Series 1 3.8 cooling fan

[Robbiee]

Dear all
I’m Wanting to keep my early 3.8 as standard as possible whilst rebuilding it. I’m missing the original 2 blade fan ...a replacement was fitted by PO many years ago.
I’m planning to get a Marston type rad...aluminium.
I’ll be driving the car on open roads with little use in town.
From previous threads it seems that cooling is not a problem with this setup

Any views from anyone?

Also...where can one find an original 2 blade fan?
There should be plenty lurking around seeing as many people upgrade to newer versions

Thanks
Robbie

[cactusman]

They do turn up quite frequently on eBay.

I think most owners will tell you that the original two blade fan is next to useless. Unless you are building a show car for concourse events most will advise the two blade fan be put on the shelf and kept in case a future custodian wants to show it....that's what I did. If you plan to use the car get a modern fan. The 3.8 has a reputation for boiling at the best of times... I now have a reproduction marston rad with a claimed 40% better cooling along with a multi blade coolkat fan. Perfect. The fan is a drop in replacement for the original motor. No mods required. The car remains cool even in long queues....peace of mind when driving an e type is a precious thing and a modern rad and fan mean one less thing to worry about when the surprise road works queue appears....as they do even in the wilds of the country side.

[Robbiee]

Hi Julian
Great advice, thanks
I’ll definitely get the rad upgrade
I might TRY an original fan and motor and monitor it.
I guess if the coolcat motor/fan is a drop in replacement then it can easily be swapped out if needed?

Too nerdy???

Robbie

[cactusman]

Yep...20 mins to fit and probably the same to remove. Can be done with the rad in place with care. Might need to loosen the shroud.

[ralphr1780]

Robbie, first check which type of fan motor you have and its rotation CCW or CW.
3.8 had a CCW, which would push air through the radiator instead of sucking, which was not appropriate.
Once a CW motor is fitted, and the engine is in good order, the simple blade fan is up to the job in Northern Europe.
Here is a pic illustrating the two types of motors with the arrows indicating the rotation:

[Robbiee]

Thanks Gentlemen
Ralph ..are you saying that the 3.8 had a fan than ran CCW and therefore PUSHED air forwards through the radiator ...surely this would REDUCE the cooling effect whilst the car was in motion and suck hot engine air forwards through the radiator when stationary in traffic.
This seems counterintuitive...unless the fan blades were opposite “screw” on the 3.8s
Car manufacturers usually have a reasonable reason for doing things that might later seem odd to us

Am I missing the point?

Kind Regards
Robbie

[Robbiee]

I’ve checked jag lovers and it seems that there were two fan blades...depending upon the rotation of the motor.
So a later blade would indeed blow forwards if on an early motor and vice versa
The Lucas motors were used as blowers and suckers depending on which manufacturers used them hence the two ..CW and CCW
ROBBIE

[ralphr1780]

Robbie, there is only one type of blade but two types of motors.
And indeed early 3.8 used to push the air through the radiator instead of pulling.
This would be no issue when the car is static, but rather problematic when the car is on the move.
I went through these details few months back for my car.

[Robbiee]

Ralph
Thank you ...very interesting
Robbie

[Series1 Stu]

The reasoning being that forward motion would eliminate the need for forced cooling. Pushing engine-surrounding air forward through a radiator and towards cooler air seems counter-intuitive to me.

Fan motor was pretty much a windscreen wiper motor.

Regards

[Brendan]

Will second the cooler cats fan. Standard rad and (unfortunately) sits most summer weekends in line for Dartford tunnel with no issues. Only the driver over heats......

[Robbiee]

I’ve just had a look through Haddock’s book and it appears that there are opposite pitch 2 bladed fans which I guess would mean that, provided you have the correct blade for the motor, the fan will always be a puller of cold air through the radiator.
This would seem logical
Robbie

[ralphr1780]

Interesting Robbie.
The parts catalogue mentions only one type of blade for S1 3.8 and 4.2: C16687.
While there are 2 references for the motors.

[Robbiee]

I know the parts handbook is very good but they don’t always list everything.
Is there anyone else on the forum who can confirm this ?
Perhaps someone with a very original S1 3.8 can shed light on on whether the fan pushed or pulled?
Robbie

[Philk]

I have just had the engine bay restored on our '64 3.8 OTS. I wanted it to look as stock as possible but with appropriate upgrades. We've fitted a matching set from Fosseway of Marston Radiator, Fan and Shroud. The fan has a different motor arrangement and a multi-blade fan but, imho, is an acceptable modern upgrade given cars have to stand in traffic jams for longer these days than previously. To 99% of onlookers it will look stock but, agreed, it would not stand scrutiny in a concours competition. Since mine is a car that will be used, I'm happy with that compromise.

[cactusman]

Lovely. Looks absolutely stunning. Like you I opted for a modern fan rather than the quaint original 'flymo' type. Provides that bit of extra confidence when stuck in a queue...which I have been on several occasions. The needle creeps to about 80 deg C then stops....the original is restored and painted and stored away lest me or a future owner decide to enter a concourse....I'd drive there with the modern fan and do a sneaky swap round the back if the bike shed

[Robbiee]

OK guys...you win
I’ll go for the fosseway or coolkat fan with Marston rad
I’ll restore the flymo and keep it

Still interested in whether there were two pitches of fan or nit though!

Love this forum ...I think I’m a little bit addicted!

BW
Robbie

[Heuer]

I have a modern Marston replica rad (Radtec version) in my FHC and I replaced a Coolcat fan with the stock version just to see how the car would cope. It did so surprisingly well when stuck in town traffic with ambient temperatures of about 22c - the temperature gauge hardly moved! I still have the original fan in the car.

As far as I know all S1 cars had counter clockwise turning Lucas motors C16452 and the fan blades C16687 designed to draw air through the radiator. Later motors had arrows indicating the direction of rotation. I believe the CW fan motors were introduced in about 1970 on the S2 cars.

[cactusman]

This one popped up today...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-E-Typ ... SwN5Vamch7

Claims to be from chassis no 88?? 1961 car.....who knows....

Not mine. Not my ad BTW...

[Philk]

Lovely. Looks absolutely stunning. Like you I opted for a modern fan rather than the quaint original 'flymo' type. Provides that bit of extra confidence when stuck in a queue...which I have been on several occasions. The needle creeps to about 80 deg C then stops....the original is restored and painted and stored away lest me or a future owner decide to enter a concourse....I'd drive there with the modern fan and do a sneaky swap round the back if the bike shed

That's really kind of you to say that. Thank you. Re the Fan, we've tested it static and it gives considerable comfort to see the fan switch on and the temperature gauge drop back down! Road-testing in anger will start once the salt is off the road. I may try and track down an original fan/blade to keep with the car. Mine's a late 3.8 so I need to find one period to the car.