1965 C60 Fan

[William G.]

Where can one find a 7 blade fan for a 65 air condition car.
Are there other fan blades from other cars that are the same fan.
Some one wants to sell me a 7 blade fan from a 65 gto. Are they
the same fan or are they close to the chev fan. Seems to be a lot of
5 blades out there for a 66 to 67. I guess this will work on a 65, correct?
The 65 is a 327/300hp. It had a 5 blade on it, is it possible it came with
a 5 blade? It is a may 65 built # in the 18000 range.
THANK YOU
BILL

[Peter L.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Bill - I don't know if a GTO fan is the same but I wouldn't think it would be. I would not have expected a 65 C60 Corvette to have come with a 5-blade fan assembly that would have the correct configuration, i.e. 18" dia, of the 5-blade fan assembly that was supposedly installed on 63 C60 Corvettes (Noland Adams discusses that topic in his book) and was installed on 66 & 67 sb C60 Corvettes. Now, could they have installed the non-C60 Corvette sb fan blade assembly that is 17-1/8" dia.? I think the answer might be yes, but it would be difficult to prove from a judging perspective unless you have document evidence to prove it. Pete

[David L.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Bill,
The 64-67 GTO used a 7-blade, 18" dia. fan (GM # 9777014). The blades are made of ALUMINUM and measure 4" by 6" with 4 rivets/blade. They are stamped "FRONT", "H" (for Hayes-Albion) and usually have the number "1" stamped on them as well. The hub hole measures 2 5/8" with a 3 1/4" bolt circle. I had a few in years past. To make it work on your 65 Corvette you will need to use a clutch with a 3 1/4" bolt circle and a hub with slotted holes.

The 64-65 Corvette w/AC used a 7-blade, 18" dia fan (GM # 3853943). The blades are made of STEEL and measure 4" on the arc (3 7/8" chord) by 6 1/8" long with 4 flat headed rivets/blade. The tips of the blades are curved. The one that I had was stamped "H" and "9" (or "6") on the spider part and a small number "25" on one of the blades. There is also the letter "W" stamped on the back side on one of the arms. The pitch measures about 2 1/4". The hub hole measures 2 3/8" with a 3" bolt circle. I sold the fan to Pete (see above) in November 1993.

I believe that the 3853943 fans are (or were) reproduced but I have never seen one.

Dave

[Clark K.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Bill, the 64-65 Corvette w/AC used a 7-blade, 18" dia fan (GM # 3853943). The blades are made of STEEL and measure 4" on the arc (3 7/8" chord) by 6 1/8" long with 4 flat headed rivets/blade. The tips of the blades are curved. I believe that the 3853943 fans are (or were) reproduced but I have never seen one. Dave

The 1965 JG, page 137 under the heading: Fan Blade Assembly states "All cars use a semi-gloss black steel five blade assembly, except on air conditioned cars which have seven blades. All blades are rounded at the ends. The rivets typically used on all fans have mushroom heads."

On the same page of the 1965 JG, under Small Block, it states: "Air conditioned cars use a seven-blade assembly for more efficient cooling. It is part number 3853943. The blades are 4.00 x 6.12 inches before shaping with an overall diameter of 18 inches."

I take the position that the 1965 JG is in error in regard to the statement about 1965 A/C car cooling fans: "all blades are rounded at the ends". The seven-bladed fan shown on page 218 of Noland Adam's comprehensive book on '63-'67 Sting Rays clearly shows that the fan blade outer ends are NOT rounded as are the five bladed fans. -Clark

[David L.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Here are my notes on the NOS 3853943 fan that I sold to Pete in November 1993. What I mean by "the tips of the blades are curved" is that if the fan was placed on a flat table the tips of the blades would be curved upward as shown in one of my sketches. I also measured the angles between the blades in an indirect fashion and they check out with the drawing shown on page 218 of N. Adam's book.

[Bill C.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Here are some photo's of the original fan, shown is the "H" and the 6, or 9. The "W" on one blade is shown in pics in next post

[Bill C.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Additional pics

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Here's pics of an original C60 fan off a 1964 (mushroom rivet heads, but I'm not convinced that all '65s had the flat ones). Tip configuration matches GM dwg. in Noland's Vol 2.

[David L.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

I thought it was pretty common knowledge that the change from the "domed" (or "mushroom") to flat head rivets on all the Hayes-Albion (stamped "H") fans (5-blade and 7-blade) occurred sometime during the 1964 production year. Even though the rivet type changed the GM part number did not. The flat rivets we probably cheaper than the domed rivets.

Wayne,
What is the engine date on which your 7-blade fan is attached? My guess is that the "early" 7-blade fans w/domed rivets did not have the "6" (or "9") stamping.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

I thought it was pretty common knowledge that the change from the "domed" (or "mushroom") to flat head rivets on all the Hayes-Albion (stamped "H") fans (5-blade and 7-blade) occurred sometime during the 1964 production year. ......

David, the 1965 NCRS TIM&JG calls reads "the rivets used on all fans have mushroom heads .... Big block 5-blade has flat head rivets" . I don't have a '63-4 manual to compare.

The 7 blade 3853943 was available in SERVICE until at least January 1970, and probably later, so lots of time to produce them with flat heads (no more mushrooms ) and weird digit stampings, and perhaps even different tip configurations.

My car is an early '65, 014xx, but had an aluminum flex fan on it when I bought it in 1980. At Bloomington, in the early '80s, I bought this fan and a fan clutch from a guy who said it was off a '64 (he had other '64 parts which seemed to confirm).

I wish a few others would respond ('64 and '65) with known nuts-original, unrestored cars .

[Page C.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Just looked at the rivets on my 1965 365 air coupe. Its a Nov 64 build and the rivets are dome heads like the ones Wayne M. has in his post.
Regards
Page Cambpell

[David L.]

Re: 1965 C60 Fan

Well, it apppears that at least the 1964 and "early" 1965 Corvettes w/AC were issued the 3853943 fan with dome head rivets but what about the "late" 1965 Corvettes w/AC? Bill Caldwell has an original 3853943 fan with flat rivets with the "H", "6" (or "9"), and "W" just like the one I once owned. Did the people who wrote the 1965 NCRS TIM&JG research the 3853943 fan by getting a "complete" survey of 1964-1965 Corvettes w/AC from the "early" production 1964's to the "late" production 1965's? I doubt it. I still BELIEVE that the "late" 1965 Corvettes w/AC were issued 7-blade fans with flat rivets. I really doubt that the NCRS manuals are 100% correct. Eventually the truth will surface.