EvanB wrote: I have not had good luck with cheap slim fans. Junkyard OEM fans are a better idea.
+1. Every car made in the last 30 years has OEM electric fans, take a 12v battery to the junkyard with you to test them and buy one or two that are roughly the right size.
alfadriver wrote: Again, be aware that car electric fans don't need to flow the same amount of air as truck mechanical ones do. So be careful.
Very true, but depending on the truck and how well the radiator self-ventilates without a fan at highway speed, it may still be enough. And the good car fans are usually worlds better than most of the aftermarket crap, so they're a better starting point.
You don't need to hack your existing shroud for the junkyard fan, just remove it and set it aside if you think you'really gonna want it later. The shroud on the Taurus fan is pretty simple and should adapt without much hackery.
Update on this... I bought it. Wired it. Thermal switch lasted twice. Now on a manual switch in the cab. As long as I don't forget to turn it on, it keeps it at or below 200. If I forget and it hits 220, it won't cool it down sitting still, but it won't allow it to keep climbing. Fan pulls a ton of air (you can feel it from the grille) and works well. The electronics they shipped with it .... not so good. No big deal.
All in all, about what I'd expect for a $49 shipped electric fan.
Before I had the Holley Terminator controlling my fan, I made a fan control system consisting of a fuse, a fog light relay, an Auto Meter oil temp light driver (on at 210°, off at 185), and a toggle switch. The relay controlled the power to the fan, and the temp switch and the toggle were parallel ground paths for the relay coil. That way, I could force the fan on early (for hot autocross days, etc), but if I forgot, it came on at 210° anyway. The relay coil got its power from a switched fuse in the fuse box.
Now, the Terminator controls the relay coil ground in place of the temp switch, and I still have the override.
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