VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 33 to 36 Truck Fan Search

I have the same problem with my Coupe as described in the Fan Frenzy article on page 20 of this month's G & D. Does anyone know where I can purchase the subject fan? GM part no. is 837448.

Thanks,
Matt

Is this the fan with a steeper pitch to help with overheating?

Blades are larger and the fan has about an inch more diameter than the car fan.

Its the pitch of the fan blades that draws substantially more air thru the radiator cooling the anti-freeze/water by 30 degrees as it runs thru the radiator for heading back to the water pump.

This whole thread was started by myself in a post on this site and Phil contacted me about it and he did some experiments based on the experience I had cooling my 35 std coupe.

When I bought my 35 chev roadster that had a 33 master engine in it , I was trying to figure out how to adapt the chrysler non clutch 7 blade fan onto the water pump mounting flange hub or a vintage air co. 6 blade fan.

The problem is that the early chev motor water pump mounting hub is too small. A machined adaptor that mounts onto the hub that would accept the Vintage Air co fan is exactly whats needed.

So if somebody wants to make one and market it, they would make a lot of early chevy owners happy. So who has a lathe and milling machine that wants to go into production of couple hundred units ????

Phil was trying to make one last year but ran into a problem.

mike lynch

Does the adaptor I used when I had the flex fan on my 35 look like it will work on your car?

Brian, get rid of that flex fan, they are junk.

purchase a VINTAGE AIR fan as its steel blades do not straighten out when spinning.

Try hanging a cloth diaper 24" square in front of the grill mesh with car engine running at idle, and see if it draws the cloth to the rad. Doesn't !!

Put the vintage air fan on and see what happens as the cloth is sucked/ drawn too the grill mesh and keeps it there.


My 35 coupe overheated in garage at idle with the flex fan installed before I went to the steel vintage unit.

vintage air part number
32917-VUF 17 1/4 x 2 for the 17 1/4 long fan
32918-VUF 18 1/4 x 2 for the 18 1/4 long fan

mike lynch------------

It looks like it might well work; the important thing is to be
certain the center is perfect! If the center is even slightly
off center it will create an out of balance situation that
could shorten the life of the water pump and/or destroy the
radiator if it came apart at high rpm. In later model cars I
have even seen fan blades penetrate the hood! I believe Chevy
even had a recall on some fan blades for that reason back in
the late 60's or early 70's. My advice is to be very careful!
The ideal solution is if some one would start reproducing the
originals1 !

The more efficient the fan, the more the power loss.

PHIL, the problem is, how many people would buy the improvement and at what cost to repo them......the 34-36 truck fan. People generally do not want to lay out any $$$. The real question is how many would commit with a deposit to buy one ???

Unfortunately not enough to make it happen. Happens to repo ideas all the time.

Surely there must be a lot of these old trucks sitting around in scrap yards waiting to have their fans removed.

mike

"So if somebody wants to make one and market it, they would make a lot of early chevy owners happy. So who has a lathe and milling machine that wants to go into production of couple hundred units ????"

Mike,

I'd do that in a heartbeat. After doing this:

https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/334876/1936_Chevy_3.55_rear_gear_conv

making fan adaptors would be a cake walk. The only question is would anybody buy them from someone as irreverant to authority as me?

"Phil was trying to make one last year but ran into a problem."

What was the problem?

Ray W

The flex fan was on my car for a few days as an experiment. At the low rpm's our engines rev the diaper actually drew in faster than the stock fan. But not as well as the truck fan does. Trial and error is what keeps the hobby alive. I would supply this adaptor to anyone interested. PM me to discuss.

If you try the VINTAGE AIR fan I think you will be amazed at the drawing power. Just measure your fan length ( 17 1/4 or 18 1/4 ) to make sure it would clear your lower inlet hose and also your upper outlet rad hose.


Okay guys ball is in your court re making and selling the adaptor..............how much to purchase one for all those people reading this thread and the 33--36 section always has a lot of readers.

mike lynch

========================================================

Hopefully Phil will see this and respond as I forget exactly what he said in an email.

mike lynch

The problem I ran into with the steeper pitch fan blade was
the offset was different enough that I couldn't get it
between the radiator and the water pump to install it. I
probably could have had the radiator repositioned deeper into the grill, but I decided against that! Using the truck fan
blade required absolutely no modifications! It was about a
15-20 minute job! There may well be fan blades that move more
air, but the results I got from this swap seems to have achieved the desired result for me.

To add to the conversation, hearing from guys who have been
able to purchase truck blades, and my own experience, the
going rate for a nice fan blade now seems to be just under
$50.00 plus a few bucks for shipping. It seems to me a reasonable price to pay for the piece of mind of not having to
drive with one eye on the temp gauge! Installing an electric
auxillary will certainly cost more and entail much more labor
and destroy any 'stock' appearance!An overheated engine, blown
head gasket or cracked head is certain to cost more, plus the
inconvenience of sitting on the side of the road!

Lets see if I understand ! If I buy a Vintage air fan does it still needs an adapter ? If so what is different , the center hole , bolt holes or both ? How about a description of the adapter ! I have a 34 1/2 ton ( has run hot at a stand still sense the rebuild ) with a 207 car engine witch has the smaller fan . It is 14 7/8 long x 2 3/4 wide in the center of the blades . I know the answer if I could just think of it ! Thanks

According to PHIL, who has a 35 Chevrolet standard coupe with 207 , the vintage air fan is pitched too much and will hit either the fan belt or the radiator, unless, the radiator is moved more forward into the rad shell.

Phil says the truck 4 blade fan with a stronger than stock car fan pitch is the way to go, 20 minutes and its in .

If your 34 truck is overheating you have other radiator cooling problems that need to be sorted. Look back into this section 33-36 and you will see many discussions with people having overheating problems.

mike

Wouldn't just be easier to bend the fan blades to push more air?

Go ahead and bend those fan blades and see what happens.

mike

Do not bend the fan blades!

I know you guys are right and I know you can cite numerous references of fan blades going through the radiator, hood, windshield, forehead, etc. but I've been bending fans blades for many years and I know just about every real old-time mechanic has done the same. Of course one has to use a little common sense but changing the angle of steel fans blades is not hard to do. Takes a little tweaking to get the angles and radia accurate but it can be done, even by an amateur like me. Ok, let me have it................

Phil,
I've searched and can't find a 33-36 truck fan. Do you know a source, where did you buy yours?
Thanks,
Matt