MelWff

Ordered a spreader bar for stock upper control arms. The car is a 69, originally an L46. Water pump pulley is two groove at this point. Uses a 7 blade fixed fan with thermostatic fan clutch.
1. Kit was missing 4 flat washers, no big problem.
2. Installed brackets to upper A-arm studs with no issues. Raised vehicle so suspension hung down during this process to prevent loss of alignment shims.
3. Assembled spreader bar with rod ends completely screwed in for shortest length to one bracket. Discovered with the number of alignment shims on my car the bar tube at 20.5" was too long by a fraction of an inch. Since one end is RH thread and other end is LH thread decided to shorten RH thread end by 1/4". Used hacksaw with two hose clamps on tube to act as saw guides and shortened tube. Finished off with file and chased threads with tap.
4. Next problem with bar installed was fan blades were just kissing the tube. Had to order 3/8" fan spacer and use 1 1'4"studs to install fan.

I believe I notice a difference in the way the steering feels most noticeable over uneven pavement.

Roadster71

I had the same issue on my 71. I took 1/8" off of each end and 1/8 off of each rod end so they wouldn't bottom out in the holes. Also had to elongate the slots in the brackets a little for fan clearance.

Silvertone

A couple of us had this same problem recently discussed in my thread, about having to shave a little length off the bar. Not hard to fix though. Wish I could see a photo of your mounting, I had plenty of bracket slot length to adjust the bar forward/backward and avoid the fan blades. Also, keep an eye out for contact with the passenger side mount bracket corner digging into the radiator lower hose. I ground the corner down and still had to put a hose clamp in place to take the friction off the hose.

MelWff

Thanks for the comment about the hose, will check it.

gdh

I had the same issue where the fan would kiss the bar under hard acceleration. Will check the rad hose, thank-you.

Dodosmike

Thats just "self clearancing" Greg.

Ive got a SD bar in my '78. 3 groove pulley, mechanical fan. Zero issues. I've got about 1/8" between the bar an the fan. No spacer. Lots of adjustment front/rear. I put the rod ends in as far as they'd go and it juuuuuust >.< fit.

I saw in another thread somewhere here that the poster took a 2" or so 1/8" thick flat washer and drilled it to match the fan mounting bolts betweent he fan and clutch. Moved the fan away from the motor 1/8" and it was good.

Yep, I'll check the hose as well, thanks for the heads up.

dodosmike