thats sad.i feel for him and his poor wife. to find someone you love like that.terrible.working on the wifes ot 67 impala yesterday the way this thing is set up the shroud bolts to the body then the radiator bolts to that. the factory 4 blade fan is out in the open. knowing this makes me just a little bit nervous but i didnt think to much about it. until my beard got snag while leaning over it. i wear my beard tied up in 2 braids and one got hit by the fan. didnt catch me just sort of made some noise.didnt scare me enough to stop what i was doing just put my beard in my t shirt and kept right on leaning over it. today after reading this i cant believe i was that stupid but i was. bet i dont do that agin.
Had to get my calculator out for that... Let's see, half of a couple... 1/2 X 2.... He lost one finger?
Years ago me and a buddy were reving up an FE Ford against the governor in a dump truck while listening for a knock.The knock turned out to be a loose fan blade that went through the hood and stuck in the shop ceiling.
I had a flex fan on my '64 'vette break the water pump shaft at about 6500 RPM. Took out the radiator and shroud but didn't hit the underside of the hood..glad I was driving and not standing with the hood open.
Some of you will remember the flex fans back in the 70's with fiberglass blades,... Then all of a sudden there were a lot of reports of these things breaking and flying apart.... Another reason that fan shrouds should be considered. IMHO
Treat a fan like an aircraft propeller. I guarantee you'll never DARE to stand near one, or inline with one! Your vehicle fan needs the same respect. Had a cheap-ass flex fan go away on a '65 Dart once. I was inside the car, revving it a bit, and with the hood open. The fan simply exploded, slicing the hoses and beating the crap out of the radiator. Scary shit! It's terrible what happened to the guy in the OP. Can't imagine...
Working on a project car for a fellow, and he asked me to install a flex fan on his SBC. I just said no. I have an old stock fan I'll install, then when you get it home you can do what you want. There have been workers comp bulletins and such going around my province warning about these things. I can't believe people still sell them.
re; how do you check your timing and stay out off the way? Safe at idle but if you realy need to check for further advance etc at higher RPM just take the belt off. Safety first. JW
Great, I had a mild fear of fans before... this doesn't help. May look into a bullet proof shroud now...
It is scarey as heck. but if you check the fan first.. as for flex fans? nope. not interested in working on those whene I need to be anywhere near it at speed.
Driving down an alley off of Market Street in my 50 GMC 1 ton panel when a blade came loose. It went thru the hood and broke a 2nd storey window in a building. i didn't stick around to find out who or what was in that room.
Don't put too much faith in factory fans. They weren't designed for high engine rpm. If you use a mechanical fan, make certain it's designed for the revs you're planning on turning. I've seen people try to use fans from trucks or heavy equipment that were never meant to turn at high speed. Dirt track racers were always looking for more air flow but fans with higher pitch are usually designed to run at low speed.
No, he's a nut case! Lots of good folks are lookin' out for him though... Waitin' for him to get out of jail...
That's the reason i'm ditching my flex fan on my pony car. Going electric. I've never liked that thing. I only have it because I had the car in a shop years ago to get the water pump changed out. The water pump shaft (on a new pump) walked out the pump, and put the fan into the radiator. Shop replaced the pump, radiator, and fan for me for free at least. I accidently put a index finger into a clutch fan years ago. I didn't want to look at it, because I knew it was going to be a stump. Built up the nerve, took a look, and it was all there without a mark. Couldn't feel that finger for about 2 weeks though. Made it a priority to stay away from fans after that.
I'm really down on electric fans for big V8's. I don't think they pull enough air - or if they do you need a diesel generator to power them. A clutch fan is the answer to a lot of problems - they very seldom fail catastrophically, they use less power, and no electricity.
Having been dumb in the last six months is nothing new for me; I was pulling the point adjusting tool out of the distributor on a SBF and let the handle hit the fan [no, I didn't shut the engine down, next time though for sure.]...Not sure of sequence thereafter but third knuckle hit the fan and the tool ended up stuck in the wall...I figure fan tip speed at 1000 rpm idle at around 75 feet per second...which means: damn it hurt!! I seen a post on here; someone painted about the last 1/2" of the fan blade on his engine safty yellow, very visible with engine running..
Use a three wire alternator with 140+ amps and you should not have any problems. if it's a one wire alternator you need to check the amps at idle but a good one should still work fine. A decent electric fan will draw a fair bit of current but you can check with the manufacturer if you buy a quality fan such as SPAL or Maradyne....
Had a fan blade come off a 2 ton Ford truck and come right thru the hood. Left a 1 inch wide and 6 long inch opening in the hood.
How would the engine run backwards? He was, according to the article, using starter fluid and the choke to try to keep the engine running. That would make it run backward?
Me too. I have a family that comes first. I don't want the kids sticking their hands in a mechanical fan. I'll let the cool kids build the really traditional cars. I'm content to be a poser...
Odd this thread should come up while i was working on my shoebox hood. There was an odd outy in the hood just on the edge of the inner structure and the outside skin. Thought it was a odd dent from the inside. Makes sense to me now that it was probably a fan blade. Damage was right above the the fan.
Dangerous for sure. The clip is funny but I am not making light of the situation ....couldn't help but to post this clip though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3dvY4qErs
Electric fans can hurt you, too. A buddy of mine lost the tip of a finger as a result of bench testing an electric fan. He had the fan flat on the bench and touched the motor leads to a battery. The fan levitated up off the workbench helicopter-style, went off to the side and chopped the tip of his finger off. The funny thing is that the doctor did not stitch up the wound. He told my friend to keep it covered in sterile dressings, but to let it heal naturally. Damned if the tip did not grow back. It took a while, but it did.
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