help visous fan worth it or not???

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chubsgts

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i have a 68 dart 340 with stock rad pwr strng and breaks
i just got a stock shroud for it so im sure that will help cool it

i scratched my nice coated fan some how and it will need to be redone
or do i spend a little more and get one of these????

will there be and clearance issue fan and a factory spacer on it now and will
i have a problem running the shroud with that after market fan


thanks
 
You'll most likely have to remove the spacer that's on it as the viscous fan is much longer than a stock fan. No idea if there'll be a clearance issue cause there are several different size viscous fans available. You need to measure water pump pulley to radiator clearance and the i.d. of the shroud and shop for a fan that fits those specifications.
 
Go electric. I did so a couple years ago and, dollar for dollar, it was one of the best upgrades I have ever made. The car never gets hot, I get better mileage on the highway, it's quieter...
 
I run the Mopar Performance Viscous Fan Package with my stock radiator and reproduction fan shroud and it works great. Fits perfect too. I am assuming you have the '69 and earlier water pump correct? The '70 and up aluminum water pump is longer so there will be less clearance.
 
i cant remember what i pulled off there last night was a long one to many cold sodas
it wasint looking so hot im going to by a new one now so ill probley grab one for a 68
 
As I recall, most of your posts have lead me to believe you're doing a stock type restoration on your car. If you have the stock type early cast iron water pump the Mopar viscous fan setup should fit with no problems. If you've switched to the later aluminum water pump with the inlet on the passenger side you can probably get enough clearence by switching to a Jaguar viscous unit with the Mopar fan. The Hayden part number for the Jaguar clutch is 2765.

If you use it, you might want to check the fit of the Jag unit on your water pump shaft. I'm not sure that it's a tight fit. The clutch needs to fit tightly on the pump shaft to be sure it's centered. You might have to fab some type of simple bushing.
 
I bought one of those Jaguar clutches to use on the longer aluminum pump and it came with a reducer bushing that fit the pump snout perfect. I had about 1 1/8" clearance from clutch to radiator.
 
So you're askin if you should buy the viscous fan package because you scratched your old fan? lol All kiddin aside, it's a great piece. I don't know what everybody's talkin about with the clearance issues. I've used them for years on early and later models. There is less clearance on the later ones, but there's enough room. They work very well.
 
StrokerScamp said:
I don't know what everybody's talkin about with the clearance issues. I've used them for years on early and later models. There is less clearance on the later ones, but there's enough room. They work very well.
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The place where I've seen the clearance issue is when using the aluminum water pump on an A body that originally came with a cast iron water pump and then adding the viscous fan. The MP clucth fan setup is too long to fit between the radiator & pump because the snout of the aluminum pump is longer than the one on the cast iron pump used on the earlier cars. That's where you need the Jaguar clutch. If you use the stock water pump for the year of the car you're working on you shouldn't have any clearance problem.
 
im running all stock stuff steel pump stock shroud stock rad

im asking because before i spend 40$ on having my fan powder coated and spacer
that runs at all times sense there no clutch if im better off to buy a viscous fan for the hp and fuel and what ever other gain ill see or if there just a bunch of trash and there not really any gain
 
'64 Cuda said:
The place where I've seen the clearance issue is when using the aluminum water pump on an A body that originally came with a cast iron water pump and then adding the viscous fan. The MP clucth fan setup is too long to fit between the radiator & pump because the snout of the aluminum pump is longer than the one on the cast iron pump used on the earlier cars. That's where you need the Jaguar clutch. If you use the stock water pump for the year of the car you're working on you shouldn't have any clearance problem.
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Now that makes sense. Nobody ever came out and said that....but I sorta suspected that was the case. I may need to get creative with my 63 Dart and the slant because the viscous fan is GOIN in the car. lol
 
chubsgts said:
im running all stock stuff steel pump stock shroud stock rad

im asking because before i spend 40$ on having my fan powder coated and spacer
that runs at all times sense there no clutch if im better off to buy a viscous fan for the hp and fuel and what ever other gain ill see or if there just a bunch of trash and there not really any gain
Click to expand...

I gotchya. Do you need some measurements to confirm if the clutch fan will fit? I think it would certainly be a worthwhile investment.
 
chubsgts said:
im running all stock stuff steel pump stock shroud stock rad

im asking because before i spend 40$ on having my fan powder coated and spacer
that runs at all times sense there no clutch if im better off to buy a viscous fan for the hp and fuel and what ever other gain ill see or if there just a bunch of trash and there not really any gain
Click to expand...


I took a fixed fan off my 70 340 and put a Mopar viscous one on. Running stock rad and shroud. I am happy with it. Less noise with the cluch fan.
 
A fans purpose is to draw or push air thru the radiator while at a stop or at slow speeds. Once a car gets up to sufficient speed forced airflow thru the radiator will cool the engine. Stock fix bladed fans and flex fans are driven by the engine at all times and waste fuel and hp once the car is above the speed needed to provide enough airflow. Electric fans use no HP as they are, of course, powered by electricity produced by your alternator. They need to be controlled (turned on/off) either manually or by one of a number of types of temperature sensing switches. Viscous fans use a temperature sensitive spring which when heated engages the fan, at all other times it freewheels. A shroud should be used with any fan to improve airflow and efficiency. My pick is for a clutch fan for simplicity in installation and out of sight out of mind operation. Try looking at a unit off a Jeep product with the fuel injected straight six out of a junk yard or purchased new (fit perfect on my 65 Cuda).
 
rapom65 said:
Electric fans use no HP as they are, of course, powered by electricity produced by your alternator.
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Electric fans do use some horsepower. They are powered by electricity provided by the alternator. The alternator is driven with horsepower provided by the engine. Nothing is free. :?
 
'64 Cuda said:
The place where I've seen the clearance issue is when using the aluminum water pump on an A body that originally came with a cast iron water pump and then adding the viscous fan. The MP clucth fan setup is too long to fit between the radiator & pump because the snout of the aluminum pump is longer than the one on the cast iron pump used on the earlier cars. That's where you need the Jaguar clutch. If you use the stock water pump for the year of the car you're working on you shouldn't have any clearance problem.
Click to expand...

My 68 Cuda had the new style aluminum pump and Mopar viscous fan and it cleared. Not by much, but it cleared. The radiator was a stock 3 core unit.
 
When I installed a new aluminum radiator last summer I could no longer use my Mopar viscous fan because the new radiator was too short (the radiator is only 16" tall and the fan is 18" diameter so it overlapped too much to use a std. shroud). I thought about what was the best alternative, a flex fan or an electric fan. Since the flex fans design flattens out at speed it seemed to me it can't produce much drag. The electric fan on the other hand consumes electricity (some suck a bunch of amps) so the alternator has to work harder to keep the batt charged. Considering how weak the electrical system is on our cars I decided to use a flex fan. I don't have a before and after comparison on a dyno but I can say by the seat of the pants I can tell no diff. in how it runs. Gas mileage doesn't seem to be any different either. Not saying the viscous fan doesn't work, just saying it's a probably a very small gain. JMHO
 
'64 Cuda said:
Electric fans do use some horsepower. They are powered by electricity provided by the alternator. The alternator is driven with horsepower provided by the engine. Nothing is free. :?
Click to expand...

Yes, yes that is technically true. The alternator is already being spun by the engine. The additional electrical load on the alternator to power the fan(s) will use some miniscule amount of HP. Last figure I saw for HP loss for running an alternator on the strip was 2 HP. Thanks for correcting me.
 
not going elc just because the look at what im doing to the car if i get my cross ram then i will go elc till then stock of clutch will be what i run
 
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