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Reverse Rotation Water Pump Cooling Fan Options?

6.9K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  jdub  
#1 ·
I'm thinking about ditching the electric cooling fan in favor of a rigid fan with a fan clutch on a serpentine setup.
I have only ~5" between the radiator and the water pump pulley. The fan clutches I've found this far have a 5.4" dimension so there 's a problem. The radiator is a '67 style where I modified the radiator support to fit it.

Anyone else have that issue and solved it?
And what can I do about a shroud?
 

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#2 ·
About your only option is the clutch fan assembly from a Fox Mustang, or another reverse rotation Ford. The serpentine style water pump has a different bolt pattern than the standard type water pump. This is to prevent attempting to use a standard rotation fan on a reverse rotation water pump. I don't know of any aftermarket reverse rotation fans.

How wide is your radiator? A Ford Contour fan and shroud assemble will fit a 24" wide radiator.
 
#4 ·
The radiator is about 22 1/2" from outside tank to outside tank so the Contour fan wont work. I want to get away from the electric fan any ways.

But thanks!
 
#3 ·
I know this will rub many here the wrong way. But I have tried solid fans, clutch fans, flex fans, and electric fans. They best cooling one so far is my 6 blade flex that I am running right now. You can get a flex fan in reverse rotation, and they make all kinds of different spacers to suit your needs. I too am running a 24 inch radiator in my 65. I have 195 degree thermostat with a shroud. I also have AC with a small pusher installed on the condenser. Pusher is set to come on with either high condenser pressure or with temperature at 205 degrees. When the AC is not running the pusher never comes on. Car sits right around 192 degrees all day long. When I turn on my AC, the condenser pressure kicks the pusher fan on and off. Temps have still been sitting around 192.
 
#11 ·
I purchased a 17" reverse rotation fan from Summit. Manufacturer is Derale. For my application I have a 6 blade fan and clutch. Summit does list same size fan in non-clutch version. I tried a fox fan set up but it there wasn't enough clearance. I don't have a part number handy...just search for reverse rotation fan on Summit and these will pop up.
 
#12 ·
Why do you want to get away from an electric fan? Cooling problems?

What I've seen a lot is that people who have problems with electric fans bought crappy electric fans. If you can't use an OEM style, there's basically only one good brand of aftermarket fan and that is SPAL. The rest are junk. Properly implemented electric fans work and they're better than mechanical fans. People who couldn't get electric fans to work didn't know what they were doing. You can prefer mechanical on your classic car if you want to, but they're not better. If they were, you would see them on modern performance vehicles.
 
#13 ·
Just exploring the idea at the moment because of the simplicity.
It overheated the other day, not sure root cause yet . Serpentine belt was shredded, the overflow tube had disconnected at the recovery tank and spewed coolant all over and the fan wasnt operating. The overflow tube was within reach of the belt idler pulley, perhaps it got under the belt and caused it to jump. I’m working on the fan now to find any faults in the wiring. The relay terminals pretty corroded and dirty. Possibility there!

I agree electric fans have a number of benefits. I’ve been running this one for ~15 years now and it’s performed perfectly until now.
 
#14 ·
So, whichever type of fan you go with, I would figure out why you overheated before making changes. The last thing you want to do is throw parts at an overheating issue.