72C3LS5

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to the Forum, but not new to the Hobby. I have always been a Chevrolet guy, but have owned Camaro's , Chevelle's ans Nova's. Due to an unfortunate circumstance, I lost my Uncle to Cancer a couple of weeks back.
He and I always shared the love of Classic Cars together and with his passing, he willed me his 1972 LS5 BB Convertible/Roadster, with removable Hardtop.

The car had been sitting in his garage quite some time during his illness and needed some help to crank. I installed a New Battery and it just spun to no avail. Go to open the Hood to give it a squirt of Starter Fluid and the hood won't open much past the 2-7'o'clock position. Anyway, get my Mom to hold the Hood, get it started and drive her home.

After further inspection today, I see the nose of the Hood is hitting on the Electric Fan Shroud. What are my options?
Is the fan essential on the 454 to keep from overheating or how do I get around it? It is absolutely in the way and the Hood not opening to the full open position, isn't an option for me.

HeadsU.P.

First, sorry for your loss of a family member.

Can't say I have ever seen an electric fan on the front. Much more common behind the rad. In fact, I don't believe its going to work for you. Someone must have had overheating issues at one time. Common faults are: air seals missing around the rad, dam missing under the nose, rad needs flushing / rebuild, clutch fan etc.
If anything would fit in front of the rad, it would be a 3/4" thick tranny cooler in a future project. But for now you need to remove the auxillary fan if you want the hood to stay up.,

cv67

reposition the fan sure he had it on there for a reason

72C3LS5

So if I were to put everything back to original as you described, in your opinion,should I not have overheating problems?The car does not have A/C, but does have a pretty good sounding cam. Still iron heads, etc..... When I went and searched the Forum, I see a lot of Electric Fan threads. Thanks for your input.

HeadsU.P.

Does it have the clutch fan running with a fan belt off of the waterpump now? Or has the original been removed? Fan shroud in place? Rubber air seals around the radiator?
As you saw, there's just no room in front of the rad for a fan. You don't need a pusher, you need a puller to get air thru the rad.
Not have over-heating issues? No one can answer that w/o seeing the vehicle.

72C3LS5

It does have the clutch fan running off the water pump and the fan shroud is in place.. I see it has a new aluminum radiator but no rubber seals (going off memory) Let me take a pic on the Radiator side and come back and post. Thanks for your patience. I can't believe it ever left the shop that installed this 😡 I understand the pusher and puller as I had that set up on a 34' Ford. Just don't know if I will be able to retain the Clutch Fan, as it looked close to Radiator best I remember. Stand by......

72C3LS5

Trying to attach pic. New at this. I just discovered this was an original A/C Car also. Still has compressor on it!

HeadsU.P.

Ok. Someone has swapped out the stock rad for a aluminum unit, good. Shroud looks good.
Fan does not appear to be stock. Looks fiberglass with rivets? Maybe not. I can't see a clutch drive on the fan either, but maybe. And with that aluminum spacer, that could be why the fan is too close to the rad. Not seeing any foam seals around shroud or rad. So, air goes around.
Lots of modifications there. But still, there is no need for a electric pusher fan out front. You got to be able to open the hood fully to propped position. Upper rad hose goes under the ALT? Interesting.

flyeri

Spal makes a slim design fan that will work if you remove yours and find a heating issue at idle or moving in slow traffic. After installing a ZZ454 I had an issue with the temp creeping up slowly at idle.

Rescue Rogers

I would say he may have had a fuel boiling problem due to the fuel lines being wrapped in that orange insulation. If you remove it in the future and find that you do, the edelbrock RPM airgap is a good solution

Tampa Jerry

Sorry to hear of your loss. First thing I would do is buy an AIM. It will show you how the car was originally built. The GM engineers did a great job in designing these cars and if set up correctly will not overheat. At the very least, see if the timing is correct and that the advance on the dizzy
both initial and advanced are working correctly. Good luck. Jerry

cv67

you can tell from the pics he was a car guy, those big blocks can create a lot of heat esp at idle or with ac on. keep the electric theres no golden rule to what you do with one of these, just keep it up and put some miles on it.

HeadsU.P.

He can't open the hood all the way. It strikes the electric fan in the front.

derekderek

can the electric fan be lowered, or put on the back side and still clear the engine fan? has that shroud been trimmed? is there a shroud for the front electric fan? and elec fans are cheap. maybe get a double fan kit, smaller, especially in the center.

Sunstroked

That orange insulation is aircraft stuff. Ive seen plenty of it on turbo props, apu's. Good stuff. It should keep the fuel line from boiling.
As Cuisinart pointed out, big blocks in the C3 overheated. Ive never heard a big block guy say theirs ran cool. But....I can always be proven wrong.
So someone installed a pusher fan on the front, and your hood is hitting it. Can you lower the fan?
If not, removing it might be a better option. You could try removing that solid block that attaches the fan to the water pump, installing a factory clutch fan, and installing an oil cooler. Im using dual electric puller fans behind the radiator, and a 15,000 btu oil cooler. Performance engines create heat, its the nature of the beast. Ive read some pretty interesting articles of late. Oil coolers remove a lot of heat and work in conjuction with your radiator to Keep your engine cool. The factory clutch fan is more efficient than that direct setup your car currently has. Shrouded dual electric cooling fans are very efficient and use less h.p. To run.
Several options, you need to decide whats best for you.

derekderek

I never have a temp issue with my big blocks. of course my cooling system is the Delaware river. a 79. but has correct duck tail in the rear, so I am thinking of doing chrome rear bumper conversion...

derekderek

ok, back to the real world. this is a boat thing, but works good. keeps intake cooler when running. I dunno if it'll help heat-soak after shutting off hot though. a phenolic spacer under the carb might also help, but every half inch under a big block hood has to be carefully checked. https://www.camarocentral.com/Lifter...p/enc-1060.htm

HeadsU.P.

Keep in mind responders that the owner says this is an A/C car. That means there is a condensor in front of the radiator. (Basically, its doubled up rads) Very little room when the hood is fully open. And that is the complaint of the poster. Then try to imagine an electric fan in front of that! Hood will not open all the way.
I have a 3/4" thick trans cooler in front of my A/C condensor and the hood still hits. There isn't any room.
I have seen numerous car buffs try to install a pusher fan in front, with a mechanical puller fan behind the rad. First, both fan blades have to turn the same direction. If they don't, the wild turbulance will cancel any cooling intensions. The fans will fight each other.
To the owner: You would be light years ahead by removing the elect fan and go from there, following some others suggestions. You GOT to be able to open the hood fully!

Milan454

I also spy what looks to be a long aluminum water pump and not a short pump. Am I seeing that correctly??
Milan

HeadsU.P.

Good eye. I didn't catch that. Do BBC have short or long W.P. on Vettes? Now you really have to wonder why the fan spacer is there.