[noble26]

Everyone,

I am a fairly new owner of a 68 Mustang with a 302 and automatic transmission. The vehicle was originally an A/C car, but neither the heat or A/C was in the car when I got it....SO I got my hands on a complete a/c and heat system from Old Air Products. Since I am a bit of an amatuer, this system was ideal because of detailed instructions and technical help from the company.

So to my question...I removed the grill, hood latch, radiator, fan, belts etc, then I mounted their after market bracket for the compressor (mounted to right of distributor cap and front of water pump). I then installed the new belts and attempted to install a new 6 blade fan.....NOPE! The blade made contact with the compressor and even more so, the idle arm (which adjusts the belt tension on the a/c compressor. So I called Old Air Products and they responded like they never heard of the problem before suggesting that I use a spacer behind the fan to create clearance. I found a 2'' spacer a local parts store and put everything back together. After everything was assembled I found that the fan sat inside of the fan shroud instead of just behind it as it did previously. I turned the fan blades and found that there was contact between the blades and the bottom of the shroud, not much contact, but contact none the less. So I loosened everything back up and attempted to retighten to create a bit of room for the fan to no success. I measured the following: The center part of the fan blade that contacts the shroud is approximately 3/4 of an inch from the outside edge of the fan shroud. On the other side, I have approximately 1 3/8 clearance fron the idle arm to the fan blade. So, should I try a 1 inch spacer (if they are even available)? That should leave only about 1/4 inch between the fan and fan shroud and around 3/8 inch between the fan blade and the newly installed idle arm. What I've read on this part of the car is the following: 1 inch minimum clearance from fan blades and any other object under the hood should be obtained, the fan should sit about 1/3rd of its total width inside the fan shroud, and the fan shroud should not be cut away at all period (although 6 inches cut away from the bottom of the shroud should solve the problem). I dont see how I'm going to resolve this without breaking one of these guidelines.....Any and all advice floating around out there would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[daveboss200]

Is there any way you would consider adjusting the radiator so that the fan shroud doesnt need to be cut? I had a 67 and a 68 with factory air and the shrouds had a clearance problem as well. You wouldnt think it would on a factory setup but it did. The 68 had been cut by the previous owner to add some clearance. Since the fan shroud was attached to the radiator I tried adjusting the shroud first but it didnt work out very well. I then adjusted the radiator by using long thin metal plates to increase the flange width and that seemed to work much better. It didnt look as nice but it was effective. The problem I think was that on both the factory fan was not capable of delivering the airflow necessary to pull enough at low speed or idle. The fans had been replaced on both before I got them. I had one original fan in the trunk and tried it, the clearance was greater, but I found the owner was right to replace it for lack of adequate airflow. Also the engine was tweaked and had more power than a stock 289 so it would torque over just enough to have the fan hit the shroud. I put a torque strap on and that eliminated that problem.

 

[Ivy66GT]

The factory A/C fans were usually viscous clutch fans and the blades were barely in the shroud at all. The book gives too many options so I can't say exactly what a '68 would have had. But my '66 factory setup with a 7-blade clutch fan would also hit the shroud at the bottom if the fan blades were square on the outer corners. The front, outer corners are clipped at about a 45 degree angle and the rear edge of the shroud aligns with the innermost corner of that 45 degree cut. Without the corner clipped blades they would hit at the bottom but have maybe a 1" clearance to the shroud at the top. This setup has never had a problem cooling this 289 either before or after the overhaul.

There are about 9 different length fan spacers listed for Mustangs from 64-69.