Engine mounted cooling fan options

[2cams70]

Maybe but the Ford fan bolt mounting PCD is unlikely to be the same as a mini. Could be wrong though. Perhaps that’s why the pictured Lotus one has two sets of holes instead of one like the pictured Mini Fan.

[MartijnElanS4]

Very interesting;

Bear in mind I am not the mechanic but how about:

Maybe I will make a quick set up and turn the Fan on a drill or so taking the rotation direction of the engine into account and blow smoke. Then I can see what actually happens with the air flow.

[Andy8421]

Maybe I will make a quick set up and turn the Fan on a drill or so taking the rotation direction of the engine into account and blow smoke. Then I can see what actually happens with the air flow.

Martijn,

The Elan engine rotates clockwise when viewed from the front. If you imagine your fan on the page rotating clockwise, it will blow air into your face. This is the wrong direction for an Elan.

Unfortunately, flipping the fan over does no good. At first sight that should solve the problem, but a bit of thought shows that the fan still blows the same way.

[alan.barker]

Yes Martjn,
Your Fan blows the wrong direction.
That one is for an Austin Mini which blows air through Rad to exit under Wing.
Alan

[MartijnElanS4]

Thanks a lot all for the feedback.

Never thought of that being possible having been on there so long.
Now let’s look for a correct one.

[vtauto]

You wouldn't believe how refreshing I find this discussion to be. The buddy that I own the car with thinks I'm an idiot for not finding the right fan in 10 minutes.

And I get the technical benefits of a clutched or electric fan. In our defense, I can only say that if max power was high on our list of priorities, this probably wouldn't have been the car we chose. The E-Type we had prior to the Elan had a slightly twisted flat 1" bar for a fan that made a lawnmower blade look like a technical tour-de-force, but it was original and still worked fine. Same approach here.

[alan.barker]

True vtauto,
But 5 hp counts when you are only pulling 700 kgs.
Alan

[elanman999]

Here is the one that was fitted to my early +2 when I bought it in 1977. It's been sitting in a box ever since as when I rebuilt the car I fiited an electric fan.
Cheers
John.

[alan.barker]

There was a metal fan like that on my first 1968 +2. When the Water Pump Bearing gave up the metal Fan "Tripaned" the Rad very nasty.
Alan

[vtauto]

The two bladed metal fan that came on many of the cars seems like a bad idea for a few reasons. Someone suggested this 11 bladed fan which at least looks like the plastic option in the parts manual. I've got a call into the supplier to get more info on it.

[gjz30075]

^^^ Who's the seller?

[vtauto]

Lotus-mistry.com

[MartijnElanS4]

Hi everyone,

You were right: we did the test yesterday with a bit of smoke for visuals and drama haha by blowing some smoke. The fan blows instead of sucks air.

Thanks a lot; off to get a new one.

Best Regards,

Martijn

[2cams70]

The two bladed metal fan that came on many of the cars seems like a bad idea for a few reasons. Someone suggested this 11 bladed fan which at least looks like the plastic option in the parts manual. I've got a call into the supplier to get more info on it.

That's the Ford Escort Twin Cam fan. Was also used on standard Mk2 Cortinas and Capri's. It may not fit a Lotus due to what appears to be less clearance between fan and radiator compared to the Fords. The Ford two bladed metal fan used on Loti is a lot thinner

[elanman999]

If you look at the +2 parts list you'll find that the electric fan was used after the change over to the narrow radiator, that was around chassis no 928, so mid 1968ish ?
Cheers
John.