Last week our Buick Club held its annual event and great looking 1955 Special showed up. So since I was on parking detail I visited with the owner and saw he had mounted a fan on the front of the radiator. I was wondering if anyone had experience with one. As I remember he said his was a pusher but I though it should be a puller. </SPAN> Thanks in advance for your comments.</SPAN>
I tried them all. A pusher will get you no net gain. It interferes with airflow from the mechanical fan and when on you will only end up where you started. A puller will require ditching the mechanical fan, it needs a shroud or be incorporated into the stock shroud, needs to be at least 3000 cfm to do better than than a 5-6 blade mechanical fan. A 3000+ cfm will pull more amps than the stock generator can supply, so an alternator will be necessary. If you don't spend at least $400 on the electric fan setup (less the alternator), it will be inadequate. Be advised that the stock temperature gauge on a 55 is pegged out hot at only 200* (but is still pegged at higher temps). With a 13# cap that the a/c cars used, you can go to at least 140* before boil over. Get the radiator in the best condition (rod or recore), install a 5-6 blade mechanical fan, install a mechanical gauge with numbers (to see what the actually temperature is) or carry an infrared temp gun to monitor when you think it is hot. I drive a 55 Century with factory air all over the country in the summer; dead stock cooling system with only the added temperature gauge. Highway temps (100* outside) run ~190*; traffic jam up to 230* (you will notice some heat knock at higher cylinder head temperature on a nailhead).
.. and now for another opinion :laugh: This is in my stock '68 SportWagon with big block 400 engine @ 35,000 original untouched miles. I re-did my whole cooling system including new HD aluminum radiator etc. which worked great in all conditions EXCEPT .. totally heat soaked motor (as in running on the highway for hours and hours in 90*+ with the A/C on and then hitting dead stop traffic. I have to cross two bridges to get back onto Long Island coming from anywhere on the mainland and it can take up to or more than an hour (each !!) if things are bad. If I turn the A/C off, Im fine and hover around 200-205 but with the AC on, it will go into thermal runaway and just keep climbing .. again on 90+ days only in dead stop or stop/crawl/stop traffic. (If I cold-start the car on a 90*+ day and sit in gear with the A/C on, it takes almost 30 minutes to duplicate the heat soak condition) THIS DID SOLVE THAT PROBLEM - it pulls exactly 11 amps. I wired it on a toggle switch through a relay for safety. It does not impede airflow as it cools the same as it did without it on YMMV NOTE - THE EBAY LINK IS TO A SIMILAR ONE, I DID NOT BUY FROM HERE SO I CAN NOT VERIFY IT IS THE SAME AS I USED BUT LOOKS TO BE http://www.ebay.com/itm/16-Electric...-Fan-12v-3000cfm-Thermostat-Kit-/171769076999
... and just to add a couple of things about playing with cooling problems 1) you need to have a temp gauge that you have calibrated to be correct. 2) you need to have a thermostat installed that is also calibrated correct. How to calibrate ? a pot of water and a GOOD cooking thermometer .. water boils pretty much a 212* most places on this planet :grin:
Ok, I have a 4 blade fan on the 55; maybe the first thing to try is a 5-6.............Got it; any suggestions on the type and where I might find them? Thanks in advance....................
I'm using a ford Taurus 2 speed e-fan (same as the mark viii fan that's a popular mod) with a harness from a company called the Hollister road company and its been great so far. Temp hasn't cleared 190 and the high speed hasn't even kicked on.
Closest to original if that is important is a 5 blade from a mid 50's Buick with a/c...or http://www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL30100-Diameter-Mechanical-Radiator/dp/B006K8IOQS ...even I can afford that. Summit Racing has a bunch.
Yes the 6 bladed fans are effective buy noisy. So how about a 5 bladed clutch fan? Pros or Cons ? As a side note, when I first bought my 1957 Roadmaster 75 Series with factory A/C ( not running ) the original fan had been converted to a clutch fan set up. However, apparently the conversion did not take well with the OEM water pump neck, as the casting was broken at the neck thereby causing it to wobble. Do not know if this was due to the weight of the clutch fan itself or a crappy overall setup. I have not gotten the car up and on the road as of yet so have not spent a lot of brain power on this issue but just thought I would bring up this option.
I think this is the right one.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-CFM-El...Kit-/380948304293?hash=item58b249d1a5&vxp=mtr Mark
