How close is to close?

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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After I installed my new Champion Cooling Radiator, the front of my fan clutch is only about a 1/4" away from the radiator. Is this to close for comfort or will this be a ok distance? I attached a pic although its tough to see. It also kind of looks like it isnt square to the radiator but that is the shadowing. Its about a 1/4" all the way around.

View attachment IMG_20140315_163319_779.jpg
 
That is way to close , you gotta have at least an inch if not more of front to back and side to side play in the natural operation of your engine , especially if its a 4 speed and stock motor mounts.
 
I call that too close. If a motor mount gets soft or breaks, there you go. The body can even possibly flex enough to make contact. I think it needs more room.
 
way too close, should be able to fit your hand between rad and fan to allow movement of engine, and body flex
 
Damn it!!!! Ok, so are there shorter clutches available or what do you guys suggest to fix this.. Besides swapping in electric fans. Thats not in the budget yet.
 
There's some kinda Mercedes clutch that fits better, but I don't remember what model it is off of. Sorry, that's all I remember.
 
shorter spacer...or mill some of your own spacer......or use a regular mechanical fan without clutch until you can afford electric fans
 
bbrroowwnn said:
shorter spacer...or mill some of your own spacer......or use a regular mechanical fan without clutch until you can afford electric fans
Click to expand...

What spacer would that be? There's no spacer on a clutch fan. It bolts directly to the water pump pulley.
 
Well maybe I just need to bite the bullet and buy a electric fan. Might as well get recommendations on cfm and brands.
 
You should run a fan shroud also. The shroud will help determine where you want your fan.

There is a design spec. for how much the shroud and fan overlap, called FOOS (fan-out-of-shroud) the typical target is for half of the depth of the fan to be inside the shroud and half out.


The general clearance for underhood components for engine "vibration" is minimum of 1/2". This is for side-to-side vibration which is the highest. FYI.
 
I had the same problem with my champion radiator,ended up using flex fan w/spacer and had a machine shop shave a 1/4" off to give me a little more clearance.The car stays @ 180 even in the hottest weather.I do have a shroud tho.I would've gone with electric but I didn't want to upgrade the alt to 100+ amp that it would take to run it.I have a BlackMagic Extreme on my blown fox body and it works great.
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Just doing a quick search I see that the electric fans that I looked on Summit pull from 12.5 to 17.7 amps. Wouldnt a stock alternator be big enough to handle this?
 
My son's is about a 1/4" away,, and we rigged a chain from the trans x-member to the trans, .. so the engine can't move forward if there's an abrupt stop..

No shroud and an old copper rad,, stays cool all summer...

hope it helps
 
Flex A Lite has anew line of electric fans called Black Magic. Those things will MOVE some air.
 
inertia said:
My son's is about a 1/4" away,, and we rigged a chain from the trans x-member to the trans, .. so the engine can't move forward if there's an abrupt stop..

No shroud and an old copper rad,, stays cool all summer...

hope it helps
Click to expand...

That makes me nervous, but I get what your saying. I only have 3 inches from the radiator to the front of the fan pulley. So that really limits what I do.

RustyRatRod said:
Flex A Lite has anew line of electric fans called Black Magic. Those things will MOVE some air.
Click to expand...

good to know, thank you.
 
The clutches have to come in diff depths for diff applications,, we picked up my son's at a swap meet,, tagged for a B'body..

I'd check how much $$ for a proper clutch, and with a 7 blade vs elec,, and sell that clutch to recover cost.. jmo
 
I think I found the shorter fan clutch that Rob was talking about. Its for a 1990 Jaguar XJ6. Problem is it only gives me maybe a 1/2" more. So I would be about 3/4" away from the radiator which is better but not sure if its enough.
 
I used the shorter jag clutch fan and it's worked great
 
Got any pics of the top of your motor?

Need a better look at your set up as I've never seen a fan clutch that close unless you've got a massive sized multi core radiator or way too long a fan spacer.

Definitely need a shroud though.
 
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