electric fan in place of fan on engine?

[scottorious]

anyone tried to put an electric fan on their scooter controlled by a little thermostat? My old air cooled buell had one. It only ran sometimes and sounded really cool when it did. That could mean that the fan could be taken off the crank which has to rob a little power right?

[martynkim]

I think you may risk overheating your bore. Honda designed it that way for a reason. Reliablity...

[Petrock's 1984 Spree]

Im guessing the amount of power it pulls from the crank is negligible.

You could certainly try it an report back with results though!

You have to remember though that the stock fan has plastics that the air flow travels through so that it surround your bore.
If you go with the electric fan idea, what you would want to do for the most reliabilty is modify your engine plastics so that the air flow surrounds the bore. Just like it is stock.

To me, it seems like to much work to be worth it

[Bear45-70]

Just any fan is not gonna work. Fans are rated for CFM, Cubic Feet per Minute. Not enough CFM = fried motor. I know of no way for finding out the stock fan's CFM rating at a given RPM. I'm sure it is way more than an electric, which will be constant, whereas the engine fan pumps more air the faster the engine revs. So I doubt and electric fan is a good idea for two reasons.

1. Does not pump more air the faster you rev the engine.

2. Puts an additional load on the charging system.

[scottorious]

i would argue its not reliability but simplicity. An electric fan could just as easily cool the engine and possibly more so. Yes it may be more work than its worth but performance mods on a 50cc scooter seem like more work than they are worth but none the less some people have a lot of cash wrapped up in their hopped up scooter. My old buell would had a timer on the fan that would keep it running for a few minutes after I shut it down. Was always cool to shut it off and walk away as the fan was whining and everyone was like "what is that crazy machine doing?".

[scottorious]

the additional load on the charging system would be the only thing I would worry about. The fan could be mounted directly to the plastic shroud that already houses the stock fan. Yes the fan would spin at a constant speed but that too could be changed, fairly easily also.

[Trafficjamz]

the additional load on the charging system would be the only thing I would worry about. The fan could be mounted directly to the plastic shroud that already houses the stock fan. Yes the fan would spin at a constant speed but that too could be changed, fairly easily also.

Your scooter fan spins as fast as the engine rpm. (8-9 thousand rpms)

To get an electric fan to spin that fast an d move similar cfm's would require a lot of electrical current.

The charging system and battery of a scooter would not handle it well.

[Bear45-70]

i would argue its not reliability but simplicity. An electric fan could just as easily cool the engine and possibly more so. Yes it may be more work than its worth but performance mods on a 50cc scooter seem like more work than they are worth but none the less some people have a lot of cash wrapped up in their hopped up scooter. My old buell would had a timer on the fan that would keep it running for a few minutes after I shut it down. Was always cool to shut it off and walk away as the fan was whining and everyone was like "what is that crazy machine doing?".

Timer is stupid, you would need a thermostatically controlled switch to turn the fan on and off. The ambient air temp would change everything so a timer is not a good idea. It appears you have decided you want to do this. When you fry your motor, don't say you weren't told it was gonna happen.

[scottorious]

no im not sure if I will. It is a lot more work than its worth probly. It is kind of fun to think about though. I am having a lot of fun on this thing. Its kind of fun to just keep the throttle pinned and fly around. I have for myself a Buell 1125r so as far as speed and power the scooter is nothing in comparison but its a different kind of fun. I kind of enjoy just tinkering on the thing because if I do fry it, it really isnt a big deal.

[bc117]

why dont you just put a cool sounding fan under your plastics and leave the engine fan alone
p.s. you could probly take your flywheel to a machine shop and have them take off the equivalent weight of your engine fan if you are still concerned about it be parasitic