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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Engine-driven fan in a V8?

Is it possible, in lieu of or in addition to the pusher fans typically suspended from the slam panel, to have a regular motor-driven fan behind the radiator? I would swear that in looking at some photos from a V8 show, I saw a really neat, tighly wrought fan cowl behind the rad, in addition to the usual pair of OE-type pusher fans up front. I don't know whose car it was but it had NJ plates. Is this possible, or am I dreaming?

It seems to me it would really help -- having a pair of un-cowled pushers up front, especially given that all V8s have considerable space between the top of the rad and the bottom of the hood (i.e., unlike a regular MGB, there's no top seal for the rad diaphragm) -- flies in the face of what I think I've been taught about how to effectively cool a radiator.
Bill Withum

What you may have seen is an after market electric fan and not a mechanical fan. I have fitted a flex fan to my V8, but have kept the 2 electric fans on a manual back-up switch, just in case.
The 2 main points that you will have to bear in mind, is there enough space behind the rad. for a fan that will be attached to the water pump pully and the height of the fan in relation to the top hose, etc. for safety reasons you must also have a guard fitted.
Mike Cook

Mike, I looked at another picture, I'm not dreaming. It's a big honkin' engine-driven fan inside a cowling. Interesting. It looks like any other V8 installation except for that fan. It is a blue BGTV8 conversion with a beige interior, if anyone knows the car. I personally think those OE pusher fans are for the birds ... and if they ever fail, well, I don't want to think about that. I've never heard of anyone getting an engine-driven fan behind their V8 rad but if it's possible I would sell my soul to do it.
Bill Withum

Bill, Iv'e used an engine driven flexi fan on a couple of occasions until I got around to fitting OE type fans. In my case the fan was uncowled & looked possitively dangerous. Also if you're in a line-back ticking over at 500 RPM the fan isn't doing a lot of sucking.The other point with flexi fans is some of them have an RPM limit of about 4000 or so.HTH.
Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Bill,

Try a 14" Flex-a-lite fan w/ 1' spacer (motor needs to be set back as close as possible to firewall - A/C type motor mounts ala Dan LaGrou) from Summit Racing and fan shroud from JC Whitney. Fan rated to 8000 rpm, fan blades flatten out at higher rpms to allow more air flow. I've got one on my Rover 4.6L in conjunction with perma-cool 12' pusher type fans rated at 1250 rpm each (pushers are only 80% effecient!). With addition of mechanical fan electric fans only come on when stopped in traffic for extended period and shut off within a couple minutes after I begin moving again - made big difference.
Steve LaGoy

Bill:
we must be having the same dream,but, mine took place at the Portland All British car show in Oregon.
I saw a V-8 convertion with an engine driven fan, A/C,and 2 pusher aftermarket fans. I think Dan LaGrew is the person to buy the stuff from.
Romney
romney

Bill, It is indeed possible to install an engine driven fan. I think the GT with NJ plates conversion you saw was done by Glenn Towery. His number is 302 734-1243. He can sell you all needed parts.
john

John, you might be talking about my car, which is blue, has NJ plates and is currently at Towery's shop for a little tweakin'. It's just a chrome-bumpered car. There's a picture of the motor at

http://home.earthlink.net/~davidd_dt/v8_engine_bay.JPG

There are the two electric fans in front of the rad -- not really shown in this picture -- and the motor-driven one inside that cowling you see in the pic. I have only owned it for a few weeks, so I haven't yet become totally intimate with the car, but it's not as though the engine looks jammed in or anything. Runs about at N on the highway, maybe a third of the way to the right of N around town -- which is not too bad given that it just has the old block-hugger headers (albeit coated) and no hood vents or anything. Hood clearance sure is tight, though, although we're playing around with a couple of things to try and eliminate that. Towery says hood bulges are verboten.

(It was converted ~4 years ago by Rob Medynski at MGTs in NJ. I look forward to meeting him, he's supposed to be an ace. Must be, since he is the only other mechanic I have ever heard Towery compliment!)
David Duquette

David, I was unaware your car was at Towery's shop. I was just there last monday to help him "tweak" his 4.2L EFI Mgb. I'm the guy you may have heard him refer to as "Little John", the fuel injection expert. Anyway, I think the engine fan Towery uses comes from a TR-6. It has 8 blades and is about 14" in diameter. It just bolts on to the water pump pully like any other fan. just make sure you have enough room between the rad and the fan once its in place. HTH.
-----John
john

I have a 1974 ½ MGB for which I am currently building a Rover 3.5 lt motor. My plane I to use a crank driven fan to cool the motor and if I can locate a couple of reasonably priced MGB electric I will install those as well.
From the centerline of the engine motor mounts (available from D & D) on the Rover engine to the front of the crank drive fan on the engine is 12 3/8".
From the centerline of the car's welded motor mounts brackets to the back of the radiator is
14 ½".
This gives me a couple of inch's to spare.
We recently had a hot rod show where I live and I noticed several vehicles have taken a fan (like Summit has to offer) and bolted it through the air cooling fin's on the radiator. No crank driven fan was present. I was thinking I could also incorporate this idea in my conversion using the electric driven fan as a back up to my crank driven fan. But IMHO the fan/shroud combination might restrict the air flow when the fan wasn't being used. Thus I am back to a less effective (original MGB electric fans) set up for those real hot days while stuck in traffic and you just need a little more air moving through that engine.

Bruce

Bruce

David,

Tried to see the Pic of your motor, but the link
said, error pic not there.
Dennis

This thread was discussed between 09/08/2000 and 28/08/2000

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