Cooling issue on highway

RustyRatRod said
I might be wrong, but I don't have a choice. I don't have enough room for a clutch fan. I don't have enough $$$ for an electric fan. At least not right now.

Junkyard and a tape measure. There are dozens of sizes available.

George Jets said
This is the 18" silent run fan, 3/4" away from the radiator, no shroud, aluminum radiator.

The blades don't flex, the design cuts the air instead of chopping it so they run quiet and don't rob extra power.

Tight quarters with the serpentine belt dress up kit that pushes everything forward, this fan cleared everything easily, and is keeping the big 440 with headers running cool. No Shroud.
$65.00 shipped in.

View attachment 1715953335

You can even see here the electric fan and shroud setup was actually rubbing the center of the aluminum serpentine water pump pulley in the tight quarters.

View attachment 1715953334

Got a nice job of machining down the aluminum serpentine pulley so the silent run fan would bolt up with the proper spacer.

View attachment 1715953337

As a mock up example here is the first silent run fan setup:

View attachment 1715953338

________________

For those who are curious about the the "Flex Fans".

Here is a picture of one that is 18", makes lots of noise, robs power, and won't clear in the tight quarter situations like Elephant Ears, serpentine belt setups/dress ups, and just plain tight quarter layouts.

View attachment 1715953339

☆☆☆☆☆

The blades certainly flex...and I wonder what that Chinese fan might do at 7500rpm. (I'd expect nothing good.)

Bewy said
Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story:
- some years ago, Hayden or Flex-a-Lite or one of the fan companies had flow figures on their website. A 19" seven blade mech fan pulled 6000+ cfm. Have not seen an elec fan get close to that.
- newer cars have generally smaller engines. So less coolant to cool than say a 440 [ 7.2L ], smaller fan work ok.
- newer cars using elec fans also have the luxury of detonation sensors; just pull out some timing if that small fan cannot stop the pinging. Our old iron doesn't have that ability. Therefore, the cooling system [ & fan ] needs to be capable of handling the worst case scenario. Not a job for a low output elec fan.
- newer cars run higher compression. That actually lowers temp, not raises it.
- there are going to be power losses in the drivetrain before the car moves. Losses from the alt, trans, p/s pump, & fan, etc.

I drove vehicles that ran 220 degrees with no knock sensors.