I have a 351-W in my 55 sunliner and the temp gauge always creeps up a little sitting it traffic but I do not think it gets hot enough where there would be a problem but has gotten me to think of the fan I have on it. Its a factory flex fan from a a/c car that most likely had a shroud so does anyone know if there are different fans for shrouds and no shroud,its a 5 blade and thinking about going with a aftermarket 6 blade that I seen plenty at the swapmeet friday but was not on my mind at the time.
Is there no room for a shroud ? You could make a custom one,,,,but it might look out of place. Sitting in traffic is the worst,,,it just can’t draw very well without a little help to direct the airflow . You might have to get rid of the clutch fan part on the type you have now. You could always try a 6 blade,,,what would it hurt? Tommy
The fan needs to be either VERY...close to the radiator core, or it needs a shroud. And by close I mean less than 1.0" away (with good motor mounts). Mike
a shroud should make a difference. I've also never had a flex fan before, I imagine after a while they probably don't have as steep of an angle on the blades as they did when new? I could be wrong on that though. Can you feel a good amount of air being pulled from the front of the radiator at idle?
It's an old car, the temp gauge is supposed to creep up a bit in traffic. If it boils over, it's a problem. If it doesn't, then you're probably OK.
It's a waste of time thinking about it until you know what the actual temperature is. Use a gun or put a mechanical temperature gauge in and see what it actually gets up to.
I used that style of fan on my 55 when I still had a 283 in it. It worked well with the fan clutch and the car stayed cool through town. One note of caution is to make sure you don’t spin it too fast. I think the one I had said 4500 rpm max.
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