Fan wiring for Alfetta race car

[Bear157]

I've recently installed a twin fan setup on my Alfetta sedan race car project. All fit in perfectly and fans tested well with a quick hookup direct to battery.

Now I am trying to figure out whether to wire it direct to a manual on/off toggle switch via fuse, or to go via the relay with a wire coming from the thermo switch on the radiator.

My thinking was to bypass the fan thermo switch and the relay and just to have a toggle switch on the dash so that I can just run it continually during a race and just after, or at least when it starts getting up to temperature.

What have others done?

I did read on an American forum that one guy felt that a direct wiring system may be unecessary extra work on the alternator, but as I am not running a late model car with computer etc, I wondered if that was a real issue.

Interested in the thoughts of you Alfa and race gurus as this is the first time I have built a race car.

Cheers

Rob 

[NigelC]

My fan is controlled from in the car and generally I use it in the pits, during the warm-up lap and during the cool-down lap but turn it off for the race - there is plenty of air coming through the radiator at race speed. 

Basically, once the lights go on before the start of a race, I flick the fan off and turn it on again one turn after the chequered flag.

[Bear157]

So it's just direct to a toggle and fuse?

Excellent! I can see how the temps would stay down during the race.

Cheers for that.

[bt46]

Wire it with the thermo switch and a manual over ride that way you have full control but you wont boil the engine if you forget to turn it on.

[Bear157]

Thanks guys. I think that based on the fact that the only surviving relay in my fuse box is the fan relay I might do a double up and have a relay/thermo along with an override toggle switch. This also allows for a backup if something happens to the relay or thermo switch at some stage.

Cheers again.

Rob