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The mechanical fan only does something useful at a rest or very low speeds. The rest of the time the motion of the car provides ample air flow. That being the case the mechanical fan doesn't work well when it needs to (idling at rest) and at high rpms it is doing a lot of work (draining HP) when it doesn't need to. They tried to mitigate this in later cars with the viscous clutches that would let the fan slip but the fact remains it is 'on' all the time when it rarely needs to be.
My 544 with the mechanical fan would just plain overheat if it sat and idled for a while on an even faintly warm day. And if I ever got stuck in stop and go traffic I had to turn the heater on. The puny mechanical fan just didn't wave enough air around at low engine speeds. Plus - if I shut it off after some quick driving it would occasionally boil over after sitting for a few minutes.
I put a 15 inch electric fan on, removed the mechanical fan and have been VERY pleased with the results. Now if it sits and idles for extended periods the fan just comes on for 30 seconds every 5 or 6 minutes. Once in a blue moon it will kick on in slow traffic. And on warm days it will cycle once or twice after shut-off and prevents boilovers.
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