Adding Vintage Air to my 55. What fan(s) are needed

[RossL]

My car has a 3 blade fan. What is the best upgrade for a mechanical fan? Flex fan, fan with fan clutch or just more blades

I also want to install an auxiliary electric pusher

What are the recommendations?

I recently purchased the car and have not lived through the summer. But since I will have everything apart I want to get everything together installed now

[ICON 1956]

I would install a 6 blade fan, This does make a BIG difference with the heat. Originally these cars came with three blade fan.

[paul2748]

If CASCO still offers the modified lower part of the shroud I would recommend that too.

[55blacktie]

I asked "Jim" of Casco about the lower shroud several months ago. They were no longer available from the manufacturer, so Casco was/is considering making them. I asked Jim to contact me when they become available, but I haven't heard from him. If it's not shown on their site, I doubt that they have started making them. If you find out otherwise, please let us know.

[55blacktie]

ctci.org/gilsgarage/1955-56-57-thunderbird-overheating/

[Jimntempe]

If you want a 'one and done' experience while adding the AC, or if you just want to get the best cooling you can...
If you wish to keep the generator forget about electric fans.
If you wish to have electric fans you should include on your to do list going to an alternator.
- If you are going to put any electric on it AND are doing most of the other stuff too my opinion is forget the pusher electric to assist the mechanical fan and just get a GOOD puller with shroud and don't use a mechanical fan.
- If you are not going electric then the simplest effective fan setup is to get an 18" six blade flex. A clutch fan is probably slightly better but, in my opinion, not much if any better and I'd rather not hang the extra weight on the water pump.
- in addition to the fan, things to do are replace the water pump with a high flow pump, either Casco or FlowKooler, replace the OEM water pump spacer with an AMES spacer (https://thunderbird.us/), install a large mouth 180-degree thermostat.
- As to radiator... if you already have a brass radiator look down the neck and see how many rows, front to back, of tubes there are. Most have 3 rows, some have 4. If you have a 3-row radiator replace it with an Aluminum 2 rows of 1" tubes . If you have a 4-row brass already it probably good enough and you can let your budget decide if you want to get aluminum. When I changed my 4-row brass to 2 row aluminum it lowered peak temperatures about 4 degrees. Radiators with and without matching fan available from https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ssn=au ... 61.l161211
- if budget is tight you might pick only one of these ==>>.. either the high flow water pump (about $170) OR the ames spacer (about $250) The jury is out as to whether both are needed together. I did both because I only wanted to be taking all that stuff apart once.
I can run my AC in 114 degree weather and the temp never goes over 215 even at stoplight, usually when the car is moving its at 200 or less.

[ICON 1956]

The shroud creates the down draft air which gets sucked toward the radiator with the help of the fan. Having the six blade fan helps to cool the radiator. I also add the modified water pump also helps prevents overheating. For those that live in the hottest parts in the country. BTW having a new thermostat with a hi temp will also help......

[55blacktie]

In Gil's article, he specifically stated do not use a flex fan.

[Jimntempe]

In Gil's article, he specifically stated do not use a flex fan.

Lots of people use em in these tbirds and they work fine. They were standard on many fords for years.

[ICON 1956]

With the upgrades that are added to my car I never had any heat issues whatsoever.

[RossL]

I live in NJ so temps could get into the. 90’s in summer months


Do you think the 6 blade fan with the spacer, high volume water pump and new thermostat will be enough cooling?

I don’t want to use an electric fan as my primary fan.

I also plan to have the radiator cleaned and flow tested

[Rusty57]

This is a major point to remember about cooling. Regardless of how large a radiator or how much air flow you have, the cooling passages in the head and block are the key to proper cooling.

If the coolant cannot flow through the block and the heat from combustion cannot transfer from the engine to the coolant due to crud in the cooling jacket, the engine will overheat. Even worse is that there will be hot spots in the engine but the temperature at the thermostat will not be high enough to make it open.

As part of your work make the effort to properly flush the block and heads.

Having said that, I do agree that you will need increased heat exchange capacity due to the heat rejected from the condenser. The heat load from the engine to the radiator will not change due to AC. The problem is that the heat rejected from the condenser increases the temperature of the air flowing to the radiator. You have to get rid of that extra heat so the temperature of the coolant leaving the radiator is low enough that there is capacity to cool the engine.

[Jimntempe]

I live in NJ so temps could get into the. 90’s in summer months


Do you think the 6 blade fan with the spacer, high volume water pump and new thermostat will be enough cooling?

I don’t want to use an electric fan as my primary fan.

I also plan to have the radiator cleaned and flow tested

It's a good way to go as a start. If the radiator isn't leaking I would take a look down the fill hole and see if you can see the tops of any of the tubes. You can often get a good idea of condition based on how much crud, if any, you see around the mouths of the tubes. If it looks clean and isn't leaking, I would just use it for now. After you do the other stuff and have it back on the road you'll know if the cooling is good enough. If it isn't you can easily pull the old radiator and have it redone, or probably a better way to go is to replace it will a better cooling Aluminum one. The hardest part of RRing the radiator is getting that lower hose on and off. If you do pull the radiator that's a good time to put on a new lower hose.

[55blacktie]

Re-coring a copper & brass radiator will cost as much as a new radiator and more expensive than an aftermarket aluminum radiator.

I took my 57 G heads to a machine shop to have hardened valve seats & bronze guide liners installed. The bare heads were pretty clean when I delivered them. Nevertheless, the shop tanked them and glass beaded them before working on them. When I brought them home, there was still some rust scale coming out when I moved them. I replaced the temperature sender bushing, which had rust corrosion on the back side, not visible from the outside. I expect I'll find more of the same when I start working on the block.

[RossL]

What is the part number for the thermostat described above?

Radiator is being cleaned and flow tested