F-135 fan blade and shroud HELP!!!!

[Jason Reed]

Ok guys- @Rock40 & I need a little back up here. Ross is pretty sure he knows what is wrong, but conformation would be nice as he says. I’m upgrading to the plastic fan from the OEM metal blade and it is not clearing the shroud. First off, I know we need the spacer (which I will get from @65swb45). We think the issue is we have the wrong year of fan shroud for this 1966 F-135. I bought it from @65swb45 and he may have just sent the wrong one on accident, or is it the correct one and then we (Ross & I) have no clue why it won’t clear and tuck in the shroud.

First pic- currently how mine sits with the OEM fan as a mock up. The new plastic 6-blade is what I’ll be using with a spacer.

Second pic- the fan shroud that Mark sent us. (Which has the flat top on the shroud)

Third pic- a pic of a fan & shroud on a F-135 from this thread: F135 4 Blade Fan Upgrade.

So do we have the correct 1966 F-135 fan shroud that Mark sent that I had powder coated or is the 3rd pic the correct shroud (with a more rounded top for clearance) correct?

@65swb45 - All good here my friend, just trying to grab some help with photos for you and the MUD group to assist with.

 

[65swb45]

Jason, by force of reason [a legal term of art] the smaller F fan should definitely fit inside the larger 2F shroud. If it doesn't, something is not aligned properly.

As for which shroud I sent you, I have no recollection.

I have no fan spacers for sale at this time.

 

[reddingcruiser]

How far is the fan blade from the BOTTOM of the shroud? Is there any reason why your engine would be sitting higher than stock?? Radiator placement on the OEM frame brackets is pretty straight forward, there should just be a piece of webbing between the bracket and core support.

 

[B y r o n]

Did you try rotating the shroud 180 and see what the clearance is?

 

[middlecalf]

First and second pics look like the shroud is upside down. That little recess in the bottom the way you have it oriented is actually suppose to allow clearance for the upper hose iirc.

 

[Billsboat]

First and second pics look like the shroud is upside down. That little recess in the bottom the way you have it oriented is actually suppose to allow clearance for the upper hose iirc.

What he said^^^^^^did the same thing on my 66

 

[Jason Reed]

Copy that. I’ll let @Rock40 check rotating 180 out. How dare he mess this up. Have you seen this project. He’s done so, so work. (Kidding, dudes a STUD).

1966 FJ40 Frame-Off Build (3rd Generation Owner)

 

[Jason Reed]

Anyone have a spacer they’d like to sell me? Mark is out of them.

Jason-

 

[Billsboat]

This is the second time I’ve read about the fan blade issue...it’s making me nervous, my 66 is still stock

 

[Jason Reed]

Yeah- Ross and I discussed it and after getting input from @65swb45 and reading a few others, I just felt it was too much of a risk. I won’t be wheeling this thing obviously with the level of resto I did, but I would feel horrible if my OEM blade grenaded and tore up stuff, so I decided to do plastic.

 

[Rock40]

Yes, this is confusing. The shroud is offset, flipping it 180 and it’s aligned horribly. I will double check it again tonight however.

I can’t see how the engine could possibly be sitting in the frame incorrectly. The upper radiator hose aligned perfectly and the radiator is sitting on two 1/8” rubber bumpers. There aren’t a whole lot of other variables which is why I’m scratching my head.

 

[65swb45]

Is the fan sitting too tall with respect to the shroud?

 

[shaneus]

I put a 135 in my 1970 40. I had the same issue with fan too high for shroud. I drilled new holes on edges for mounting and may have trimmed the shroud on the top side.

It wasn't what I wanted but it wasnt to horrible either.

At the time I could not get a clear answer on if the fan shaft centerline was higher up than later engines or not. Im taking your post as confirmation that they were.

 

[Rock40]

Is the fan sitting too tall with respect to the shroud?

Yes, exactly. Looking at other pics of F135 shrouds it appears that they have a large rounded “hump” in the uppermost portion of the shroud to accommodate the fan. I too am beginning to suspect that the centerline of the fan may be slightly taller. I’ll post a few more pics in a bit

 

[Rock40]

More pics....

Passenger side

Driver side

Top clearance. I’m confident that the shroud is on correctly based on these pics and not flipped 180 degrees

Jason, we do have an old Flex-a-Lite spacer which is usable. It needs some light machining however as the recess that centers the spacer to the water pump is 1.5mm shallow

 

[65swb45]

Ross, take a step back. You have a stock fan on a stock motor against a stock shroud. Something else is going on.

Replacement mtr mt insulators? Do they fit flush to the underside of the motor mt brackets. A lot of the replacement ones don't

 

[Jason Reed]

Mark- I can see your question, but if that’s the case, how do we explain the almost perfect level of the rad hoses level from thermo housing into top rad and the lower pump into the bottom rad? Just asking here.

 

[Rock40]

Ross, take a step back. You have a stock fan on a stock motor against a stock shroud. Something else is going on.

Replacement mtr mt insulators? Do they fit flush to the underside of the motor mt brackets. A lot of the replacement ones don't

Yeah, I inspected the mounts last night and just went down now and double checked. They are both sitting even, maybe a 1/16" gap between the bottom of the motor mount (engine side) and top of the motor mount (frame side). We're talking a huge difference in height here, caliper says the shroud needs to sit at least .8" (20.3mm) higher for clearance.

I'm not claiming to be an expert but there are only so many variables in play here. Looking at some of Jason's old pics (which hopefully he'll be able to load tomorrow) along with other posts/pics on MUD, it appears that the older F135 shrouds have a large raised "hump" on the very top along the top edge of the radiator. The current shroud is completely flat. I believe the "hump" would provide the necessary fan clearance. I could be wrong though, it's happened plenty before.

 

[Jason Reed]

Old pics from the stock fan shroud I had before I tossed it. It was major rusted and hammered down low.

 

[Rock40]

Top of current shroud