Absolutely not. Even when using a rolock on a 90 I try not to grind so that the sparks are hitting me. Not because of the sparks, but because that's where somethings gonna go if there's a problem. Scott
Aluminum flex fans are good for that also experience tells me," Earl" must have been looking out for you.
I'm sorry man but fuck I laughed at this, I worked night shift last night in ER and you wont guess what bought a guy in!! Yup, he copped a fan blade in his knee (Laying under the car) only he wore the torn end, lacerated an artery and was bleeding real good! Its not an uncommon thing to happen, saw quite a few cars in both my fathers radiator shop and the panel shop I worked in with the results of this. You are one VERY VERY lucky man! Doc.
I remember Ford having a recall on there fan back in the 70's or early 80's. The fan could break at any time. I also remember that they sad that you should avoid standing over the front of the car with the hood open until the fan was replaced. anyone else remember this.
Flex fans are notorious for cracking at the hub. DO NOT USE THEM and if you have them replace them with a one piece fan. Luckily I only lost a couple of radiators finding this out the hard way.
Flex fans suck bad and lose blades all the time. And the edges are knife sharp to work around. Expect to see more of these failures. Those OE fans are 50 years old and you can't undo 50 years of metallurgical work hardening
No doubt, there are poor flex fan designs that break. I was talking about mine which have stainless blades with tapered small ends that won't break in my life time. This engine turns only 2000 rpm most of the time and 3000 rpm max on the freeways. The fan is rated up to 8000 rpm... Got them for about 5 years now and like them much better than the old ones. I post a warning, should one ever fail. If you are worried about flying blades, use a shroud. These days every new fan always comes with a warning to install with a shroud only. Don't know about plastic, but a custom heavy gauge steel version would be cool.
I'm rebuilding a 55 235 inliner and had to weld up a hair line crack in one of the blades, maybe I should be on the look out for a new one??? Road Runner, you have a part # ?
Sheesh. That could have been bad. I've never seen or heard of that before. I'll be careful from now on when I'm around questionable fan blades...
http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/low-profile-belt.html These fit the later style water pumps with 5/8" center hole.
A million years ago I was working under the hood with a friend and revving the engine to check something and I saw him get it in the face with pieces of the fan belt. The pullies were misaligned and it started shredding. Luckily he had glasses on but I learned my lesson that I never want to be near anything zinging around the front of that engine when it's running. I never thought about the metal fatigue involved on those ancient fan blades, but they are very old, replacing them sounds like money in the bank. Just not with a flex fan. Due to teh horror stories I've read on here I bought half a dozen pairs of safety goggles that Ryan recommended in a Garge journal editorial. Now I have no excuse not to use the things!
After reading this entire thread to this point I must say; 1) I don't recall GM ever having any factory flex fans, only Ford. 2) I've never seen an aluminum flex fan, only fiberglass or stainless. 3) What do you think would happen if your flywheel came apart at 7000rpm's? Also, I use a clutch fan anytime I have the space for it, they not only use less power, but , and a lot of folks don't know this, they disengage at about 3000rpm's.
Believe it or not...... Mid 80s GM trucks with heavy duty cooling systems, like a big block camper special with AC, actually used a flex blade on a traditional fan clutch. They're huge agressive blades, not like those piddly flex-a-lites with the tapered blade.
I had the factory fan on my Plymouth 318 let go. It was a five blade that decided that a third of the hub and two blades could leave. Cut the corner of my battery off (which drained on to the ground) and crimped the frame mounted brake line almost shut (but still worked perfectly). I just pulled the fan and went home as it was all highway and the fan wouldn't be needed. And no i never stand in the plane of a fan when the mill is running.
The first time I tried to really hammer the pedal on my new motor, the aluminum fan came apart. I got lucky that none of the parts ripped up the radiator, hoses or anything else. I was finding little pieces of aluminum in the engine compartment for days!
Dang.... I have a 235 fan on the 283 in my Model A... It looked cool, but I don't know if I'm going to keep it now.
on a sort of related note.... has anyone used the solid style fans- they look like a cross between an early fan (solid center- no place for a fan clutch) and a regular fan (like a pontiac super duty fan- 6 BIG blades)- I have seen them in scads of parts books, but have never seen one on a street car. it says it is rated to 8000 r.p.m.- at the fan. which is about 10,000 r.p.m. at the crank.
This is a true story, i knew everyone involved.In about 1972-1973 in Yonkers NY a guy named Wally Hauser was working on his camero M/P.He was short so he was leaning way over the front of the car reving the shit out of the motor, now what happen next is still a not known but either a wrench fell into the fan or a blade let go, It hit him in the throat & just about took his head off!! He staggered outside the garage & died right there!! Bleed out in about 45-60 seconds. I would never use a flex fan on a car... ever ,there junk. JimV
I had one of those stupid flexfans let go when I was in high school. A blade went through the hood, clean, leaving an 8 inch slice. Never did find the blade.
Yep it happens, My Uncle's '39 Chevy had its fan blade break just like yours. His had a nick it it about 1/4 of an inch long that he never noticed and it just cracked from there. We were on our way to a show when it happened luckily he shut it off before it broke completely off.
The Jalopy Journal
