toymotaguy

i have a 95 sc400 what size fans should i use and what are the best or most reliable set ? any body check out flex-a-lite company products?

NixusSC

iTrader: (2)

besides the fact that this thread ended in 2011...the flexalite fans w/ shroud for the sc are like 450.00....hella expensive.

dawhorl21

i didnt use a shroud. i just attached them right to the stock radiator. i am still using this set up and have had no issues.

dawhorl21

i just used ebay fans and they are still working so... i guess the better the company the longer you can expect them to last

oldManTan

what kind of pulley goes onto the clutch fan bracket? is the pulley swappable?

oldManTan

bump, ^ would still like my question answered lol

account2x

iTrader: (5)

This is incorrect.

The energy to drive the hydro fan comes from the engine so it does decrease HP.

There are 2 big reasons that electric fans are superior to hydraulic fans.
1. Reliability. The hydraulic fan requires a pump. high pressure line, cooler and numerous other hoses. These are all points of failure. In addition there is the hassle of flushing the fluid.
2. Performance. Excess power generated by the alternator is wasted. The electric fans power drain is already accounted by the alternator.

Toyota replaced the hydraulic fan in the SC400 with electric fans in the GS400 and 430. The hydraulic fan is an old obsolete design.

SCFactory

iTrader: (2)

Wow you do know that the 3UZ SC430 uses ELECTRIC FANS right, their is a reason that they don't use hydro setup anymore, if it saved so much HP then why don't they still use it, maybe you should stick to riding bikes.

salimshah

There is no reason to bend out of shape on engineering decisions that were made back then. When I say engineering decision it is not necessarily the best technical, it is usually the most economical solution.

My 2c ... the radiator is bit too far from the engine block and 2 speed cooling is desired. So a hydraulic pump to the rescue.

For all the people who have been posting their opinion, need to read up on First Law of Thermodynamics. Simply nothing is for free and engineers have to deal with efficiency and cost of manufacturing.

Those who want to convert, please examine the the shroud option. Without the shroud you may not get the desired flow. People have post about that it has been working ok for them. If their opinion is good enough go for it.

FWIW: There was a problem with connector and my hydraulic fan would not switch to high-speed. Living in central Texas, during hot days, with AC on, the temp gauge would barely go higher than normal and only when the traffic was stopped.


Salim

broburns

Actually the alternator only makes as much current that is drawn by the electrical system. Even though SCs have a 130A alternator(maybe?) if the electrical system is only drawing 50A, then 50A is all the alternator makes. That said I have no idea which one is more efficient, but at a full 130A the alternator is only soaking up someone in the neighborhood of 3HP, my guess is the hydro pump would use somewhere between 2-5HP. You would honestly never feel the difference, so in my opinion just use whatever setup you want to.

Skeech

I agree. The pump is always being spun and takes some power especially when it kicks in to high. There is an expensive control unit for the fan, and when it works it's great. But now, 22 years later, the hydro fan in my '95 SC 400 no longer kicks in to high at all, and even low speed was weak and anemic. I overheated in a car wash and realized I had to take action. The parts for the hydro fan are expensive and hard to find. My interior had the smell of burning electrical components, so I knew I had a bad control unit. The cost was high for the controller, and I had no way of knowing if the hydro motor itself or the pump were also defective, but the cost was adding up and I never liked all those extra hoses anyway.

Like so many drivers, I had already had to replace the alternator which had gotten soaked with power steering fluid. That was the condition my sc was in when I got it. The power steering pump had been replaced but the alternator was bad. I got a 145 amp alternator, knowing I wanted extra amps for things like brighter lights and louder stereos. I got an electric fan and was able to fit it into the stock fan shroud, with slight work.

If anyone has dyno data between a hydro pump and a higher output alternator I'd like to see it. I'm pretty sure the electric fan won't be stealing any hp at all, especially since it will be set up to disengage when the throttle is wide open. If anyone has any wiring tricks to get the fan to come on with the a/c compressor that would be good. If I' figure it out I'll post it, and when it's all good I'll post a write up including the fan that I got that's the same diameter as the big heavy hydro fan blade. I estimate a weight reduction of maybe 20 lbs or so when I'm done; I'll weigh it all and post it in my writeup. All you guys who post in this forum, I'm grateful.