Anyone here ever try to free up some power by swaping over to electric fans on ther Q45? Thoughts or Opinions?
Terry
Q45 Electric fan conversion?
Some pof us have mused this over.
Miost tend to agree that soemthing as critical as cooling fan operation should be trusted with beltsrather than electrical aftermarket.
A member in Australia has a very nice Q which he ran electric fan on for while with bad experiences.
Also many contend that the power gain is minuscule for the time/effort/money/risk that goes into such a conversion.
A cheap and easy powergain is often a thourough throttle body cleaning as most cars need one and on a Q it can liberate as much as 10, 20 or even more hp if your TB is very dirty.
Fred....
Miost tend to agree that soemthing as critical as cooling fan operation should be trusted with beltsrather than electrical aftermarket.
A member in Australia has a very nice Q which he ran electric fan on for while with bad experiences.
Also many contend that the power gain is minuscule for the time/effort/money/risk that goes into such a conversion.
A cheap and easy powergain is often a thourough throttle body cleaning as most cars need one and on a Q it can liberate as much as 10, 20 or even more hp if your TB is very dirty.
Fred....
Re: Q45 Electric fan conversion?
The Q guys will jump in with the definitive answer but the reason the Q45 has a mechanical fan is the size of the engine. An electric fan system would not be practical for removing all the heat the 4.5 L generates. Nissan engineers would have put an electric fan in if it were possible. I believe there is a thread on this topic.Tgvince wrote:Anyone here ever try to free up some power by swaping over to electric fans on ther Q45? Thoughts or Opinions?
Terry
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Tgvince
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I agree albeit my Q is a Lesser 97:)...But that badboy sure seems to run hot especially out here in the desert of AZ. In the summer when its 105+ all in can here is the fan when im cruising down the freeway. I had exceptional imrovement in cooling on my Turbocharged B13 SE-R...I stayed in house with a fan setup from a B15 its a bit bigger but when that badboy kicks on you better hold onto your hat:), Plus the cost for a dual assembly from Courtesy Nissan was less than any of the aftermarket units i looked at and the factory unit moves more air (tested with the very scientific hand feel method:). I was thinking that maybe that setup might move more air than the direct drive...but perhaps not. Maybe a better option would be to find a bolt on fan to replace the factory one? Opinions on that?
Terry
Terry
I assume you have an electric condenser fan as well. Are you sure that's working properly? It would help to cool the engine. On my car, the fan motor itself works fine; the only problem is that neither of the 2 switches that's supposed to turn it on actually work. I live in a very moderate climate, but if I was concerned about overheating, I would immediately splice in a temp switch to the condenser fan relay.
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Tgvince
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Oh yeah they work...in the summer they both run pretty much all the time. Late in the year i puuled the radiator out and cleaned it thoughrly with a solution used to clean aluminum A/C condensers...It was filthy. I added Royal Purple purple ice to the cooling system, i think in AZ in the summer everything runs hot no matter what:).
Terry
Terry
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Tgvince
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Not clear on the actual mechanics of cooling...I can share a real world experience. When i first turboed my Sentra it ran at about 200 on the water temp gauge, i took a road trip to Texas for the SE-R national conv. once we hit the humitidy in TX it dropped to about 180. At first i figured the car finally burped some air out of the cooling system on the drive, however, on the drive home as soon as it dried out agian it hit the 200 mark agian.I have since done some mods to lower my cooling temps...no worries.
Terry
Terry
The humidity that makes FL unbearable in the summer by carrying a lot of heat can also cool the engine because 90F at 100% humidity, the air is carrying a great deal of cooling capacity relative to the 180F plus the engine is generating. The opposite effect in AZ where 100F feels not too bad because the air doesn't carry much heat due to its low water content also means that it can't carry away or pick up heat from the engine.
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BlackinfinitiQ45
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electric
Not to be argumentative and all, but I see no reason electric fans can't work.
My 405 HP heat machine of a Z06 has electric fans, so I don't see why not a Q.
I don't see it as a performance gain, however.
If you are losing HP to heat soak, I would suggest going to a water/redline water wetter/ 30% antifreeze coolant vs. 50/50. This statement doesn't apply to anyone driving anyplace where the temp gets below 10 degrees F.
I'm considering going electric only because my fan blades are starting to crack, and It is an opportune time to do it.
My 405 HP heat machine of a Z06 has electric fans, so I don't see why not a Q.
I don't see it as a performance gain, however.
If you are losing HP to heat soak, I would suggest going to a water/redline water wetter/ 30% antifreeze coolant vs. 50/50. This statement doesn't apply to anyone driving anyplace where the temp gets below 10 degrees F.
I'm considering going electric only because my fan blades are starting to crack, and It is an opportune time to do it.
BlackinfinitiQ45,
Don't worry about being argumentative, all points of view are valuable and add value to a topic.
I still don't really know why the 18" fan performed so poorly. However, the only difference between the car overheating and not, was going back to the origional OEM fan.
The only thing I can put it down to is that the electric fan did not have the same pitch on the blade as the OEM fan.
I have not been able to find an electric fan with an aggressive fan pitch, as well as a powerfull motor.
Maybe two 9" fans would have pulled more air than a single 18"
I have found that the electric fans did not pull the volume of air claimed by the manufacturer.
If you have more succcess with your conversion than I did, I would be pleased to know what size/brand of fan(s) you used.
Regards
AGM
Don't worry about being argumentative, all points of view are valuable and add value to a topic.
I still don't really know why the 18" fan performed so poorly. However, the only difference between the car overheating and not, was going back to the origional OEM fan.
The only thing I can put it down to is that the electric fan did not have the same pitch on the blade as the OEM fan.
I have not been able to find an electric fan with an aggressive fan pitch, as well as a powerfull motor.
Maybe two 9" fans would have pulled more air than a single 18"
I have found that the electric fans did not pull the volume of air claimed by the manufacturer.
If you have more succcess with your conversion than I did, I would be pleased to know what size/brand of fan(s) you used.
Regards
AGM
I'd stay away from electric fans personally. My experience with them on several types of cars is that if the electric fans didn't come from the factory, you're setting yourself up for cooling problems. The fastest way to make a mkiv Supra (which has a great cooling system from the factory) overheat is to toss the stock engine driven fan for some electric fans in search of a couple of HP.
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maxnix
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1995 Infiniti Q45t
2000 Infiniti Q45
Please Correct Me
It seems to me that if the fan drive is engaged in highway cruise, the temperature probably is sufficiently high to start retarding ignition anyway.
Is this not true?
Is this not true?
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BlackinfinitiQ45
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Well, I can say for sure that the Z06 uses multiple fans.
Trying to go electric to save horsepower simply, in my mind, won't work. The energy has to come from somewhere, and directly off the engine is going to have less energy loss than for the engine to convert kinetic to electric and then back again.
The goal is to gain more horsepower by adequately cooling, with the assumption that the car isn't cooling well enough stock.
Chances are this is true.
Electrical just gives you more flexibility and ease of control.A good application example would be to build an override switch so you can force the fan(s) to full power just before doing some aggresive driving in order to keep the heat from spiking first.
A very common corvette mod is to replace the thermostat, or reprogram the computer (either way works) to force the cooling fans on early. Drag racers have been known to short one or more relays to temporarily force the fan(s) to run non-stop.
Another possibility is that the radiators on the Qs aren't that great. I haven't looked at them, but that could be an additional mod that makes a big difference cooling-wise.
Trying to go electric to save horsepower simply, in my mind, won't work. The energy has to come from somewhere, and directly off the engine is going to have less energy loss than for the engine to convert kinetic to electric and then back again.
The goal is to gain more horsepower by adequately cooling, with the assumption that the car isn't cooling well enough stock.
Chances are this is true.
Electrical just gives you more flexibility and ease of control.A good application example would be to build an override switch so you can force the fan(s) to full power just before doing some aggresive driving in order to keep the heat from spiking first.
A very common corvette mod is to replace the thermostat, or reprogram the computer (either way works) to force the cooling fans on early. Drag racers have been known to short one or more relays to temporarily force the fan(s) to run non-stop.
Another possibility is that the radiators on the Qs aren't that great. I haven't looked at them, but that could be an additional mod that makes a big difference cooling-wise.
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maxnix
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1995 Infiniti Q45t
2000 Infiniti Q45
On the edge
Quote »Another possibility is that the radiators on the Qs aren't that great.[/quote] Q45tech has mentioned this several times, stating the large BMWs and MBs have superior cooling capacity by virtue of larger radiators and more liquid capacity.
