Ferrari 250 Engine

[Rodolfo]

Hello Guys:

I'm new on the forum, moving from F1 models (bought a few, only 2 built)

Now I have the Ferraris 250 GTO and TR, and also got an 250 SWB from e bay.

The engines in any of these MODEL KITS have the cooling fan. Do all of them need one?

It is hard to find good pics of these fans, particularly on the TR, in which the radiator is covered by the nose.

I have seen gmpdiecast.com They sell 1/6 model engines of these cars, but the SWB does not have the fan...

Should I make one for it? Is anyone got pictures of the FANS on these engines?

Thank You.

Rodolfo

[CAL]

Hello Guys:

I'm new on the forum, moving from F1 models (bought a few, only 2 built)

Now I have the Ferraris 250 GTO and TR, and also got an 250 SWB from e bay.

The engines in any of these MODEL KITS have the cooling fan. Do all of them need one?

It is hard to find good pics of these fans, particularly on the TR, in which the radiator is covered by the nose.

I have seen gmpdiecast.com They sell 1/6 model engines of these cars, but the SWB does not have the fan...

Should I make one for it? Is anyone got pictures of the FANS on these engines?

Thank You.

Rodolfo

Well that's a good question. I am build a 250 GTO and was asking the same question to myself. I have a couple different GTO kits and non of them with a fan. Now I have looked at a bunch of pics of 1:1 GTOs and most of them you cannot see if they do or not. Most of them (I have looked at about 15 of the 33/36 GTOs built and I have seen one weird looking three bladed fan, the others if there was a fan I suspect it was electric on the rad itself, as you can see the front of the engine and there is not direct drive fan.

GMP, and there is another Trans kit for the Diecast Revell 1:18 GTO and I didn't see a fan on that motor either.

So I don't know. I know the one fan I did see was an odd three blade fan. IIRC it that one was also a direct drive engine/pully mounted fan and it may have been on a California or a later model, and not on a series I or II.

HTH

[Jairus]

Duh!

All street cars need a cooling fan!

However, by 1970... most Ferrari's had converted to "Electric fans" mounted in front of the radiator. Therefore, the kit maker might not have shown it due to the fan being mounted in a place where the cost of molding it being prohibitive.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Jairus

[Rodolfo]

Hello Guys:

I'm new on the forum, moving from F1 models (bought a few, only 2 built)

Now I have the Ferraris 250 GTO and TR, and also got an 250 SWB from e bay.

The engines in any of these MODEL KITS have the cooling fan. Do all of them need one?

It is hard to find good pics of these fans, particularly on the TR, in which the radiator is covered by the nose.

I have seen gmpdiecast.com They sell 1/6 model engines of these cars, but the SWB does not have the fan...

Should I make one for it? Is anyone got pictures of the FANS on these engines?

Thank You.

Rodolfo

[Rodolfo]

Thanks to both.

I imagined all should have a fan. It appeared strange that only the SWB model engine from gmp does not have it.

Since all are pre-1970, I'll scrathbuild them... I think that a small cilinder and blades made from a straw might work. We'll see. Ideas are welcome.

HTH: Certainly, the gmp GTO engine apperars to have a 3 blade fan.

Rod

[CAL]

It might be a little hard to see because is shrunk it down a bunch, but this is my best photo of a 250GTO engine where you can see the back side of the radiator. Clearly there is no direct drive fan or even an electric fan on the this side of the rad. If there is a fan it would have to be in front of the rad.

The other thing I noticed about these ###### things is, there was only 36 built, I am not sure but I think most are surviving in some way or another. However, every one I have looked at has been different. They were raced competitively for 3 or more years, we all know how race cars get changed, and they are 44 years old, notwithstanding, they were all hand built to begin with. The point is no two are the same, experts say that there is only one maybe two that are pretty close to original as the factory built it.

Edited August 29, 2008 by CAL

[CAL]

Duh!

All street cars need a cooling fan!

However, by 1970... most Ferrari's had converted to "Electric fans" mounted in front of the radiator. Therefore, the kit maker might not have shown it due to the fan being mounted in a place where the cost of molding it being prohibitive.

Well it has a huge grill opening with a prancing horse and nothing else, no grill, no screen, nothing. Plus two brake ducts, and 6 vents. the front of the rad is pretty visable from any angle of the front... one maybe two more parts I am not sure.

I have photos for about six 250 GTOs that you can see the rad from the front and the back in a different shot. Some of them I cannot see the fan from either front or rear.

I do have access to a 1:1 275 GTB but I am not sure that is going really help.

I did find a pic of the engine test running on a stand, FWIW, there is NO fan on the motor or rad.

Edited August 29, 2008 by CAL

[Jairus]

Almost no racing car has an radiator fan. Such things are stripped as they are parasitic horsepower losses since a racing car rarely spends any time sitting at a stop light. However, just try driving any street car through down town Chicago without a fan and you will be overheating in minutes. When you build your Ferrari model just consider if it is to be a racer or a street car and build accordingly.

If you are shooting pictures or are viewing pictures of racing cars then that explains why you are seeing no cooling fans.

[LDO]

Go to www.ferrarichat.com and ask this question on the Vintage board. There are members who rebuild/restore these classic engines. Right now on page 1 there's a thread with several pics of a Lampredi V-12 in various stages of disassembly.

[Exotics_Builder]

Maybe this will help.

Go here for info on the engine:

Ferrari 250 GTO engine info

This is the best 250 GTO engine picture I have. Look to left side and you'll see an electric cooling fan.

[ismaelg]

I'm not really sure but I would suspect that the 250 GTO and the SWB would have a fan because they were intended to be dual purpose cars: street/race. As for the 250 TR, I don't think it was really intentended to be a street car. But this is all my speculation: Your mileage may vary.

[Brendan]

The 250TR would not have a fan. It was built as a race car. That's why there were under 40 of them made. It had to meet the standards of the governing body to be called a Production Based car. There are some out there that do have electric fans but they were added by the owners of the cars. As for the other two cars, I can't see them not having a fan somewhere. Most of those cars were driven on the street unless they had it as a race car and then they would not have a fan. Ferrari would never have the fan attached to the motor due to the fact of parasitic drag. (loss of horse power)

[Guest zebm1]

Way back inthe 60s, there was a guy down in Clearwater, Wayne Purdy who owned European Motors- is still there. We knew him from go-kart racing...anyway he used to tune all of the exotic cars....I even got to ride in a "Pusher" Ferrari once. Anyway, even the street cars didn't have any fans that I ever saw....as the 250 series cars were pure race cars.....

Now Wayne would rig up an electric fan for some of the customers....but like I said I never saw a cooling fan on the 250 GTOs. There was a smaller ferrari, that had the same engine and it came with a fan, belt driven IIRC. Called a 250 SWB, not the breadvan car.

Thought it would be better to post a coupla pics to illustrate.....

Edited August 29, 2008 by zebm1

[CAL]

that is what I am begining to suspect, none of these 250 series cars came with fans, and were either dealer or customer installed after the fact.