Re: [Chevelle-List] Operating temperature- Electric vs Manual

[Don]

Title: Message

I'm with you on this one Steve, I plan on replacing my radiator & fan next year but I'm really not sure how to go. I was originally planning on an aluminum radiator with two high efficiency electric fans & maybe even an electric water pump. But having heard so many swear by a standard 4 core radiator & a clutch fan set up I'm not sure what to do. It seems to me that the electric would work better especially at slow speeds/in traffic, but that's not what everyone seems to be saying is the case. Don I have read & heard several places now where manual fans work better than electric. I have even heard of guys dumping a several hundred dollar electric fan setup to go back to a manual fan. I am just having trouble understanding why .....when you consider that in MOST cases temperature will go up only when sitting in traffic or otherwise going too slow for air to be forced through the radiator.   Now, when you are sitting in traffic...or going slow ..you are mostly relying on the fan to pull air through the radiator to keep your engine cool. A manual fan is turning at a rate that is relative to the engine RPM's. This is when your engine RPM's are at their lowest .....and theoretically the fan would be pulling the least amount of air through at the lower RPM's.   With electric fans....when the temp went up high enough to kick the thermal switch on,  the fans would be turning at a high rate of speed and, in my mind at least, be pulling much more air through the radiator than a manual fan could at a low idle.   I must be dense. I mean I know this is one situation where the cheaper way is best .....but I am having troubles understanding why!