Using an adapter for mounting a clutch fan to mechanical drive

[oldcarnut]

My Superbird clone has the 223 mechanical fan on it currently.  It weighs 7pds and sounds like a school bus. Its all I hear inside the car when accelerating. I have a couple clutch fans that I was wondering if I made an adapter to fit the bigger clutch bolt pat pattern to the smaller direct drive, would there be any problems or safety concerns making it a bad idea to try and see if the cooling or noise is any better? The 3462186 fan pulls a lot of air and weighs 2pds and the 2863216 weighs 3.5pds. I realize that all of them will make some noise, but at half the weight maybe it would use little less power or gas.  Anybody tried this or know anyone that did and have a bad issue.  Either way I have to use a mechanical fan as the clutch fan doesn't cool as good but is much quieter. I reckon part of the extra temp is the trans cooler and added ac condenser in front of radiator to pull air through. I added an electric push fan when needed at slow stopping traffic to help.

[John_Kunkel]

I've done this before, success depends a lot on the pitch of the blades...blades with a lot of pitch will move a lot of air when driven directly but might cause so much drag that it will slip the belt at high rpm where the clutch would limit the fan rpm.

The adapter is a fairly simple lathe job.