Fan to radiator clearance issue, any thoughts?

B

Big A

Junior Member
Well I'm a bit frustrated. Just spent a small fortune getting my stock rad recored, managed to get it back in the car (1931 Model A coupe, stock drivetrain) without too much drama. It's a tight fit, but I had about 3/8"-1/2" clearance between the fan and rad. Turned it by hand and everything seemed fine but when I fired it up I modified my nice new rad across the bottom sweep of the fan. Something flexed or ? The rad is now fixed, or a reasonable facsimile of fixed, but I'm not seeing any way to adjust the placement away from the fan.

How much space should there be between the rad and fan?

The holes in the crossmember are designed to adjust side to side not front to back, how can I move the rad forward? I don't want to start drilling and hacking away at an otherwise untouched car, I just don't know what changed. Unfortunately I didn't take measurements off the rad before it went to the shop, so I don't know if it is the exact same dimensions as it was.
 
Are you using a 4-blade fan or 2-blade fan? I'm told the original stamped steel fan blades can crack near the hub....perhaps you have a blade that is cracked and flexing?

I replaced my 4-blade fan with a 2-blade aluminum fan based on recommendations from barn members...

I know this picture may not be much help, but here it is....

I think if you move the radiator forward the hood may not fit properly....


Got a chance to measure ...the clearance between the bottom fan blade and the core is 1"..added picture...
 

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something badly misaligned . bummer on the radiator . most common problem is hitting the radiator top hose

try pushin it forward & straight
 
55cj5 thanks for taking the time to measure and shoot the pics. I don't have nearly that much space between the fan and rad (4 blade fan).

I'll post some pics when I get to a real computer, but it looks like the rad core itself is actually crooked, it's out by 1/2" + or - from top to bottom. It's going back to the shop this morning. I always prefer to save original parts, this might be a case where I should have just bought a new rad.

Adventures with old cars :rolleyes:
 
I ran into a similar clearance problem I had with my 29 tudor and the engine was sitting too highin front so I loosened the rear motor mount bolts and jacked the rear under the transmission and tightened the nut on the front mount, then I had around a half inch clearance between the fan blades and the radiator return tube.
 
Not a Model A but I ran into this problem on my 1927 Model T. Turned out that the new rad had an extra row of cores and was quite a bit thicker than the original. Had to change the fan hub. You might want to measure the thickness of your new one vs an original.
 
As long as I have enough room to replace a fan belt without having to loosen everything up and tilt the radiator forward I'm a happy guy.
 
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