Has anyone had any luck installing an electric engine cooling fan on a 190E 2.6?

[w123fanman]

I have been thinking of installing an electric fan to replace the clutch fan on the M103. The M103 has a tiny clutch fan and the fan clutch seems to wear out quickly. Mine needs to be replaced. Cost would be $90 to replace it, which really isn't bad but I was thinking of using an electric fan if I can find one that would fit.

One huge benefit of an electric fan would be that I could mount it in a way that would make it easy to remove so I could get better access to the front of the engine vs with the clutch fan you pretty much have to remove the radiator if you want to get the fan off.

I've just heard that the stock fan struggles to keep the car cool in hot weather with the AC on and being in Atlanta, and being that my car is black, I need maximum cooling efficiency. An electric fan may not be any better given how little space there is but I would like any thoughts or suggestions. I have a recently replaced radiator in the car and a new coolant cap so it should not need either of those parts replaced.

[lsmalley]

I need the forum's input on manual engine cooling

See if this helps. I have since fine tuned and got everything looking nice since this post, meaning all the tubes and zipties are nice and neat.

[w123fanman]

Originally Posted by lsmalley

I need the forum's input on manual engine cooling

See if this helps. I have since fine tuned and got everything looking nice since this post, meaning all the tubes and zipties are nice and neat.

Well obviously not exactly what I was looking for but that is a brilliant design. I may try that too as my car had the headlight wipers but at some point someone got rid of them so I have the tubing and extra pump already in place. I didn't realize you were driving that black 190E in hot Southern Cali.

[Hirnbeiss]

Dude, didn't you see the video a year or two back? You can do this because you're at Georgia Tech! I have done some pre-googling for you here: Electric fan conversion... , but I'm sure you can wire in just about any aftermarket fan.
Now that you have signed yourself up for the project, we'll expect nice updates of your progress and a complete DIY for posterity.
Go Jackets!

[lsmalley]

Originally Posted by w123fanman

Well obviously not exactly what I was looking for but that is a brilliant design. I may try that too as my car had the headlight wipers but at some point someone got rid of them so I have the tubing and extra pump already in place. I didn't realize you were driving that black 190E in hot Southern Cali.

Oh, I figured you were looking for anything to help keep the engine cool and the electric fan upgrade seems to be
A standard mod. You may also try wiring in the cabin switch to control the 2 electric fans manually. I was able to wire in a switch for low speed and a switch for high speed. Surprisingly, since I installed my new radiator and fan clutch, plus the upgraded fan from a 300E, my car has been maintaining ~90°C, even in this hot desert climate.

[w123fanman]

Originally Posted by lsmalley

Oh, I figured you were looking for anything to help keep the engine cool and the electric fan upgrade seems to be
A standard mod. You may also try wiring in the cabin switch to control the 2 electric fans manually. I was able to wire in a switch for low speed and a switch for high speed. Surprisingly, since I installed my new radiator and fan clutch, plus the upgraded fan from a 300E, my car has been maintaining ~90°C, even in this hot desert climate.

What is the upgraded fan from the 300E? Just the fan blades or also the clutch? Which engine is this off of?

[lsmalley]

The larger fan blades from a 300E, but the fan has the bolts instead of the holes like the 190E so I also got the viscous clutch for the 300E.

[lsmalley]

So I originally bought a Spal 16 inch puller fan....ended up doing something stupid and fan turned on while testing and snapped off all the blades as it flung across my garage. Anyways, I had only had the fan for maybe a month or less (lesson learned). So I was able to get my hands on a few other fans in the junk yard which are also Spal (Spal has a pretty good reputation) and apparently Spal is the OE supplier of Volvo because that is where I sourced these 2 fans from. I guess on Volvo, one is the smaller fan and they have another larger one which I'm not sure if it fits on the m103, so I grabbed the smaller one and went to another Volvo and did the same. I was able to fit both fans behind the radiator of the m103 2.6 without any modifications except to remove the old clutch and fan. Its a pretty tight fit, but there is room with a few millimeters to spare. I will make a separate post regarding my installation so I am not hijacking this thread.