1960 Fan Cooling

[60eldo]

  I was wondering which cools better. A 7 blade clutch fan, or a 7 blade fan with a spacer. My car has A/C but it doesnt work.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Does your car still have the fan shroud in place?   The AC equipped cars had the shroud, as the radiator was in front of the crossmember.

If not, then neither fan will work properly, unless the blades are around no more than 3/4" from the radiator.

Anything further away, and the action will be virtually useless, as the air will circulate from the sides, as it is easier to come from there than through the radiator.

Bruce.

[60eldo]

 No you are wrong, my fan is 8 inches from the rad. But question is which fan is better at cooling.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The picture shows that the Fan Shroud is still there, so all is good.

As for which is the best fan, and the clutch fan is the best one for cooling.

If the solid one was best, then the Factory wouldn't have spent millions of Dollars on research and development of the clutch type.

As I have said before, the fan is not really needed when traveling at speeds in excess of 35 MPH, as there is sufficient air flowing through the radiator at speed.   The fans are there for slower speeds.

Bruce.  

[V63]

I am not a fan of CLUTCH fans. When they fail your warning is an overheat. I live in an extreme desert climate and it seems they leak their viscous fluid (silicone). The FIRST thing I do is remove them and opt for a flex fan with a spacer. The blades are of spring steel and aggressively cupped at low RPM but straighten out at higher RPM to reduce drag. Those never fail. HOWEVER you probably prefer a 'street' version as the high performance (race) versions are TOO aggressive and noisy. Cadillac did use them as OEM in the 70's .

[60eldo]

  Thats what happenned to me. My clutch started leaking, its shot. So my options are. Buy another clutch which I cant find anywhere so far, or put on my 7 blade flex fan with a spacer. I also leaned out my carb, and it seems to be running cooler.

[Big Fins]

Make the fan a straight drive. I don't like clutches either. They are for transmissions, not fans. I don't how much money the engineers pissed away designing them.

I've seen them come apart and the fan goes into the radiator. Now you need a radiator, a fan and possibly the shroud as it will get damaged too!

Not everything works as it was designed to.

[60eldo]

So Im going to replace my fan on the left with the one on the right. I got the right one from a 59 cad.   Im wondering if its stock, Ive never seen one like it but it should fit.

[35-709]

That is the route I would take also, make sure the "new" fan sits in approximately the same position relative to the shroud and radiator as the old one.

As a side note, NAPA had a replacement fan clutch to bolt the old fan to for my '68 Pontiac Bonneville, wouldn't be surprised if they were the same as the Cadillac.  But I would still stick with a clutchless fan.

[Snibbor]

Jon,

May I ask a question (as I am experiencing an overheating issue as well)? Do you have any space at the top (see YOUR pic that I have added "red line" to). I replaced my clutch fan on my '67 CDV and I have a 6-blade fan. It did help with the overheating but in doing so I had to shove the radiator forward via the top radiator brackets in order to accommodate the new clutch as it was too long and made the fan too close for comfort to the radiator. In so doing I created a wider space (see the "red outlined area" on YOUR photo) at the top of the radiator thus a little more "comfortable"Not a valid attachment ID.my 60 rad 001 (1).pdf  . I am planning on putting hard foam in this space (the "red outlined" space). Anyone know if this will help with the air flow from the fan since the radiator it tilting ever so slightly towards the front of the vehicle?