Electric cooling fan conversion

[vwbiker47]

Hi all. Seeing if any of you have done an electric cooling fan conversion on an early 2.8L B2? My fan clutch bearing went out, and I believe the water pump bushing may be going as well. Planning to do an engine swap in the near future also. Factoring all of this in, and I need to fix the cooling fan anyway, I was wanting to do an electric conversion. It's hit or miss online, eBay, etc., finding parts that may actually fit and work. Have any of you done this and can pass on the right parts and where to get them? Thanks in advance, Dan

 

[duffy]

I did the conversion on an 89' 2.9 (a 2.8 shouldn't be much different). I got all the stuff from eBay for good prices. Just measure your radiator to find out what size fan will "fit" then get the highest CFM you can. I used a 16" 3000 CFM hooked up as a "puller" with a through the radiator sensor to control when the fan comes on. I have A/C and SD's summer temps are pretty high. I set the fan to come on when the gauge needle hits "O" on the NORMAL. A laser temp tester used on the thermostat housing indicates the fan comes on at 208 F and goes off when it cools 10 degrees. Works great......the fan never even comes on when running down the highway, only when stopped in town. I have an indicator light hooked up to tell me when the fan is operating. The entire setup cost me about $70.

P.S. I had put a new OEM radiator (RockAuto) in the vehicle before hand as the original leaked.

 

[JerryC]

I used the Flexalite 160 kit on my 88.
Here's the thread for that:
https://www.broncocorral.com/forums/index.php?threads/flexalite-160-fan-kit.153103/

Keep in mind you need an alternator that can handle the load. For me, I also upgraded the headlights to LED to cut down on the amp draw, the improvement in lighting was worth upgrade by itself. With those lights and a 95amp alt it just meets the load at worst case, idle in gear, headlights on, brakes on, fan on full speed.

 

[McWillies]

I used the Flexalite 160 kit on my 88.
Here's the thread for that:
https://www.broncocorral.com/forums/index.php?threads/flexalite-160-fan-kit.153103/

Keep in mind you need an alternator that can handle the load. For me, I also upgraded the headlights to LED to cut down on the amp draw, the improvement in lighting was worth upgrade by itself. With those lights and a 95amp alt it just meets the load at worst case, idle in gear, headlights on, brakes on, fan on full speed.

Sup Jerry. Unrelated completely to the OP, but do you know of any decent LED headlights for an 89-90 front end? There's some on ebay but they all have that really shitty "aftermarket modern" look and replace the blinker\DTRs. I just want a brighter rectangle to replace my dull rectangles.

 

[JerryC]

I haven't looked for those. I think I remember seeing housings for 89-90 a long while back that had halogen projectors in them.
Autoanything might have been where I saw them. You're probably stuck with a drop in bulb kit.