advice on converting from mechanical to electrical fan

[evanr614]

Installed a CSF radiator and still experiencing the same issues with the AC. Which shroud would you guys get first? The one on the back of the radiator or the one in front of the car?

[T3amfish]

sorry to bump an old thread... had a couple questions regarding the SPAL's people are running

quick background on my car and issue..
E36 S54 swap..
Z3M S54 Behr Radiator,
GEBA water pump
OE Thermostat
OE BMW coolant
E36 aux fan

i had ditched the S54 mechanical fan in favor of the SPAL 2049 as it has one of the highest rated CFM @ 2024. now this set up cools the car just fine so long as i am not using the A/C in really hot weather (greater than 95* ambient temp.) it will slowly creep the temp up to 205-215, as soon as you stop using the A/C we are back down to 185-195 range. Fans come on @ 185, aux fan 195.. monitoring this with a VDO mechanical gauge with sensor in the upper radiator hose.

I see there is a SPAL being used 2082 by WOLFN8TR. this 2082.. has a slightly lower CFM rating of 1876.. and i see you have no issues with cooling your car with A/C. can you elaborate on why this 2082 is cooling better than the 2049?

[eacmen]

My latest testing indicates that simply deleting the mech fan and shroud and retaining stock pusher fan is the best cooling setup I’ve been able to achieve when running A/C at idle and in slow speed traffic. Some adjustment to the fan curve in the ECU was required but the fan seems to be able to handle the load no problem.

The electric puller fan with no shroud would overheat at idle with A/C on. I believe electric fan with the shroud would perform significantly better but I don’t have much data to back that up yet.

For my application (dedicated track) I plan to swap the OEM pusher fan with a higher flowing pusher fan once the OEM one dies.

[tlow98]

sorry to bump an old thread... had a couple questions regarding the SPAL's people are running

quick background on my car and issue..
E36 S54 swap..
Z3M S54 Behr Radiator,
GEBA water pump
OE Thermostat
OE BMW coolant
E36 aux fan

i had ditched the S54 mechanical fan in favor of the SPAL 2049 as it has one of the highest rated CFM @ 2024. now this set up cools the car just fine so long as i am not using the A/C in really hot weather (greater than 95* ambient temp.) it will slowly creep the temp up to 205-215, as soon as you stop using the A/C we are back down to 185-195 range. Fans come on @ 185, aux fan 195.. monitoring this with a VDO mechanical gauge with sensor in the upper radiator hose.

I see there is a SPAL being used 2082 by WOLFN8TR. this 2082.. has a slightly lower CFM rating of 1876.. and i see you have no issues with cooling your car with A/C. can you elaborate on why this 2082 is cooling better than the 2049?

Ive also heard the Geba may not be the best for flow and tends to become apparent at high temps with AC load. The impeller is smaller when viewed next to an OE pump fwiw.

[repoman89]

sorry to bump an old thread... had a couple questions regarding the SPAL's people are running

quick background on my car and issue..
E36 S54 swap..
Z3M S54 Behr Radiator,
GEBA water pump
OE Thermostat
OE BMW coolant
E36 aux fan

i had ditched the S54 mechanical fan in favor of the SPAL 2049 as it has one of the highest rated CFM @ 2024. now this set up cools the car just fine so long as i am not using the A/C in really hot weather (greater than 95* ambient temp.) it will slowly creep the temp up to 205-215, as soon as you stop using the A/C we are back down to 185-195 range. Fans come on @ 185, aux fan 195.. monitoring this with a VDO mechanical gauge with sensor in the upper radiator hose.

I see there is a SPAL being used 2082 by WOLFN8TR. this 2082.. has a slightly lower CFM rating of 1876.. and i see you have no issues with cooling your car with A/C. can you elaborate on why this 2082 is cooling better than the 2049?

Look for the full spec sheets. The 2082 has much higher claimed airflow at high static pressures (such as when mounted a couple millimeters from a restrictive radiator). The 2049 falls off very fast when it has to overcome resistance to airflow. I run the 2082 alone with no shroud with slight adjustment to the fan curve and it has handled it all so far, including mid 90s at idle with AC cooling the car down at the paddock. Just change the fan curve so it’s on 100% by 85C.

[Wernd]

Look for the full spec sheets. The 2082 has much higher claimed airflow at high static pressures (such as when mounted a couple millimeters from a restrictive radiator). The 2049 falls off very fast when it has to overcome resistance to airflow. I run the 2082 alone with no shroud with slight adjustment to the fan curve and it has handled it all so far, including mid 90s at idle with AC cooling the car down at the paddock. Just change the fan curve so it’s on 100% by 85C.

I found the tech sheet numbers for the 2082 but I can't find them for the 2049,do you happen to have a link? Thanks

[CrisSilberGrau]

For sure it will improve, as more air will be flowing thru the condenser and the coolant radiator. Without shroud, the fan just cycling the air from its back to front going around, and less air flow thru the radiator and condenser.

Silly question but which shroud are we talking about, I'm assuming the frontal one with the kidney cut out... Since the rear one has to be removed with the clutch/mech fan... If thats the case I kept the shroud in and used the 2049 w/mishi fan controller, no track days yet to report. Previous oem setup the coolant was creeping way past red after 2 hotlaps. This fan setup may not be the total remedy but I want to see how it performs on the old components and then go from there.

[repoman89]

I found the tech sheet numbers for the 2082 but I can't find them for the 2049,do you happen to have a link? Thanks

I can’t find it anymore either. When I was shopping for my fan one of the websites selling them had all the data sheets but I forget which one now.

[Wernd]

I can’t find it anymore either. When I was shopping for my fan one of the websites selling them had all the data sheets but I forget which one now.

Thanks for checking anyway. I actually live 5 minutes outside of Ankeny so I'll just stop by Spal

[WOLFN8TR]

I found the tech sheet numbers for the 2082 but I can't find them for the 2049,do you happen to have a link? Thanks

See Post #21

[eacmen]

Bump.

Below are a couple docs that may help folks wiring up a SPAL Fan to an E46 or E36. Hope it helps!