Radiator problem

50Pickup

50Pickup

Junior Member
I have a 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner with a Flathead V8, in Canada 1954 was the last year of the Flathead. I was cruising at 55-60 mph when a loud grinding noise came out of the engine. Pulled over, my rad was leaking and a large circular imprint of the fan was on the rad and two hole were punctured in this circle. One of the fan blades was slightly bent in at the end but all three fan blades had proper clearance from the rad including the bent blade. The rad looks solid and the fan also seems solid so I can't figure out what caused the rub and puncture, could a foreign object have fallen in between the fan blade and the rad ? did anyone ever experience this ?? Thanks for your help
 
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I suppose a stick or something could have gotten sucked up in there , although I'm sure most would agree it would be very unusual . :eek:
 
That is an odd thing to have happen. Even if the radiator wasn't bolted in, all four hoses would have to flex for the rad to hit the fan. If the fan moved forward I would think it would stay there after you stopped. ...... Mark
 
Ford freak, I took the rad out today and see no signs of foreign objects. The pully and fan are both tight and show no sign of movement. there should be three bolts on each side of the rad, the driver side only had two, the bottom one was not there. I recently purchased this car so I'm not sure if it was missing or is that what came out and got caught in the fan, one of the blades does have a bend at the tip.
 
neighbors cat??? I would suspect that an object was introduced at some point. Newc
 
325w said:
Motor and are trans mounts broken ?
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To 325w I'm starting to think the same thing, it's either a motor mount or transmission mount issue. Either the engine moved forward or tilted upwards because the grooves in the rad are much deeper at the bottom of the circular rub pattern than at the top and it's leaking from the bottom of the rub pattern
 
50Pickup said:
...the grooves in the rad are much deeper at the bottom of the circular rub pattern than at the top and it's leaking from the bottom of the rub pattern
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This being the case, I would think that the motor/trans unit dropped down at the tail of the trans. Check the cross member for looseness or the trans mounts loose.
 
Removed the rad, got it repaired. Had the car on the lift, all mounts seem ok both rad mounts and transmission mounts. Fan pulley bearing ok nothing moving there. We fixed the rad and reinstalled it, good clearance everywhere between fan & rad. Started the engine, everything was good, we reved her up and the fan started pinging against the rad. Looks like 60 year metal fatigue, the fan blades have a lot of flex. Does anyone know where I can find a fan assembly kit for the flathead ?
 
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