Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

now, if you remember earlier i blew the rad by hitting it with a fan.

it ate another rad.

so i had to buy two 200 dollar rads.

ow.
anyway, got another new 4 blade fan, how can i make sure it doesnt hit it again?

 

out here working on it.

my number 5 spark plug wire end is missing???

i think i found my misfire

 

Engine mounts bad?

causes the engine to rock over, then acts like a triangle and gets closer to the radiator.
Check the driver side mount with a pry bar

 

i just replaced them, the engine doesnt rock, the fan seems to pull forward with rpm

 

Is the fan clutched? Can you pull it forward by hand? Something sounds worn...

 

the water pump doesn't move, the very far outside of the fan blades moves forward slightly as rpm increases.

 

Is it a steel fan? Can you shuffle the rad fwd a smidge?

 

rad is as far forward as i can get it, not as easy as a '32

 

Well if the fan ends up in the rad something is wrong. Maybe post a picture of what you have going on. Or you can just keep saying everything is good.

 

nothing is good but i dont know what is the actual issue.

the water pump has no play in or out, its not a likely culprit.

the first fan i dropped a hammer on and bent, then bent it back (which caused a weak point, making it fail and eat rad number 1, i bent it back again and forgot to replace it, making it eat rad number 2 aswell. (that one was on me)

replaced fan with NOS 4 blade, rad number 3 is up to bat.

while testing without a rad. the very far tips of the fan blades pull forward a very little bit, less than a quarter of an inch, but its making me scared its gonna eat another rad...

i think i should reinstall one of the ruined rads to test, if a messed up rad gets hit again it wont hurt me any.

worst thing I'm worried about is if the core support is pushed back, potentially from rust.

 

The first fan being damaged and damaged causing the first two rads may have been an important fact to mention. Put the rad in with a good fan and it will be fine.

 

sounds good.

thank you for coming back to my thread.

 

Is that a fan spacer from pump to fan?
If so, get a shorter one and a piece of mind.

 

i cant find any that arent identical, wonder if i can turn it down.

 

I own a model A & a 55 Ranch, I understand it may not be simple. Just trying to understand the issue & ask questions to get you thinking.
If you put the new Rad in, & the gap to the new fan is less than 1/4" it'll hit by your measurements. Put it in & have a look, if eng mounts & W/pump etc are all good you are running out of possible issues. From here the spacer looks like it could be machined if needed, but keep in mind the further away from the Rad the fan is, the less productive it'll be.

 

Google should show many options. I searched for 1 inch fan spacer.

But yes, it can be turned down in a lathe, etc

 

never even struck my mind they could be standardized sizing.
i was searching for y block ones specifically

 

Sure you can shorten them. SBF's use that same spacer...One I put in the vice, cut about 2' off it, cleaned it up with a belt sander. Another time I just used a belt sander and shortened it 1/4". Used a micrometer to make sure the length was equal all the way around

 

I don’t think (could be wrong) aluminum fan spacers came from the factory like that. I wonder if it had a shroud on it that broke/etc and someone moved the fan closer to the radiator to help it cool?

 

they are a ford part, ive never seen one that doesn't have one.

 

Oh man I feel your pain with the fan/radiator damage. I had the exact same thing with my 65 F100. Two rads gone from the same fan. With the third rad I went fanless for a while, even got my dad to drive round with me in the engine bay checking for movement because all the mounts seemed mint.

Ditched the dodgy fan and everything seems fine, good luck

 

glad im not alone in having a fan kill two rads

 

Here’s a pic same vintage of your Fairlane off eBay. How you fan to radiator clearance compare?

 

wow... thats a lot further.

im gonna go measure the difference in thickness of the old brass rad and the new aluminum rad after work.

we might have our answer!

 

Well, no reason to spend the $$ on another radiator, just use a shorter spacer.
You’ll need shorter bolts too.

 

theres one for a straight 6 thats still a ford part and an inch shorter.

 

You don’t want it too far from the radiator, unless you make or buy a shroud for it.

 

rad is easily 3/4 of an inch thicker

 

It's one of these guys


Super cheap, low pressure electric fuel pump. This one is on Amazon for $11. It doesn't get much easier than this; fuel in, fuel out, ground, hot... instant fuel pressure. In the context I was discussing here, just case some lengths of hose so you could plumb it real quick, and just clip the leads to the coil and you're off and running.

That may or may not be the case. When I was 17 and got my 57 Ford, it had one of these on it, and the damn thing lasted for a decade. Actually, it never actually died. I treated my engine to a Holley Blue pump thinking it would be an improvement, and instead crapped out in like 200 miles, at which point I needed the old ticker pump to get me home. I replaced it with a Carter 4070, which is what I run in all of my old cars. I know there is nothing inherently wrong with a mechanical pump, but I simply prefer an electric pump for a myriad of reasons.

 

Again, the rad being different in dimensions or mounting point is a rather important piece of information in regards to the fan hitting it no?

I guess I take it for granted that someone would check that while the rad was being installed. Silly me.