piece on the contour fan?

I can remove 3/16 from the contour fan to gain more clearance but then the fan would be 1/8-3/16 from the radiator surface. Is that ok or would it be to tight? I could move the lower radiator mount forward 1/8-1/4 but the top would require me to cut the factory radiator bracket and weld it back up, it’s stainless steel.

**Posted by RTM** 9/21/2024 9:37 AM

I removed a 1/4 from the shroud and the thickness part sits just above the bolt head on the tensioner. I think it’ll work.

**Posted by rpm** 9/21/2024 10:32 AM

Are you able to get to the tensioner lug to change the belt?

**Posted by TimC** 9/21/2024 12:06 PM

RTM wrote:
Well I need more clearance than I thought or had hoped I would need. Do I need this resister piece on the contour fan?

I have used the Contour fan on 2 projects, and I love them, if a belt driven fan won't do. I think you want the setup as close to the radiator as you can get it, and as sealed to the radiator as you can get it, which will make sure the fans are pulling the air through the radiator. The resistor piece is where you get the high & low speeds, IIRC. In an earlier post, I believe you were contemplating running only one fan for lower temps. I'm not sure that is a great idea. If only one fan is running, the air the running fan moves will be flowing past the other non-running fan, which has less resistance than pulling air through the radiator. I think you want to leave the resistor in place, and run both fans together for both high and low speeds, which will maximize the flow of air through the radiator.

I have observed your build, all along, and you have WAY more knowledge & skills than me. I will say that one of my contour fan setups was on a warmed up SBC in a first gen S10 truck where space was definitely an issue. I went through a few iterations of fan, shroud, & radiator combos until I found a combo that reliably kept it cool when auto crossing. The last attempt (because I found one that finally worked) was adding the contour fan to the big Griffin radiator I added in a prior attempt.

If you get the contour fan to fit, your next challenge will be finding the proper way to (reliably) control the fans. Start another post for that. LOL I have some opinions on that, too.

**Posted by RTM** 9/21/2024 2:27 PM

No, I do not think I can get to the tensioner with the fan in place. I do have one of those special tensioner tools. I’ll have to try it and see if it will work. If not then the fan will need to be pulled to change the belt. Not much I can do with it now.

My original thinking was to turn one fan on when the AC comes on. I never gave any thought to the two different speeds.

Last edited by RTM (9/22/2024 7:28 AM)

**Posted by Cab4word67** 9/22/2024 1:09 AM

TimC wrote:
RTM wrote:
Well I need more clearance than I thought or had hoped I would need. Do I need this resister piece on the contour fan?
I have used the Contour fan on 2 projects, and I love them, if a belt driven fan won't do. I think you want the setup as close to the radiator as you can get it, and as sealed to the radiator as you can get it, which will make sure the fans are pulling the air through the radiator. The resistor piece is where you get the high & low speeds, IIRC. In an earlier post, I believe you were contemplating running only one fan for lower temps. I'm not sure that is a great idea. If only one fan is running, the air the running fan moves will be flowing past the other non-running fan, which has less resistance than pulling air through the radiator. I think you want to leave the resistor in place, and run both fans together for both high and low speeds, which will maximize the flow of air through the radiator.

I have observed your build, all along, and you have WAY more knowledge & skills than me. I will say that one of my contour fan setups was on a warmed up SBC in a first gen S10 truck where space was definitely an issue. I went through a few iterations of fan, shroud, & radiator combos until I found a combo that reliably kept it cool when auto crossing. The last attempt (because I found one that finally worked) was adding the contour fan to the big Griffin radiator I added in a prior attempt.

If you get the contour fan to fit, your next challenge will be finding the proper way to (reliably) control the fans. Start another post for that. LOL I have some opinions on that, too.

Us a Autocoolguy controler and you will have NO Problems

**Posted by RTM** 9/22/2024 7:32 AM

I’ll be ordering the Auto Cool guy controller this week.

I need to figure out how I’m going to wire it up so I can have the fans on when the AC comes on, maybe use the slower speed. High speed for when the engine temp comes up. Not sure if I can do that or not.