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I am putting together my short to-do list of work on my 61 for the winter. One item is my fan interfering with the shroud. This is not all the time but very infrequent when moving the car in and out of the garage. Typically at full left lock on the wheel but not always repeatable. It looks like one of the previous owners even notched the shroud at the 7 o'clock position (looking from driver seat). I am thinking it may be motor mounts but I have not really dug into it yet?
At full left turn at a standstill, once, my fan tapped the steering third arm or the drag link, but not certain..... It only did it once. The tip of the fan blades were slightly marked......Never did it again!!!?? I would take a look in that area. Actually never hit the fan shrouding.
At full left turn at a standstill, once, my fan tapped the steering third arm or the drag link, but not certain..... It only did it once. The tip of the fan blades were slightly marked......Never did it again!!!?? I would take a look in that area. Actually never hit the fan shrouding.
My fan tips are marked as well but I will see if there are any marks on steering components. It sounds like it is hitting sheet metal though not something solid.
Many aftermarket fan clutches have a separate bushing in the center hole that acts as a spacer on the snout of the water pump mounting surface to match the clutch's center hole to the snout. These can be overlooked when installing and cause issues...
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Nov 7, 2018 at 05:08 AM.
Many aftermarket fan clutches have a separate bushing in the center hole that acts as a spacer on the snout of the water pump mounting surface to match the clutch's center hole to the snout. These can be overlooked when installing and cause issues...
you would think that a missing spacer would cause a balance problem?
Bill
Note on the Hayden clutch pictured the mounting holes are slotted, without that bushing you can get the fan slightly offset when installing...maybe enough to cause an occasional shroud "strike" under certain conditions....
Don't get me wrong - its a long shot (like REALLY long) but a consideration...
More likely in a C1 that the motor mount bracket has loose bolts or wallowed out holes - I would check and re-torque those items first...
The previous owner put poly motor and transmission mounts in my 70 Chevelle. When I put the shroud in, the fan hit the shroud. I changed out the mounts to factory rubber and all is well. Jerry
The two lower halves of the '61 shroud are easily bent/tweaked. Mine was hitting lightly at the 5 o'clock position intermittently. I had fabricated the right lower panel myself, since no reproductions were available. All it took was a simple tweak, and no more hitting. I'm running the 5 blade factory clutch fan.
The fiberglass shroud on my '64 rubbed at ~ the 10:00 o'clock position at the "step." I clearanced the inside a bit with sandpaper and built up the outside a bit and re-painted it without issue since. BTW, IIRC, my shroud has slotted mounting holes allowing a bit of positioning. If your holes aren't slotted, maybe you could do this with a bit of filing. Sounds like you don't need much.
all this info is helpful, but the fan should never be close enough to touch in the first place. if it does, then the fan is not correct or there has been some damage sometime in the past.
BUT at this point, ya gotta do what you gotta do....
Bill
I had some time to today to go out and take a better look. Fan is 5 blade, about 18" diameter. I have about 1/2"-3/4" clearance on the top of the shroud and about 1/2" on the sides. This drops to 1/4" or less near where it is hitting at the bottom. I confirmed it is not hitting the steering and there is a short mark in the shroud. Obviously from the pictures, someone notched the shroud and the portion where it is hitting is warped somewhat. Possibly it was pushed up from below with the steering but I don't think so as there is clearance here. I doubt notching it helped as it took out some of the rigidity of the shroud. Mounts look good and I checked for tightness (but did not torque).
So, I think what's happening is when in a tight turn, weight redistributes on the front end and a little bit of acceleration moves the engine and it tags the shroud.
I am changing coolant this winter and replacing the expansion tank and that would be a good time to pull the shroud, fix the notch and try to straighten things out. i will do further check on mounts at that time too. Question remains, why would someone notch this?
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Fan Shroud Interference
