I have no room for fan

[MikeBee69]

69 bee 383 stroked with CVR serpentine belt and vintage air. car was a non a/c car.
radiator is a glen ray 22" i am trying to fit a 18" 7 blade fan in.

i have not enough clearance. with a 2" spacer i am about a 1/16" away from my a/c compressor. but that puts me 1/16" away from the radiator.

obviously, this is to close for comfort. i am at a loss of what to do. I thought about scribing each blade 1/4" - 3/8" off the back but i dont know if that is a good idea. i am pretty set on using a manual fan since everything i see is that there are a lot of problems with electric fans not cooling well.

has anyone run into this before i cant be the only one. what if are the solutions. do they sell a thinner 18 " blade?

thanks,

mike

 

[4speed68rt]

Do you have any pictures of that set-up? Sounds like you might have to use an electric fan.

 

[MikeBee69]

I will try to post some pics shortly. if i do have to use a fan what would be my best option?

 

[4speed68rt]

Find one that fits the radiator, just make sure you get the relay and wire it up correctly. I have only done one, but it worked great. I am sure that somebody will have a good recommendation.

 

[Michael_]

...and people got mad / said i'm full of crap when i was ranting about the lack of space on b body mopars.

It's even tight with my completely stock setup.
Without any pictures it almost sounds like you have to relocate the a/c compressor.

 

[73HEMI_RR_GTX]

I ran into the same issue 40 years ago when I installed a 426 hemi in my 73 RR GTX. I wanted to keep the original A/C from the 440 Road Runner and mount it in the same location as the factory did in 1973. But we all know Chrysler never offered an A/C option on a 426 Hemi. I made some of the brackets and modified others to mount the A/C compressor. But this is how I got the original fan/clutch to work. I made a 1/8" thick spacer that mounted between the viscous fan clutch and the water pump pulley. Then I removed about 1/4" off the back of each fan blade. That gave me about 3/8" clearance between the back of the fan blades and the A/C clutch. I used a section of angle iron turned upside down to balance the fan after machining the fan blades.

hope this helps.
73Hemi

 

[Belv2Vert]

Find one that fits the radiator, just make sure you get the relay and wire it up correctly. I have only done one, but it worked great. I am sure that somebody will have a good recommendation.

I just went through this as well. I am guessing you used the 2 belt serpentine system from CVF. Since there are 2 belts it doubles the distance from the water pump out for the accessories. I have Vintage Air also. I had to go with an electric fan. As a side note, I didn't want to do that either. In retrospect, I would have used the one belt serpentine system from March.

 

[MikeBee69]

I just went through this as well. I am guessing you used the 2 belt serpentine system from CVF. Since there are 2 belts it doubles the distance from the water pump out for the accessories. I have Vintage Air also. I had to go with an electric fan. As a side note, I didn't want to do that either. In retrospect, I would have used the one belt serpentine system from March.

exactly as you said. so what electric fan did you go with and are you happy with how it works. my engine will be pushing 500 hp.

 

[turbine68rt]

Not sure what fan you have now, but regarding the direct drive fans, there were different pitch fans for certain applications, such as an 18" 7 blade #2863224 with only a 2" pitch. The #2863223 was an 18.5" and had a 2.25" pitch. The #2863226 is the correct 18" fan for my 440/727 and appears to have even less pitch than the '224 fan.

 

[MikeBee69]

Not sure what fan you have now, but regarding the direct drive fans, there were different pitch fans for certain applications, such as an 18" 7 blade #2863224 with only a 2" pitch. The #2863223 was an 18.5" and had a 2.25" pitch. The #2863226 is the correct 18" fan for my 440/727 and appears to have even less pitch than the '224 fan.

well that sounds very helpful. my current aftermarket fan is an 18" 2 3/4" pitch. assuming pitch means the width of the fan. i may be able to get away with 2" but it sounds like the 226 might be my best bet.
there is hope. lol

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I like your idea to clearance the back of a mechanical fan

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Another thing to look at is one of the aftermarket flex fans.... At low rpm they have a decent amount of pitch but as RPM's go up the fan flattens out reducing drag

Like this one... Starts off at 2 5/16 but at speed it'll probably come in around 1.5"

Summit Racing SUM-G4918 Summit Racing™ Flex Fans | Summit Racing

 

[turbine68rt]

assuming pitch means the width of the fan.

The pitch is the angle of the blade relative to being mounted totally flat.

 

[beanhead]

I didn't read through all the posts so I apologize if it's been mentioned...but with only 2-ish inches of space I think you're gonna have to go electric. Taking any material off of, or bending the blades to 'flatten' the fan might get you 'some' clearance but will result in reduced airflow(BTDT!)
If you switch to an electric fan setup PLEASE make sure you use a relay and up-size your wiring to accommodate the added load. Seen a lot of MOW-RONS melt their wiring, or worse, because they didn't think they needed to do that...whatever you do report back with your solution and results!

 

[OKDart]

You can gain 7/8” of clearance going to a factory 26” radiator.
I measured 3 1/4” from core support on a 22” in a ‘70 RR. And 2 3/8” on a 26” in a ‘68 Coronet.

 

[Belv2Vert]

It is a Derale I believe. I should be able to find the part number..........

I am happy so far with it. My 496 makes about 500 also and has a nice Glenn Ray radiator.

I just liked the mechanical set up I had and wanted to reuse it.

 

[dvw]

My son's 62 savoy was turboed. No room. he mounted the radiator in front of the core support. The fan mounted in the original radiator location. The only down fall was the hood latch had to go. Hood pins solved that. They actually mounted pointing down out of the hood. Pins went in thru small cut outs in the grille.
Doug

 

[Tony Tee]

Certain model jaguar cars have a real short fan clutch that bolts right in .I used one with My fat champion radiator to give me the clearance I needed on my 69 charger.

 

[beanhead]

Certain model jaguar cars have a real short fan clutch that bolts right in .I used one with My fat champion radiator to give me the clearance I needed on my 69 charger.

Hayden 2947