Fan Blade

With all the writing and talk about fan blades what about the LAT 42A option fan? Was this six blades and 14"? Does anyone have this fan on their car?

I would like install my Maverick 15" six blade on the Tiger but I would need to raise the engine. No, I won't cut the blades. I just don't get (again) if the six blade fan is so popular and the Maverick six blade is so hard to find and pricey and you need to trim or lift the engine why there is not one available. Is there no 14" six blade fan in steel/aluminum that looks factory correct and not like those cheesy Pepboy looking fans?

Did I not do enough homework?

Mike

There are several articles on the benefits of a six blade, 15" cooling fan. This one is excellent. http://teae.org/cooling-the-tiger/
It says that a 14" fan drastically reduces the cooling benefits, etc.
Bill

Yep Bill, you are spot on about that report from AE guys. It was so detailed and they went to so much work, it is quite something. I reference it often.

Raising the engine to fit the 15" fan seems as though it would open a new can worms. Such as, fan hitting shroud, air cleaner hitting hood and a more I can't think of now. All this keeping in mind the engine sits on rubber and moves so the clearance to the steering rack is an issue.

I am just clueless on how that extra inch could make that big of difference..........did I just write that?.....

Too many issues for my old feeble mind..............

Mike

At risk of stating the somewhat obvious, I would be sure to put in new motor mounts before looking at clearances. As I understand it, your newly acquired car has been sitting for quite a while. If so, the current mounts could be rather old and have allowed the motor to sag a bit. While you are at it, you might as well do the "drill and countersink through bolts thing" to reinforce the mounts. I would also make sure those spacer washers between the mounts and motor where the heat shields are in still in place.

Just my 3 cents worth as long as the topic is up for discussion. Good stuff with which to keep busy while waiting for the radiator!

Cheers, Gene

Gene, mighty fine thoughts. Yes, to the best of limited knowledge the engine has not been out. I will log this in the memory banks. Seem like when I do one thing it leads to two more.

Mike

Cooling Etc.

One cooling trick I have done: When the car was being restored and the engine was out, I had 4x6" retangular cuts made over the wheel arches and then on the inside wheel arch covered them with a steel plate leaving the 4" ends open so they vent into the wheel wells. Net result, the spinning wheels create a vacuum and pull out the engine heat which is the problem with a tiger--evacuating the heat. I had an engineer figure all this out. They are ideally placed to pull out the exhaust manifold heat. Just my two cents, though it cost me a bit more to actually do.
Bill

Blades=A=spinnin'

Sitting up in one of the barn lofts is a six blade C9xxxetc with a 1" rootes hole in the middle. I've used it on 3 Tigers and never had to move the motor up, down or sideways ??? I prefer the flex-o-lite clones for more effective cooling, however.

Obsessive compulsive?

Whoa!

All this cooling mod stuff for a basic 260 Tiger which already has an aluminum radiator is not necessary unless you really plan to drive hard up a mountain in 100 degree heat?

Our Black Tiger has a copper 4 core radiator, stock 4 blade fan and open horn holes. It does have an LAT hood with the scoop and vents. Ever since I learned that it is really critical that the radiator cores are clear (the lower cores tend to plug up) and have run a gano filter I have been quite satisfied with the cooling system. (Granted I actually follow the axiom: If it aint broke don't fix it.)

Yes it has much less excess capacity than a modern car and the temperature does move up off the thermostat regulated Fahrenheit in ambient high temperatures when placed under stress. But idling in traffic at 220 degrees water temp is not "overheating". (Assuming you have a pressure cap and no leaks? without a pressure cap it be boiling over.) With all the fluids topped off a small black Ford can handle that forever.

Rick

FANtastic

I use the Maverick fan with a reduced diameter fan pulley on my 331 stroker motor. The fan has been cut only 1/4" on each blade to clear the rack (... and yes I have new motor mounts). The fan pulley is 5 1/4" diameter vrs the stock 5 7/8" pulley. This turns the fan and water pump 12% faster than stock. I run an original stock radiator with an electric fan up front, a 180 thermostat, a stock hood and no horn block off plates. My car has never overheated and I never use the electric fan. For kicks I occasionally turn it on and practically watch the needle move from 205 to 190 in less than 30 seconds. If I were in a hot climate I would probably need it more often.

I have one of those Flex-a-lite clones on my car and it works just fine. It doesn't appear to have been trimmed for fit. I have a slightly thicker 'stock appearing' rad that was installed probably 30 years ago and an oil cooler covering about the bottom third of the rad. I have a fiberglas 'clone' shroud,too. My car runs around 185 (Jaeger/Lucas degrees) most of the time. I also bought a really nice polished s.s. hand formed shroud from a fellow a couple years ago (not installed) and he threw in a 7 blade version of the same fan. I've yet to try that one out but will show you a pic of the one I'm presently using...

Jim
B382000446

All of those ideas are great.

Rick, I will indeed install a Gano rad filter. After spending half of my social security check on a new aluminum radiator............I don't want anything going wrong. And yes, I will start with the standard factory 14" fan blade and go from there.

Since I happen to have a heat/temp gun, it will be interesting to test against the gauge in the dash.

Just waiting for parts................

Thanks again guys

Since you mention testing your gauge with a temp gun when you get the radiator installed, I just thought I would mention an alternative you can try now. A chap by the name of Mark Olson once published a tech tip on that.

The short version is if you put a 57 ohms resistance (e.g., 10 ohms and 47 ohms together in series) in series between ground and the gauge, the gauge should read 90 degrees C. I grounded to the intake manifold near where the sender is mounted. I used an old stripped spade connector to get into the sender wire female connector. Alligator clips made the temporary connections. If you put in 41 ohms, it should read 100 degrees C.

If your readings are off, the little voltage regulator under the dash for the fuel gauge and temp gauge may have gone bad over the years. Resistors and alligator clips are cheap. Radio Shack is an obvious source.

Again something to play with while you await the radiator!

If the gauge checks out, when you get the radiator in, you can compare the readings of gauge and gun and know if the sender is okay or not.


Cheers, Gene

Cal44 said:

All of those ideas are great.

Rick, I will indeed install a Gano rad filter. After spending half of my social security check on a new aluminum radiator............I don't want anything going wrong. And yes, I will start with the standard factory 14" fan blade and go from there.

Since I happen to have a heat/temp gun, it will be interesting to test against the gauge in the dash.

Just waiting for parts................

Thanks again guys

Click to expand...

I have used the GANO filters and don't like them. I had a clear plastic one fail on me and a metal one plug up and cause me to overheat.
I strongly recommend using a TEFBA Coolant Filter. It is a little pricey but it is a superior quality piece and well worth the price difference. One important feature is that the TEFBA filter is designed in such a way that if it gets plugged up, the increased back pressure will allow coolant to bypass the filter screen so you won't overheat (kind of like the bypass valve in an oil filter). You can also clean the filter without removing it from the radiator hose or draining the cooling system, the removable cap allows you to check/clean it regularly without any hassle.
http://www.tefba.com/index.html

The TE/AE references the 15" Dearle (spelling?) fan, indicating it moves the most air, easy to find, and less expensive, but still m15" so fresh motor mounts, heat shield for motor mounts, and maybe a washer to shim my still be required. I have not used one, but looked at the "perma Cool" 15" fan, the 15" fan is about 14 3/4", and has a tapered/ cut back edge where I think the rack would be for even a little extra clearance. I could not find a cfm reference, and have no direct experience (perma cool does make a close fit oil filter relocation block that will work on a Tiger) but might work. Flex-a-lite makes a plastic fan in 14" and i think 15", I have seen these on Tigers, there rpm ratings where sufficient for a hot street set-up, probably not for race car. I have seen them on a display rack at a speed shop in L.A. area.