Kenlowe Fan

[happy days]

Been in touch with Kenlowe regarding one of their fans for my 3500s. They have a 13" heavy duty blower fan which is 60mm thick, he thinks it should fit between the grill and the radiator, this is a new addition to their range as the other 13" heavy duty fan is 70mm, but struggled with fitting for our power steering cars, I would be interested if any of you guys who have Kenlowe fitted are they between grill and rad or rad and engine ? do you think their 60mm will fit ? by the way they are saying they have them going at a good price ie no vat. He is going to email me all dimensions and spec if anyone is interested.

[rockdemon]

I'd be interested potentially. PAE has a fan but the controller has packed up. I'm not sure whether to go for one of these:

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?sg=1&pgCode=083&sgName=Electrical&pgName=Heaters+%26+Electrical+Fans&agCode=0222&agName=Electric+Fan+Accessories&pCode=080.253

or one of these:

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?sg=1&pgCode=083&sgName=Electrical&pgName=Heaters+%26+Electrical+Fans&agCode=0222&agName=Electric+Fan+Accessories&pCode=080.872

Obviously the revotec solution is slightly nicer in terms of actually measuring the fluid temperature, but the new kenlowe controller does seem a huge step up from their earlier devices.

If going for the revotec and cutting it into the rad top hose, which size would normally be used?

[happy days]

Im not sure about the looks of the rovertec one, are they saying cut a section from the hose and fit it inline, For me it would look out of place, i would prefer it to be more discrete.

[rockdemon]

I think it is a form vs function one you're right on that.... Like asking Mac or pc....

[webmaster]

I think the inline would actually look better than the "shoved in the end of the pipe" kenlowe job. Once you've cut it into the hose, there'll only be a small section visible.

Even better would be to use an existing temp sender, or fit one into thermostat houseing. But then you'd need custom electronics to control it, fairly straight forward if you're into that sort of thing, but impossible if you're not !

Shame the rads don't have a fitting for a standard bi-metal fan switch, would make for a very easy install. I guess you could get a boss brazed in to the end tank ?

[rockdemon]

The newer kenlowe install mounts a sensor to the rad... A little probe by the looks of it. So loses calibratable temp but gains in convenience...

[webmaster]

This one

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?sg=1&pgCode=083&sgName=Electrical&pgName=Heaters+%26+Electrical+Fans&agCode=0222&agName=Electric+Fan+Accessories&pCode=080.257

[happy days]

Kenlowe said to me its a probe which pushes into the rad, Im more keen to see if the fan will fit between the grill and rad, as it is battering it with rain here i cant get out to measure at the moment, Mr R/D is your fan fitted in the engine bay, ie between rad and engine ? By the way this newer fan is dual speed

[rockdemon]

Between Rad and grill. No idea how old it is though..

Rich

[quattro]

I have the Revotec one as it works. I know a lot of people can get the kenlowe one to work, but I have never been able to get them to seal properly with the high pressure of the V8 coolant system

I do quite like the look of it too, although I put it in at an angle and the rubber cover fell off



My fan stopped working so I dropped a thin 14" one in front of the rad.

Richard

[rockdemon]

I don't suppose you remember which size revotec you went for?

Rich.

[happy days]

That rovertec doesn't look too bad when fitted

[corazon]

My kenlowe is also fitted between rad and grill, it's a good few years old as was already fitted when i bought the car
It's a little undersized i reckon but does the job.
I did have some cooling issues when i first bought the car, but they were solved by high flow rad recore and rewiring the fan so it actually blows onto the rad rather than away from it
If i were to choose from scratch i think two smaller fans next to each other might be a better option.
Temp sender is very discrete in the top hose and if sealed with the right stuff works fine, even without the special connecting piece they sell- which i don't have.
Jim

[chrisyork]

First off, there's no doubt that the Kenlowe fans are much better than anybody elses. But you do pay a very high price for the extra performance. I suggest having a look on Ebay where you will find a lot of choice at a very small fraction of the cost of the Kenlowe. I'd be inclined to see if I could squeeze a curved blade 16" one in on the grounds that that would cover a greater area of the radiator surface. It would be quite acceptable to cut a notch in the lip of the undertray to accomodate the depth of the motor. It will be covered by the grille so won't show. Didn't Testrider have a picture of that? The other key factor is the power consumption of the fan. Compare what Kenlowe quote you on power consumption with what you finish up buying.

As for the control system, there's just no way I would use either of the Kenlowe systems. They stick in my crawe as an engineer as being plain old lash ups! Especially when there are competent alternatives. The superb engineering of a Rover demands something better.

Luckily, as you guys have identified, there are alternatives. I'm quite comfortable with the in hose type mentioned above. But there is one further alternative, which is my favourite:

http://www.revotec.com/catalogue_EFCM22.asp

These sensors screw into an existing rad fan control socket on the radiator. Most modern cars from the late 80's onwards are fitted with these. Ah, I hear you say, but the P6 doesn't have one of those! Well, not as standard, but any radiator shop will fit one for you when they recore or otherwise repair your rad.

So if you own a V8, then first step is to get a three row core fitted to your rad (the standard fix for dodgy cooling on the V8) and at the same time get one of these bosses fitted into the hot side tank. Then you don't have to cut a hole, stuff something under a hose or otherwise bodge anything.

There is also a fan controller somewhere which gives a proportional response to rising temperature, so that the fan starts off slow and gets faster as the car heats up. I can't directly find the link to that right now so I'll add that as I get to it.

Chris

[ghce]

Shouldn't be to hard to design a controller that just works of the existing temp sensor, just a matter of a comparator circuit and a PWM circuit to drive the fan for proportional control. Relativly easy to do and no messing around with the Rad or hoses, I may give this some thought but I have been too busy with my work to find many spare moments but it is an appealing elegant solution.

Graeme