Quick dumb question.... I am putting in an aftermarket radiator in my 57 Chevy truck. The stock fan hits the bottom tank of the radiator. So, I installed a flex-fan to see if it would work. The bottom of tank to the fan is 1/8 inch. Is this too close? This is a stock (for now) 235 and I don't want to move the support. I would like to stay away from an electric fan if possible. Thanks Mick
You really need about 1 inch clearance at your closest point. Fans will flex slightly no matter if they are flex or not.... You need to leave yourself room for swapin the water pump ect.... Flex fans are not a good choice in fans either.....
X2 on the flex fan. If you can get a fixed pitch steel bladed fan with a heavy duty fan clutch, keep it as close as you dare to the radiator(without a shroud).....inch sounds fine to me. You should not have cooling issues. If you can shroud it then you need to keep bout 70 percent of the blade outside the shroud. ..as long as the fan fits properly inside the shroud. Your results may vary
The engine moves separately from the radiator, thus the 1" clearance. Go with a tiny bit smaller diameter fan in order to achieve the clearance you need. Then build, or get, a shroud and you should be golden.
Well, how about some pics of your water pump and fan setup? I'm sure someone will figure out how to get you an inch and keep your good fan.
And throw the flex fan in the garbage, I am one of the many who have had them come apart and make a mess.
yep, without pic of your new set up hard to give positive solutions. have seen some Chevy cars with radiator mounted in front of stock radiator support - gives clearance for fan, etc.
My wifes truck the fan is close to center and 3/4 of a inch from the rad cores cools great, the T bucket is almost center and about 2 inches from the core cools good. Both are 4 blade stock fans.
Old Aite in Ft. worth, Tx. Sells a large six blade steel fan. I'm sure others do also. You can look at their site and see. If you have a 235 in a 57 truck I don't see why your having an issue. US radiator makes a nice replacement rad.
Thanks everyone. It is a U.S. but the stock fan hits the bottom tank by a 1/4 inch. There is room for the rest of the fan. I had an old flex fan and it clears the bottom tank by 1/8 inch. I put it on to see if it worked. A smaller blade would work, I never thought of that. I like the 6 blades.