My working car (Carlton 3.0 GSI) has a mechanical (viscous) fan on the
engine side and an electric one on the body side. This is a standard
arrangement from new and works very well as the electric fan is
thermostatically controlled and usually only comes on at rest or in
heavy traffic. The electric fan blows air through the radiator
simulating normal air flow at speed. I had the engine out and dismantled
the fan and accidentally reconnected it to suck air as you can imagine
it did not cool very well as the two fans opposed each other and created
a pool of static air. James wrote:
> If you have two fan's, one on the front, and one on the back
> you will find your air flow will be reduces, this is because
> of the turbulence produced by both fans interferes with each
> other and cuts down air flow through the radiator.
>
> Having the electric fan up front is probably the best place
> to have it. Apart from clearance problems, I believe they
> are more efficient when blowing. When they are sucking,
> you create a partial vacuum, between the radiator, and
> fan. Have you ever seen what happens when you block up
> the hover intake, the fan speeds up, and less air comes out.
>
> Remove your standard fan, and your cooling will be MUCH better.
>
> --
> James Carpenter
> Yellow '79 spit wired by a trained marmot
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