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Flexalite 160 fan kit.


JerryC

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I decided to try an electric fan to get better AC while at stoplights or just parked and at idle. I get good cold AC when the BII is moving but just sitting it fights a losing battle against the sun coming through the glass.
It got a new fan clutch and fan when I redid the AC, I replaced everything AC except for wiring and switches summer of 2017. I've prepping the BII for this for a couple of years, when my alt went bad i got the highest v-belt alt I could get locally, 95amp.
Also put in LED headlights to lower the amp draw.

I'm past the point where I enjoy crawling junkyards so I thought I'd get the Flexalite kit. Well, I'm off to a not so great start. Ordered from Amazon and the first one had clearly been returned as the parts were all loose and just bouncing around the box.
That and the burned up motor smell convinced not to "give it a try". The replacement came in plain box without any branding, I thought "uh-oh" but everything looked good, small parts in sealed bags, metal parts wrapped in paper.

So I pulled the fan/clutch and shroud and took measurements and started getting the mounting brackets together and test fitting. At this point I see that the thermostat control rod is at an angle, tried to turn it and it wont budge. :(
It's on it's way back to Amazon.

Now I'm waiting on one from Jegs, hoping for the best.
 


JerryC

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Kit from Jegs also in a brown box. When I opened the box I saw this;
15054

The rod for the thermostat made that hole. I called Flexalite and let them know that their packaging might need an upgrade.
The rod was straight and did turn so I went ahead with the install.

Fairly simple install install, getting the fan clutch off was the most annoying part.
Flexalite says to mount the bottom bracket and then the top. It's much easier doing the top first.

Performance, it is far better at idle than the stock fan/clutch. AC works good enough to actually cool down a 98* interior while sitting in bright sun with an outdoor temp of 93*.
Does it free up HP? Seems to. Now going uphill with the AC on it is merely dog slow vs dead fish slow :)

When it kicks in it puts a load on the alternator which puts a load on the engine for a second. You can hear the engine change it's idle as the fan kicks in and then recover.

For the AC numbers, fan on high and max ac (recirc mode) stopped at red light 36. 93 out side and 71* in the cabin in the bright sun. That's about a 15* difference at the vents from last summer.
The other thing is the high side pressures now look normal, with fan/clutch they were always too high.
 

Uncle Gump

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I always like success stories... sometimes with electric fans it can be a crap shoot. I've heard horror stories about some controllers not working so well... not enough airflow... etc...

Do you still have the kit part number you used... I kinda want to have a look at your system if you have that info handy.
 

wildbill23c

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Hmm, interesting. I may need to try this. As it is right now the AC in my 88 B2 works fine, but yep when you are just sitting it don't work very well and eventually will cause an overheat situation as the stock clutch fan cannot keep up at idle to move enough air through both the condenser and radiator. I think my alternator is a 90 or 95 amp and this fan kit seems like a great alternative to the junk yard digging that everyone else seems to try.

The max/ac and re circulation lever in my bronco 2 doesn't work anyways, so it makes it even worse to try and cool the interior on really hot days. Not sure if its a cable or something in the air box that's bad but not worth tearing the dash apart to find out.
 

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