Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
Looking at the fans on my V8 Bristol I have been struck by how well designed they are. Maybe something to do with a legacy of aerodynamic knowledge in the company, but the twin electric fans are built into a little cowling which I think is a component only found on Bristol cars in that period. I have seen very poorly arranged fans on other classic cars of the period, but the way the Bristol fans are mounted in a cowling seems very well designed, and this carries the pressurised cool air efficiently to the radiator core.
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Thor, I'm not convinced the design was that great. That "little cowling" has the fans sitting six inches away from the radiator, and sat in slow moving or stationary traffic there is no air pressurisation effect - one is entirely reliant on the fans alone.
Having fans force air
at the radiator is different to forcing air
through the radiator, as modern surface mounter fans will do. I found that once an AC condenser had been mounted in front of the 411 radiator, the original fans no longer maintained a safe engine temperature. However, there were a number of gaps for the air to go through, rather than go through the path of higher resistance - through the condenser then the radiator.
As a relevant aside, I changed the radiator on a Mercedes ML430 at the weekend - pig of a job, not least because it also provides cooling for the transmission and the power steering - it was interesting to see what lengths Mercedes went to, to stop air going
around the radiator.