John Sumner (Urban Cowboy) came to the house this morning and we piddled around with his 69 Mach. He doesn't seen to have a heating problem except in stop and go traffic. I advised him to get a recovery tank and after that he should be good to go. He has a 6 blade flex fan and a 3 row rad with a shroud.
He has what feels like what may be a flex plate that is not the correct imbalance because just sitting neutral and rev it between 2 and 3 K you notice a vibration that settles down after 3K. He may need to have it checked. He has a very clean Mach, rust free with a 351 Cleveland and a holley 600 cfm carb. He has a pretty loapy cam in it. Anyway, we had fun chatting about our Mustangs.


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That is great, part of what this Forum is supposed to be all about!

The cars in the picture look great,, I am not so sure about those two guys though,,,,,

I read in Hot Rod Magizine that the flex fans are not so great, their tests indicated that a clutch fan is much better, It moves (lots)more air when it is "on", and uses less energy when it is off.

 

ahhh
yall look so happy

 

Not sure I understand the theory that a clutch fan is more better than a flex fan. They both basically quit working at highway speeds. I guess the difference would be that the clutch fan quits using engine power and the flex is stillbeing spun bythe engineeven though not drawing air. Around town they are both running fulltilt. But you are right, I have always heard this theory as well. I'm just toomuch of a tightwad to make the purchase of a clutch fan.

 

We will be using an electric fan on JameStang's car, more for he sake of simplicity ifanything else.

The way I mightvisualize a flex fan being inefficient is to note that thefanhas to becomsuming at least enoughenergy as required to flatten out the blades. Thinking of it this way, it can almost be assumed that the fan consumes the sameenergy whether flattend out and moving little air as when the fan is in the normal "working" position, moving lots of air. (this is true untill the RPM at which the fan blades will flatten out no more.)

Yes, the fan is moving less air when flat, but the energy is being used to keep the blades flat instead of moving air....

Oh well!! Plobably a little more info/supposition than you were looking for.....

 

No, I'm with you. You're coming in loud and clear are dead on. I agree. On the electric fan......the fan draws it's energy from the alternator, and the alternator draws it's energy from the engine. Now, the clutch fan draws it's energy from the engine. Both draw their energy from the engine. What are you saving with an electric fan?

 

Damn, when I read the subject line I thought it was going to be a broke back mountain story[&:]. Is his stang 100% original or did you chastise him for any aftermarket parts? Just kidding. Who backed into the light post?
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Broke Back Mountain my ***. No, his Mustang is not original. The battery is in the trunk, but it sure does free up some room up front to work and to locate his MSD set up. He's got headers and some mufflers that we couldn't identify, but they sound good. You guys with 69's go out and look at the routing for your emergency brake cable. His hits the floor pan, and looks like there should be a way to hold that cable away from the floor pan. His cable is loose and his emergency brakes don't work very well so he is going to try to get that tight. He's got disk brakes all around. Granada up front and Versailles out back. 9" pumpkin with 350 gears.
It's really a solid car. Needs a paint job though. Used to be Acapulco blue but has been painted Vintage Burgandy.

 

exactly

seriously, it always good to see members get together and share the love of their cars. about the fan, i'll be going electric because its cruising at full speed when your sitting at the light - which is when you need that extra fan OOMPH the most.

 

Busted. The flex and the clutch are also running full tilt at idle. If you are saying the electric is drawing more air at idle than the clutch or the flex because it is running faster, then you are correct. But you are still drawing more power from the engine than a flex would draw because of the need to draw on the alternator to get that power, and drawing power creates heat. I think I have the perfect set-up because I never get beyond 1/2 needle on the heat gauge, and it certainly does not include an electric fan.