I pulled the motor out of my donor van for the chopped Dodge and I looked at the fan and my first thought was several of the blades had broken off but apparently this is how they come. It seems like it wouldn't be balanced or move as much air if there were more blades and they were symmetrical. Any idea why they do this? Is it ok to switch to a different fan?
Thanks
IMG-9013 by
Lee Hatfield, on Flickr
That looks like a typical factory fan. Change as you wish. I’ve changed to flex fans in the past, but I generally think the factory is smarter than I am.
My 360 fan is that way as well. They are noisy and cool well, move alot of air as long as the fan clutch doesn’t fail.
Flex fans came into vogue on motors without fan clutches, as the flex fans blades flex out straight under RPM, lessening the load on the motor at speed due to increased air flow through the radiator at speed.
They are like that as it makes it easier to access the timing chain and water pump bolts just by rotating the fan so the socket can get in between the bigger gaps.
On my Dodge getting in the lower half of the fan shroud in, without removing the radiator hoses from radiator, without rotating that fan to accommodate, would be on the order of impossible.
I can’t imagine a scenario where I would pull the water pump or timing cover without pulling the fan first.
It looks to be for noise reduction.