Busted fan and radiator, why did this happen?

[Dino]

So of all the things that could go wrong installing a thermoquad, this was not on my radar!

After a lot of time, I started the rebuild somewhere last winter, I finally had the whole thing done.  All linkages adjusted and fixed, some were seriously out of whack.  I bolted it to the Edelbrock performer intake with the spread bore 1/4" gasket provided with the rebuild kit.  I found another throttle cable bracket in a box and was able to install the throttle linkage so the gas pedal is now smooth without any slop, finally!

I was ready to fire this thing up and had 2 fire extinguishers next to me, just in case.  My wife was a safe distance away keeping an eye on this.  With a blocked heat crossover and no choke I knew I had to play with the gas pedal a bit and after a bit of cranking it fired up.  I stalled a few times so I gave it a bit more gas.  Now the idle was smooth in the 1500 range so I kept it there for a bit.  Rpm is a guess, I have no tach. 

Then the fun part came...I gave it two taps of 1/4 to 1/2 throttle, and we both heard a bang and some metallic clatter.  As soon as I let of the gas, the car died so I shut it off and walked to the front.  One of the fan blades had snapped off when I gave it a push, hit the blade next to it and pierced the radiator.   

So much for tuning the TQ...   

My radiator is out of a c body and had no shroud so I guess now is the time to stick a Charger rad in there and since I'll have some room to play, do some other small projects.  I'm not bothered by this really, shit happens, but I do like to know why this happened so I can prevent it from happening again.

So what kinda fan do I need?  '71 440 hp.

On a positive note, the car didn't burn down and the carb at least works.   

[Dino]

more

[JB400]

That happens with those types of fans.  The stock cars run those as well and some have the same results as what happened to yours.  It has happened to one of my uncles and wiped out his radiator as well.


Put the stock one back on with the fan clutch, or step up to an electric one.

[green69rt]

I keep sticking my nose in your project don't I??  Is that an old flexalite fan, plastic blades??  Back when I was rodding my first car I had heard of more than one occasion where an old fan lost a blade because the plastic got brittle and came off.  Maybe just bad karma on your part .  Good thing someone didn't have their head under the hood

[68Charger4me]

If that's one of those "flex" fans, they have a notorious rep for doing that very thing.  Happy you're still in one piece!!    

[A383Wing]

yea..those little flex fans are junk..known for doing that all the time...as stated, good thing you were not leaning under the hood. That blade looks aluminum...bet it was cracked already

I recommend stock 6 or 7 blade fans, I have these on my cars

Bryan

[Big Sugar]

Consider yourself lucky, i remember seeing an episode of "EMERGENCY 911" where a guy showed up in emerg woth a slice thru his neck from ear to ear from a car fan blade breaking off .

Yeah those FlexFans are for Chevy owners ! Id stick with a Mopar unit and a fan shroud... Be thankfull you or your buddy wasnt standing under the heed revving the carb maunually.


Ron

[nvrbdn]

definately agree with all said here about the flex fan. had one snap on me while working on a car a few years back. i had just left from under the hood and hit the throttle when it snapped. lucky for me it went straight down and burried 3 inches into the ground.

[Dino]

Thanks guys, I'm very happy nobody was hurt!  I never knew about these types of fans, it was on the car when I got it.  Which fan/rad/shroud do you guys recommend?  Near daily driven 440.

Oh and by all means green, stick your nose in my projects or nothing will ever get done on my part!   

[A383Wing]

If you have 26" radiator, I would use stock fan shroud, and non-thermal fan clutch with 6 or 7 blade fan....as I posted above. If you use a fixed fan without clutch, you are gonna get a lot of fan noise while driving

Bryan

[RECHRGD]

When I got my car back in 1997 it had a flex fan on it.  I ran it for a couple of years with no problems.  I went to the Mopar clutch type after hearing about these potential failures.  However the clutch pack held the fan too far from the radiator to get much air flow happening.  I don't run a shroud (long story) and need the fan close to the rad..  I put the flex fan back on with a larger spacer to get it closer and have been running it now for many years with no problems.  I keep hoping that maybe there was just a bad run of them for a while and that I may be spared the same fate that others have seen.  I will keep checking it for any signs of metal fatigue.  You've got the right attitude, s..t happens......

[firefighter3931]

The aluminum blade flex fans are notorious for self destructing. 

I've used the stainless steel flex fans on many builds and never had one come apart.....i would have no issue using a stainless steel flex fan on any build. 



Ron

[ACUDANUT]

I agree with you all. Your radiator looks like it can be fixed easily.   Mine was completely torn up.

[cdr]

if you use a good fan & a thermal hd clutch it will work much better,you will have less parasitic horse power loss & get better gas mileage  
or good electric fans, i am using the electric fans 

[green69rt]

All the above sounds like good info.  The plastic and aluminum fans are suspect, not all fail but history was against you.  Do you want to go thru this again.   Figure it out!!

[SkiJogg]

I would go with the clutch fan its a good dependable setup

[bill440rt]

Like others have said, ditch the junk aluminum flex fan.
Stick with an original heavy duty 7-blade clutch fan. The part number is 2863216. It is 18-1/2" in diameter
There is a slightly smaller diameter 7-blade fan, part number 2863215. It is 18" in diameter.
Here's one from a quick search so you know what it looks like. The 216 fan looks nearly identical except for the diameter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-2863215-Clutch-Fan-Inked-Hemi-RT-Cuda-GTX-426-440-383-340-318-Charger-/140990627793?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d3b23fd1&vxp=mtr

You'll have to measure from the rad to water pump for the right height fan clutch, but I have the MP "4704" unit on my '68 with a 2+6" rad and no clearance issues.
Here is what that clutch looks like:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Chrysler-fan-clutch-mopar-/261228471391?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cd26e245f&vxp=mtr

[fy469rtse]

I'm with Ron , stainless steel flex type rated to high rpm with a shroud , clutch or not , the radiator looks like can be repaired , now look for the thread to reinforce that drivers side engine mount, cheap fix, a couple of hi tens bolts, ever seen the damage when that engine mont breaks , shroud fan hoses etc

[A383Wing]

I bought the torque strap from Schumakers for the Daytona

Bryan

[flyinlow]

Aluminum has a much shorter flex life than steel. (One of the reasons airliners have a cycle limit)  Mopar steel or electric fans should do the job.

When you fix the cooling system, let us know how the TQ and the performer work.

[tan top]

arrghh ,  noooo , glad every one ok !!
 yeah flexi fans , like other guys have said are known to do that ,when you think what can or could happen with these , maybe they should stop making them .   i have one fitted to mine , second owner put it on back in 85 , its a flexolite i think  five blade , with stainless steel blades ,  put the correct 216 fan on after the resto swapped it on & off a few times , but seems to run slightly cooler with a flexi fan , when idling for long periods , not by much few degrees , prolly went up to 195 from 180 /185 degrees , ( although could most of it been cause i was messing around with idle mixture & speed & initial timing , to do with a particular cam i was running  ,)) main reason why its still on there , & i'm crazy about over thinking things   , the weight of a stock fan set up compared to the flexolite , thinking heavy stock fan more stress on water pump bearings ,
even though there have been hundreds of thousands of mopars over the last 44 plus years running these fan set ups & none have shortened the average water pump bearing life , unless mythbusters want to do a experiment running a stock clutch fan & a flexolite fan on two identical 440s with same fan belt tension for 50 thousand miles , then measure bearing play  

[cudaken]

 Yep, been there and done that! I was luck in the fact the radiator was not hurt. I now use a steel fan and clutch.

Cuda Ken

[Dino]

Thanks again for all the comments.

Seems to me that the price of a recore is in the $300-$500 range which I think is kinda high to recore a rad that's wrong for the car.  I may as well buy a new repro one right?  Which one is recommended?

I can do an aftermarket aluminum but I need it to fit without mods so preference at this time is to stay with the stock setup.  


Would there be any reason to replace the water pump?  I realize all this stuff is old but the car can sit idling in traffic in 90+ degree weather for as long as I want it to and it never gets too hot.  For that reason I don't want to mess with it too much but I thought I'd ask.

Bill thanks for the links, I'll get those parts as well.

[Dino]

Does anyone know how many rows the 3443953 rad has?  The repro rad is a 3 row with 1/2" tubes on 9/16" centers and I just want to make sure it'll cool enough.

This is turning out to be quite the expensive little accident!

I like the Griffin rads and all but this is a driver, when the hood goes up it means something is wrong so I just need a basic rad that'll do the job.

[Cooter]

Yep, Dino, this is why I do NOT like Mechanical fans at high RPM. Especially, the "Flex" fans. Glad you weren't hurt buddy.