Re: 5 Blade Fan Help Please !
Joe, when I rebuilt the motor I did some internal changes to give it much more torque. Consequently it consistently delivers 575 lbs of torque and just shy of 500 hp all while maintaining stock intake, heads, exhaust manifold, etc.
Because it is geared relatively low I chose not to go with the OEM style mounts.
I spent a considerable amount of effort balancing everything so I put in the hard poly-mounts for fear of too much movement and tearing to the rubber mounts. As I am still breaking the motor in I had been doing some "hard pulls" when I let off the pedal just as the transmission shifted ( and possibly just when the stator locked up ) resulting in a hard jolt to the drivetrain. I believe this combination of events was enough to allow for the extra movement and the fan to then contact one of the bolt heads on the upper shroud bracket - which instantly deformed the blade and resulted in further damage on each subsequent revolution. A tough lesson to learn as I had always been leery of the minimal clearance at that junction but had seen no evidence ( until yesterday) of contact and believed all was good.
I have since looked over everything and can see no evidence of anything else that could have contributed to this but am always open to suggestions as I want to avoid this from ever happening again.
So Joe, if I were unable to find the correct 5 blade fan and went with the 7 blade #342715, is it correct to assume that GM engineers would have expected one to use a different fan clutch like the #343721 with it since it would likely have been designed differently given the additional contact with more air/surface area than what my original Schwitzer fan clutch would have handled on a non A/C car? Also, is it automatically a given that the 7 blade will be noticeably louder than the 5? What have others reported going to a & blade fan?
Thx !!
Joe, when I rebuilt the motor I did some internal changes to give it much more torque. Consequently it consistently delivers 575 lbs of torque and just shy of 500 hp all while maintaining stock intake, heads, exhaust manifold, etc.
Because it is geared relatively low I chose not to go with the OEM style mounts.
I spent a considerable amount of effort balancing everything so I put in the hard poly-mounts for fear of too much movement and tearing to the rubber mounts. As I am still breaking the motor in I had been doing some "hard pulls" when I let off the pedal just as the transmission shifted ( and possibly just when the stator locked up ) resulting in a hard jolt to the drivetrain. I believe this combination of events was enough to allow for the extra movement and the fan to then contact one of the bolt heads on the upper shroud bracket - which instantly deformed the blade and resulted in further damage on each subsequent revolution. A tough lesson to learn as I had always been leery of the minimal clearance at that junction but had seen no evidence ( until yesterday) of contact and believed all was good.
I have since looked over everything and can see no evidence of anything else that could have contributed to this but am always open to suggestions as I want to avoid this from ever happening again.
So Joe, if I were unable to find the correct 5 blade fan and went with the 7 blade #342715, is it correct to assume that GM engineers would have expected one to use a different fan clutch like the #343721 with it since it would likely have been designed differently given the additional contact with more air/surface area than what my original Schwitzer fan clutch would have handled on a non A/C car? Also, is it automatically a given that the 7 blade will be noticeably louder than the 5? What have others reported going to a & blade fan?
Thx !!
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