fan clutch Vs. bolted fan

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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what are the advantages and disadvantages of:

a fan with a fan clutch

and a straight bolted fan?
 
One advantage a clutch fan has is that it frees up horsepower and cools better

I have a stock 4 blade fan on my 340 and it works great
 
I swapped to a clutch fan on my truck and noticed an immediate seat-of-the-pants increase. I like 'em.
 
RaniDart70 said:
what are the advantages and disadvantages of:

a fan with a fan clutch

and a straight bolted fan?
Click to expand...

A straight bolted fan is some real caveman technology, but should never fail, and they do suck some power, not to mention are always making a bit of a racket at higher RPM. I like fan clutch setups, but only if they are high quality parts. It's pretty impressive to hear one go into "lockup" with a 6 or 8-bladed fan, like when someone is pulling a boat up a long grade. That thing is really moving some air and roaring!!

It's pretty rare when they DO go into lock up, but with a cheapy junk unit, I'd hate to find out my made-in-China piece was incapable of locking up.
 
seems like a clutch fan takes up more room and puts you closer to the radiator
 
Just depends on the car. Some of the whaling vessels had fan shrouds, heck I don't know what the record is!!!!

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Clutch fan is better, Bolted fan has less parts and is more reliable. Clutch fans don't go bad that often so you really only want a solid fan if you want ultimate reliability. Hardcore 4x4 might use a solid fan, one less thing to break in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe it would be good for the zombie apocalypse, don't want to start overheating in a horde of zombies because your clutch fan lost its fluid.

But for your humble street car I would use a clutch type fan.
 
67Dart273 said:
Just depends on the car. Some of the whaling vessels had fan shrouds, heck I don't know what the record is!!!!

77sky8.jpg


fe4458b4_jpg_orig-vi.jpg
Click to expand...

Hear ya go Del.....70' MonteCarlo

Rani, I've used standard fans, a few flex fans, and many clutch type fans..............I'd use a clutch if at all possible.
 

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I still prefer a flex fan vs a clutch my personal preference even though my dad has grenaded two of them....
 
Ha ha ha!!......dude, that's the first car that came to mind! Those old long-hooded Montes....that shroud looks like a damn tunnel it's so long!!

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I have a '93 F250 with a 7.3 diesel, and the clutch fan on it is very effective. It locks up and unlocks when needed when I am going down the road and keeps the engine perfectly cool. When it locks up it is definitely schoolbus-loud, but I like it.

My Valiant has a fixed, 5-blade fan and I am of the opinion that the pitch of the blades is less than optimal for maximum cooling due to the fact that deeper blades would cause objectionable noise.

That is borne out by the factory service manual denoting that everything above a 318 got clutch fans. My '68 Fury convertible with a 383 has one as well.

If I don't end up trading it I'll install a clutch fan at some point.
 
Rani ,the clutch fan,makes a few more horsepower. I judge by the build ,and the budget. On a low dollar,big block swap,I would run the factory 4 blade. Low buck,it works. Personally run factory clutch fans,on 500 h.p. Rat Chev,never a problem.(shift point,6800).
 
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