Adding fans and thermostat

[neveroddoreven]

I read a lot of threads that say Vanguard 23hp engines tend to overheat when trapped in the belly of an AATV, even if say it's a Max II and all the engine vents have been carved out in the back for maximum ventilation. I'd prefer not to buy another engine, so I bought a pair of six inch radiator fans and plan to put one down by the oil cooler and the other up higher somewhere. I'll connect both of these to a digital thermostat module, and have it switch on past some temperature threshold. I don't know what that temperature threshold should be? The thermostat can do up to 257 degrees Fahrenheit and uses a small NTC type glass thermistor bead.

What place would be good to mount this bead against the engine? I could, say, drill a little hole through some heatsink fin and trap the bead in there with some thermal compound. And then what is the maximum expected temperature for an air cooled engine like this? I don't want to cycle the fans too much and drain my battery.

[trevorakm1]

I have that motor in y big foot and have two of those fans mounted on the inside of the grate where the tail pipe exits the tub. Never had an overheat issue like I did with the 18HP the argo came with. I feel most of the heat comes from the muffler. The motor has a duct and fan to draw in cooler air but nothing to expel the exhaust heat. works great. I use a 3 position switch. off then the exhaust fans and then exhaust fans with the brake cooling fan.at idle I can reduce the electrical load by taking the brake fan off.