Rovetec Electric Fan Conversion

[aeo]

I have the Rovetec electric fan conversion and I am trying to decide if I want to install it or not. Truck is a 1983 110 300tdi, currently has the stock fan, uprated RN radiator, alisport uprated VGT turbo, slightly tuned IP with a boost pin. It's running well.

What are the pros to installing this?

 

[supertreeman]

Less parasitic draw on the engine, more room in the engine bay for repairs or maintenance, looks cool.

Not sure about yours with the tuned IP, etc, but in my experience a stock TDI runs pretty cool. My electric fan doesn't run very often

 

[emj]

I have one on my truck which is a nearly identical setup to what you have. I like the extra room in the engine bay. Overall though I wish I would have stuck with the stock fan. I have had some issues getting mine to reliably turn on with the thermostat wiring. This was a combination of me incorrectly wiring the relay too close to a metal surface so it melted in one instance and a bad thermostat in another. In the latter situation on an off-road trip, I had to constantly watch the temperature when climbing hills and manually turn it on when the thermostat failed which was one more thing to worry about. I rewired it recently and it all seems to work but its something that I still worry about and in hindsight I wish I had stayed with the stock setup.

Another purported benefit I have read about is the ability to disable the fan during deep water crossings. I wired my fan to be able to turn it on manually, turn it off manually and let the sensor automatically turn it on/off for this reason, though I have yet to do a water crossing deep enough where this would matter.

 

[jymmiejamz]

I haven’t seen the Tdi version, but the V8 version feels cheap to me. The fans sit 1” away from the radiator and have no shroud. The wiring isn’t great either. I’m sure it will work as designed, but they don’t hold a candle to the setups I get from Ron Davis for V8s.

Crappy pic, but you can see the shroud.

 

[lithium1330]

I have the V8 fans (2x 12" puller fans made in italy, fwiw). As noted, Revotec kit doesn't come with shroud... I ended up making one myself. The shroud is 1" off the radiator frame and 1.25" from the fins (on a 4 core radiator). THe shroud sits about 3/4" space from the pulleys.
I had to cut out for add'l flaps to help air flow on the highway.

v2 by adding 1" spacing from radiator


v1 just adding a alum sheet as shroud that was right on the radiator.

 

[Black991TT]

I have the V8 fans (2x 12" puller fans made in italy, fwiw). As noted, Revotec kit doesn't come with shroud... I ended up making one myself. The shroud is 1" off the radiator frame and 1.25" from the fins (on a 4 core radiator). THe shroud sits about 3/4" space from the pulleys.
I had to cut out for add'l flaps to help air flow on the highway.

v2 by adding 1" spacing from radiator
View attachment 27557

v1 just adding a alum sheet as shroud that was right on the radiator.
View attachment 27558

Looks great, did you notice any difference? You should produce those, I'll be game for one for sure

 

[lithium1330]

Looks great, did you notice any difference? You should produce those, I'll be game for one for sure

thanks! The v2 shroud def cools faster than the v1 and no shroud.
At some point, I'll probably get the measurements into a CAD program and send it off to a shop to get it made. what's there today is rather hacky.

 

[DPdotCOM]

Is there any non-custom solution? I have the revotec in front of my 4.2, and it's fine 95% of the time, but under stress it just doesnt keep the temp down. I have a brand new, OEM replacement rad from RN for the v8, but when I'm on the beach in the sand, the engine gets hot. Now MAYBE i have an air bubble or something in the system i need to suss out, but it does seem like there's simply not enough cooling for the high stress beach driving. But there must be a way to keep the engine cool for at least 20 min of drive time on the sane.

 

[jymmiejamz]

My experience is that all replacement radiators and fan clutches are not built to the same quality they originally were and are not adequate for cooling a V8.

 

[lithium1330]

Is there any non-custom solution? I have the revotec in front of my 4.2, and it's fine 95% of the time, but under stress it just doesnt keep the temp down. I have a brand new, OEM replacement rad from RN for the v8, but when I'm on the beach in the sand, the engine gets hot. Now MAYBE i have an air bubble or something in the system i need to suss out, but it does seem like there's simply not enough cooling for the high stress beach driving. But there must be a way to keep the engine cool for at least 20 min of drive time on the sane.

Do you have a fan shroud? That will make a measurable difference.
Also ambient temp is a factor. I was returning from a trip where the ambient temp was 102-110F and the e-fans weren’t able to keep up esp on climbs on the highway.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Do you have a fan shroud? That will make a measurable difference.
Also ambient temp is a factor. I was returning from a trip where the ambient temp was 102-110F and the e-fans weren’t able to keep up esp on climbs on the highway.

That sounds like a radiator problem, not a fan problem

 

[lithium1330]

That sounds like a radiator problem, not a fan problem

I agree it's appears to be a capacity problem - turning heater to full blast helps drop the engine temp by a ~3-4 degrees.
The radiator is upgraded by adding another core last summer, so that's maxed out.
What else, engine or besides pulling to side of road on really hot days?

 

[DPdotCOM]

SendCutSend overs bending now too. If someone is a better engineer than me, you could absolutely have them produce a full shroud that might just need one set of rivets to close off the corners. But they could cut the overall shape, make the top and side bends, and cut out the mounting holes. Would be pretty slick, and just a well-designed vector file needed!