Fan clearance

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Hillside hemi

Hillside hemi

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Just got a quick question I put a new aluminum radiator in my 65 Valiant.. which is a little thicker than the stock and not thinking yesterday when I installed it and it was fun trying to get it in there but I got it in and mounted... today on break I was looking at it I have about a quarter inch gap between the fan and radiator and as I was looking at it I noticed which I didn't think about it yesterday I got a one inch spacer on the fan will that quarter inch Gap be fine? Or should I pull the radiator out and take that spacer out?

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I also have a 65 valiant slant 6 that I put a champion radiator in. The spacing is identical to yours and
I have no problems. I would not worry about it unless its not cooling properly
 
Hillside hemi said:
Just got a quick question I put a new aluminum radiator in my 65 Valiant.. which is a little thicker than the stock and not thinking yesterday when I installed it and it was fun trying to get it in there but I got it in and mounted... today on break I was looking at it I have about a quarter inch gap between the fan and radiator and as I was looking at it I noticed which I didn't think about it yesterday I got a one inch spacer on the fan will that quarter inch Gap be fine? Or should I pull the radiator out and take that spacer out?
Click to expand...

If nothing ever moved 1/4 would be fine, but things do move.
I would SOOO be pulling that spacer, because an extra inch space is going to make WAY less difference than the fan hitting my new radiator.
 
check and see how close the fan blade is to hiting the crank pully before you pull it off you may need to cut down your spacer (turn it in a lathe to get the desired depth )
 
I would absolutely find a shorter spacer. You probably can't eliminate the spacer entirely because you'll end up too close to the belts and pulleys without one, but even another 1/4" would make a BIG difference.

The engine and transmission are rubber mounted, they do move around a little and a 1/4" isn't much clearance. Under normal conditions it probably won't hit, but an emergency hard stop, big pothole, engine mount that lets go, etc could all spell disaster for your radiator.
 
slam on the brakes at 60 and see how much those rubber mounts hold the engine back when its going forward, and those pancake mounts break all the time on the early k frames
 
Lot better put a half inch spacer in now I got a half inch between radiator and fan a half inch between fan and pulleys :)

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teringer said:
slam on the brakes at 60 and see how much those rubber mounts hold the engine back when its going forward, and those pancake mounts break all the time on the early k frames
Click to expand...

The Trans mount is captured, and only allows less than 1/4" of forward movement.
 
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My son is a very spirited driver. He has been driving his Dart for over 3 yrs with 1/4" clearance from the clutch face to the rad. As I mentioned, the trans mount being captured, restricts the motor's forward movement.
The fan blades of the one in pic will move forward with rpm, so rev it up and watch the clearance disappear.
I'd probably take the spacer out too, just cuz the blades will move forward, and hi rpm from a missed shift may cause interference, sometimes with the lower tank, depending on the fan dia. Jmo

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I just bought a Champion 3 row radiator for a 64 Plymouth Valiant convertible. I am having similar clearance issues. I took the one inch fan spacer off and my fan hits the crank pulley. If I leave the spacer on, there is no way to get the radiator in. I can't send it back because I have already scraped a few of the fins when I naively tried to install it. No where on the website did it state that I would have to make modifications to use this radiator. I'm not a fan of champion at all right now.

I've ordered a half inch spacer and a 7 blade fan off ebay that may give me more wiggle room. If this doesn't work then I will be looking in to getting my original radiator re-cored.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to send my original radiator to be re-cored?

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out of desperation I have purchased this fan off ebay in hopes that the blades don't come as far back as the original. Maybe I can use it with no spacer or a half inch spacer..

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casey3307 said:
I just bought a Champion 3 row radiator for a 64 Plymouth Valiant convertible. I am having similar clearance issues. I took the one inch fan spacer off and my fan hits the crank pulley. If I leave the spacer on, there is no way to get the radiator in. I can't send it back because I have already scraped a few of the fins when I naively tried to install it. No where on the website did it state that I would have to make modifications to use this radiator. I'm not a fan of champion at all right now.

I've ordered a half inch spacer and a 7 blade fan off ebay that may give me more wiggle room. If this doesn't work then I will be looking in to getting my original radiator re-cored.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to send my original radiator to be re-cored?

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Click to expand...
You should be good with a 1/2" spacer and the five blade fan that's what I'm using and got clearance on both sides I have a 7 Blade fan it still doesn't fit right....
 
Hillside hemi said:
You should be good with a 1/2" spacer and the five blade fan that's what I'm using and got clearance on both sides I have a 7 Blade fan it still doesn't fit right....
Click to expand...
Hillside hemi said:
You should be good with a 1/2" spacer and the five blade fan that's what I'm using and got clearance on both sides I have a 7 Blade fan it still doesn't fit right....
Click to expand...
Here's a picture of my five blade fan and half inch spacer

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You guys want to scare yourselves, rev the engine to 4k, and watch how far the fan blades suck forward toward the rad.
Sometimes enuff to interfere with the lower rad tank NOT the finned rad core. (Often overlooked).
 
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Not that I am a big fan of Champion either ;) but the big problem with performance radiator companies (including ourselves) is that we are almost always thinking in terms of v8 conversions. We forget that every once in a while, there are 6 cylinder cars needing these radiators also.
It's almost always a fitment problem when the 6 cylinder stays in the car. They are longer than v8's and our radiators are thicker than stock.
 
Those radiators are good for their price, they just do a bad job with the simple side mounts they use. I could have fit a 3 core in my Lancer, but they located it out with the simple mounts. You can see in the second picture how the stock rad goes into the rad support. I had to have my old rad redone and right now I am using the 4 blade fan with no spacer. Still tight.
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