9 Blade Fan

[SteveK]

I was surfing e-bay and came across this.  Included a picture and listed all of the MB engines it would fit, one being ours.

"280SL, 68-71
      68-71   Engine Cooling Fan Blade Metal Hub W/ 9 Plastic Blades"

Has anyone tried one?  I suspect it would move a lot more air when the engine is at idle.

[Jonny B]

I will be curious to hear if there is anyone who has tried it. Remember, a lot more air = more work to move the air, which might be a trade off.

[tel76]

Would it not be a better idea to use a thermostatically control ed electric fan,it would relieve the water pump of the heavy fan assy: and have more control over water temperature.together with releasing some extra h.p?
Has anyone tried this modification?

[SteveK]

Eric, there are a number of posts talking about electric fans.  It's been tried and as far as I can tell has not worked well.   Not sure why, my 400HP Yukon has nothing but an electric fan.   I ordered the 9 blade and will take some before and after air movement readings (not sure how yet) and will then see what it does.  My car has never hit the red yet, but during the summer in Houston it always lifts off the thermostat setting and settles up at the 215 mark when I get stuck in traffic.   I'll report back to all after the new blade is installed, probably around the end of December.

[DavidBrough]

Eric,

If you're interested in electric fans have a look here http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=5944.0

I've done about all there is to do with electric fans to keep my A/C car cool and finally succeeded with a twin fan set up linked to a thermostat in the radiator that works perfectly. I also fitted an electric water pump along the way but don't really need it now as the twin fans work on their own, it's still in place for now as it does give me extra piece of mind in that the fans and pump together will return a hot engine to normal in seconds.

[SteveK]

I've had the 9 blade fan for a while and just spend a few hours with my son putting it in the car.  Turned out that is was about 1" Dia larger than the original fan so we wound up trimming about 1/4" off each blade to make sure it had reasonable clearance from the shroud.  Replace the fan clutch at the same time as I figured the one in the car now was original.  Haven't done anything scientific to measure air flow but it feels from the air over hand test in front of the radiator that there is a lot more air flowing.  Will hopefully get to test it in the next few weeks if we get some more warm weather.  See pic of the two fans sided by side below.