New aluminum fan blade problem

I say bill the mfg. for your work, trying to make the crap they are putting out fit right. Of course they won't return your calls....

Takes the 'fun' out of owning a Model A.
 
wrndln said:
I had the same problem with the inside of the aluminum pulley being too small some time back. You shouldn't need to ground down the original waterpump housing (like GDMN852 mentioned above) if the company that made the fan made it right. Why oh why can't suppliers make parts correctly.
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The area of interference on the fan side is because the cross section of that pulley area was increased because of the materal used to make it (aluminum vs steel) and the strength needed in that area of the fan pulley combo.
If they made it "correctly" if would most likley be made out of steel like the orig. and fit well but i'm sure then nobody would like the price.
Yea some of the new fan / old pump combo's need a litle clearancing but all of the ones that I've seen took less time to clearance that it took to read this :rolleyes:
I guess that you could always just an old orig. fan if you dont want to fit a new one
 
Hi all - well, I got it and it's working now! Here was part of the problem - since I'm still new at this and don't have any experience with water pumps, I didn't notice until later that the impeller and shaft had shifted about 3/8 inch away from the fan blade. Once I noticed (by looking at a pic of a new water pump), I hammered it in and test fit the blade. It was just as most of you had mentioned - it was rubbing severely on the housing. About 1-2 hours worth of filing, checking, and rechecking, and it seems to work just fine now! The only thing holding me back now is the fact that I don't have the proper size cotter pin to replace it - but that's easy! Thanks again for all your help!!
 
Addendum 1 - I thought I should mention something I ran into while putting the fan assembly back together. I mounted the fan blade to the water pump, did the gasket thing, and all went well. However, one thing I noticed much later when I was putting the belt back on is that the inner radius of the hub on the new replacement blade is much bigger! Getting the fan blade on was a chore - I did it, but the generator is riding rather close to the engine. So, for future reference, just remember that you may need a slightly longer fan belt when using these new blades.
 
Sometimes in a situation like that removing the generator pulley, placing the fan belt onto the pulley and then reinstalling the pulley will make things easier.
 
I had the same problem. I was eventually able to crank the castle nut down far enough to get the cotter pin through but it still looks like the fan is too far forward. Seems to work fine but then I rarely get ambient temps high enough to cause overheating.
 
Update - I just received a couple of new "leakless" water pumps from Snyder's. I noticed that the noses had been turned down (I measured it at 1.630", I've been turning them down to 1.640"), clearly to accommodate the aluminum fan. I also received a new aluminum fan and it fits perfectly. It appears that the interferrence issue has been recognized and corrected at the manufacturer level. Bravo Snyder's!
 

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philosofriend said:
A few weeks ago our club was helping a member put his engine back together. We, like you, found that the brand new fan blade would not fit over the water pump housing. We tried it on another known good water pump and found the same thing. It wasn't the taper making the problem. It was the cylindrical big hole at the rear of the fan that was too small to go over the water pump nose.
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If I remember some of those came with an installation sheet that said some grinding of the water pump may be needed.
 
Yes, my new fan came with those instructions. What I'm saying is that the new water pumps recognize the issue and have been modified so you won't have to modify them to fit the aluminum fan. Older water pumps that have not been modified may still need to be ground down. I believe the last pump I got from Snyders was last summer after we got back from the National-Convention-That-Wasn't in New Mexico, and I had to turn down its nose, so this change is relatively recent.
 
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