Technical Cooling my FE

Haven't done an oil change yet, it seems to run more consistent now between 170-180, and cooler late afternoon or early morning. Still creeps up in traffic so I'll install the shroud in the new year and see what transpires. Adding a 7 blade clutch fan in lieu of current 6 blade might be next.
When I sold my OT 66 390FE Fairlane years ago I also sold the spare 7-blade clutch fan I had thinking that I wouldn't need it. Bad call!!

 

I just about got into a fist fight , with a lifelong friend last summer over an overheating FE . I told him his fan was on backwards in front of a couple of people , he really got bent . But sure enough it was and that was the overheating issue .

 

^^^

I never took any notice until now, appears to be fitted incorrectly? I'm not expert on fluid dynamics and gather than being 180 degrees out would definitely have an adverse impact on airflow with all that broken air on the leading egde?

This is an FE fan that I grabbed from the interweb


Fan now, correct orientation, mitred edge is now on right hand side and NOT on the leading edge as before?

 

The best way I know to determine if the cooling fan is running in the correct rotation is while the engine is running the fan should SUCK a sheet of newspaper or similar to the grill and not blow it away . I was suspecting your fan was running backwards by the photos same as my Buds , but I could not clearly see it well enough in your photo . I have had a few FEs of the high HP mode , I never had one run hot at anytime . The design of the engine is such that most of the exhaust port is outside the main head casting allowing additional cooling to take place . Good Luck , that is one nice ride you have there .

 

Problem solved, sourced a NOS clutch fan and an OEM 7-blade fan, both very cheap. Cleaned the fan and painted it black, job done. It should pull more air through and won't drag too much power. I won't add the OEM shroud just yet as it's coming into our summer and willl see how things goes. I fixed up a few other gremlins with a few more improvements planned.

 

Head gaskets put on backwards when rebuilt. Water passage holes different size end for end. Been there and done it.