Now that the summer heat is here this question will rise again [no pun intended]. Will using a thermostatic clutch fan on my 1960 corvette help to run cooler? Going 3 mph for 4-5 miles has my temp. gauge pegged by the end of the parade, especially on warm days. Under normal driving conditions, I have no temp. problems at all. Thanks.
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Re: Clutch fan for parades?
What kind of fan do you have now?
I would not expect a clutch fan to be any better than a fixed fan for this sort of thing. What you need is an effective fan shroud and a fan with a lot of pitch to the blades to work at low RPM. My '67 has a flex fan, and stays cool no matter what. I've been thinking about getting a correct fan setup, but would hate to switch over to something correct that overheats.
The ultimate low-speed cooling setup is an electric fan, but of course they look way out of place on an old car.
Good Luck,
- Wayne -
Re: Clutch fan for parades?
Sean --- Not sure what type of thermo control was on C1 fans, but if it's the bimetallic coil, you could try lifting the outer end off the peg and rotating; then leaving it free. Should fool the internal fluid channels into thinking you're in a max. temp situation (forcing to maximum engagement) before you really are there. I'd try it before the parade, though.Comment
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Re: Clutch fan for parades?
What about adding an electric fan just for parades?Comment
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Re: Fan Clutch Sucks
Get rid of the fan clutch all together! Bolt on a mid year air conditioner seven blade fan and leave it. Make sure the blade sits into the shroud as specified in directions. When it's time for judging go back to the "correct" typically factory production-appearing-NCR$ approved high dollar arrangement we have all come to love and appreciate!
Varooom!Comment
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Re: Clutch fan for parades?
Fan clutches are designed to allow the fan to be turned by the water pump pulley at low speeds & to let the fan freewheel at higher engine speeds. This engagement & disengagement is a function of the viscosity of the fluid internal to the clutch. There is also a thermostat to allow fan engagement or disengagement based on the ambent temperature in the radiator area.
Bottom line here is if a fan without a clutch is causing overheating at low temps, I do not believe that a fan clutch will solve your problem.
Dale's suggestion of a 7 blade fan would probably be a good step. I would also try to search for a root cause of the problem. It could be anything from a plugged radiator, scale on the internals of the block, bad thermostat, innaccurate temp gauge, etc.
If everything seems to be healthy, then, you need to improve the individual components. I've read of the availablity of water pumps with close tolorances between the impeller & backing plate. Thought I've never done this, it bears some investigation in your case.
I'd also recommend the use of 'Water Wetter' in the cooling system. This reduces the surface tension of the steam bubbles caused around the cylinder walls, allowing them to implode in on themselves. Gives better heat transfer properties to the coolant.
Naturally, the hardware changes would probably incur a deduction at an NCRS event if the car was judged for originality.
Hope this helps.
Fred OComment
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Been there....
Agree with Fred, if stock direct drive ain't getting you through the parade a thermostatic fan clutch designed to slip won't fix the problem. NCRS went to local Colorado 4th of July parade last year and overheating was prevalent. The group in front of us suffered the most (non-NCRS Corvette Club) and two SA cars (a '58 and a '60) decided to blow their rad caps right in front of the judges review stand after 2.5 hours of idling through town!
The owners of these cars weren't very smart as we talked about their concerns at the beginning of the parade and I told 'em to REV the engines to pull more air through the rad. But, they insisted the only way to make it through the parade was to SHUT DOWN their engines periodically!!!!
Now, I was driving my '71 SB A/C roadster and with the A/C running at idle under a 95F ambient situation, it was the first and only time my car overheated. But, when the temp needle climbed to the red zone, the Combined Emissions System overheat temp switch kicked in, popped the idle solenoid on the carb, boosted engine RPM by 200-300 and with amazement, I watched the temp gauge fall all by itself back to the safe range!
I guess this is one of those Shark features we can't really check during a Performance Verification run, but I saw it go to work and do what it was designed to do. It also confirmed my suggestion to the other Corvette owners with solid drive fans -- simply rev the engine periodically and make the fan do it's job!!!!Comment
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Re: Been there....
Hey Jack,
Sounds like those old Chebby engineers knew a thing or two after all.
TerryComment
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