cooling

[318intelligance]

Your fans only make a differance when your car is sitting still. When you're driving, you're fans don't function because the radiator is getting cool air from the car moving. Now, taking the stock mechanical fan would take some weight off of the crank, but pretty much only when sitting still, and I really don't know why you would want added HP while sitting still. Maybe to burn your tires quicker[headbang].

Most electrical fans get kicked on by the computer when your engine hits like 220 Degress F. If its not 220, its around there. And most mechanical fans do the same.

With your car in motion, the air on your radiator is gonna keep your car under 220. Plus you got the thermostat opening up at like 180 or 190 which also keeps your engine under that 220.

So you're better off not to worry about the fans, unless of course you want to put electrical fans in to gain some engine bay room to put say...a v12 in? good concept eh?

Now we can all relax.

 

[andreyiv]

Yeah, I know the power steering is controlled by a pump and not electricity, I just wanted to see if all of you get the same thing, when you turn your wheel so far to either side that it doesn't want to go anymore, the rpms drop a little. I tried this on a lift while replacing the oxygen sensore and got the same thing with the tires suspended in mid air.

I don't want to hurt the car but I usually have to do a U turn on a small street before parking the car and the only way to do it, is to turn the wheel completely to the left while standing still. I guess I will just go around the block so I'm at the right side of the street from now on.

BTW Zach, I completely agree with you on everything you've said.

 

[jrt67ss350]

andreyiv,

Turning your wheel to full lock will create an additional pressure load on the pump whether there is weight on the front wheels or not. It's just the inherent nature of the system - every car I've ever driven does the exact same thing. It shouldn't hurt your car at all.

I back up everyone that said that increasing the current draw off the alternator requires more power to turn it. I experienced this first hand after I installed A/C in my '67 Camaro. The car had the original 60 amp alternator in it, which was fine for running the few electrical devices the car originally had. However, when I installed the A/C system, the energy draw caused by turning the blower on high along with the current required to lock up the compressor clutch whenever the headlights were on resulted in more current demand than the 60 amp alternator could provide at idle. The engine rpm's would promptly drop about 200 rpm (even if I disconnected the compressor clutch coil), and you could hear the engine having to work harder. The electrical system would also start drawing power from the battery to make up the difference. Installing a Powermaster 100 amp alternator completely fixed the problem. Now I can have every electrical device on in the car (including the electric fan I installed) at idle with no rpm drop. When you start drawing current at the limit of what the alternator can provide at that given rpm, it results in a very noticeable drop in available horsepower. The same thing happens in my BMW when the blower is on high, the headlights are on, and the rear defogger is on.

I also agree that the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy is far from efficient - why do you think alternators get so hot? It's because alot of the mechanical energy provided through rotating the stator of the alternator is converted to heat instead of electrical energy.

 

[318intelligance]

oh yea, I thought about it today a bit, and I came to the conclusion that an electric fan may also come in handy if you are running your car in say an SCCA event and you need to cool the car between runs. An electrical fan can be turned on with your car off(if wired to a switch), while sitting still. This wouldn't really do much though unless you also had an electrical water pumped hooked up, that way the cooler fluid can be worked around the cooling system. thats a plus i think.

 

[jrt67ss350]

318,

I have an auxilliary electric fan on my Camaro in addition to the belt-driven fan (a new full size four core radiator and factory fan just weren't enough to keep her cool when running the A/C in the summer heat). I've got it wired to come on with the A/C compressor as well as with an adjustable coolant thermostatic switch to help the belt-driven fan regardless of whether or not the A/C is on - pretty much the same type of setup as the auxilliary electric fan in the 3 series. When I drag raced the Camaro at the track, I would manually turn the electric fan on between runs when the car was sitting in the staging lineup. It would cool the water in the radiator pretty well, then I'd start the car just long enough to circulate the cooler water out of the radiator, replacing it with hot water from the block. Then I'd run the fan again to cool the water in the radiator. This method worked well to cool down the engine without an electric water pump, and there's a lot more cast iron to cool in my Camaro than in a BMW six or 4 banger. Just an idea. You could wire a manual switch into the circuit for the factory auxiliary fan in your car to do the exact same thing that I did in my Camaro.