how close should fan be to radiator ?

[benoit454]

On my 76 my old 2 core rad or 1 core? was 31x19 inches. I swapped from a straight 6 to a very mild 350. I reused that radiator, put on a 6 blade flex fan, and no shroud, it ran great, never got too hot.

I put the same motor and radiator in my monte carlo, ALL it done was OVERHEAT!!!!!!

Someone told me the clutch fans were better then a flex fan, BS!!!!!

I ran a flex fan, and only in teaffic stopped in the summer would it raise, once moving, cooled great, harder you ran faster and better it cooled it.

I put on a clutch fan, that thing heated up to over 280 twice, blew a radiator hose, and burnt up my valve seals. I had to tear it down do a valve job and new head gaskets. NEVER and I mean NEVER will I ever run a clutch fan again NEVER!!!!!! lol just because of that.

Now with that said, I changed to a 3 core radiator, bought another flex fan this time a big 7 blade, shoot I don't get past 190 in triple digit temps. with aweful humidity, setting in traffic.

Now I put the small 6 blade fan on our 86 4x4, and it had a 3 core radiator, never got past 190 either.

A fan shroud makes a big difference while setting in traffic, big a 3 core radiator made a huge difference for me, of course a monte carlo ss has a very small opening for air, and like a foot of room before the radiator to the grille.

If it's a new engine gotta make sure it's in time and not out of time or it'll run hot, and make sure it aint running lean on the air/fuel mix or it'll run hot.

One WILL get hotter setting, evving up then it does driving since the only air flow is from the fan.

I say try another fan, flex fan IMO, or clutch fan with the thermo clutch if you want, and try to get a shroud on it, and if that doesn't work, 3 core radiator.

You could make your own bracket possibly out of some scrap or something.