Hornet fan upgrade
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My '53 Hornet overheated in a July 4th parade and I left the line of march. It cooled right down as soon as my speed increased. The radiator is in excellent shape. Rather than adding an electric fan, I was wondering if there was a replacement 6-blade fan for the stock 4-blade that would move more air. Has anyone tried this? Or is a radiator shroud a good idea? I'd appreciate your advice. Bill
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Comments
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A shroud would be a good idea. The link below will give you some idea of what's available in the way of a universal fit fan. Hope that helps.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-Allstar-Heavy-Duty-15-Steel-6-Blade-Fan_W0QQitemZ200311557963QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRace_Car_Parts?hash=item2ea37fcf4b&_trksid=p4506.m20.l11160 -
Check your thermostat. I had a similar overheating problem and it turned out to be a faulty thermostat.
Ed0 -
Bill-
Don't use a "flex-fan", even a 6-bladed variety. They don't move enough air to be a real factor. Additionally, occasionally a flex fan will throw a blade and often will stick into your hood, leaving you much worse off than you were to start with.
Hayden makes a good 6-blade fan, and a shroud is never a bad idea. As was mentioned, either check/replace/remove your thermostat, as well.0 -
RL Chilton wrote:Bill-
Don't use a "flex-fan", even a 6-bladed variety. They don't move enough air to be a real factor. Additionally, occasionally a flex fan will throw a blade and often will stick into your hood, leaving you much worse off than you were to start with.
Hayden makes a good 6-blade fan, and a shroud is never a bad idea. As was mentioned, either check/replace/remove your thermostat, as well.
perhaps on a car using a big six blade to start they are not a factor but compared to the hudson 4 blade they are a real factor.
case in point, I drove my dad's hornet last week to Pontiac which was still in parade mode from the 4th with a flex fan. Gauge ran cold, at about a quarter the whole way even in traffic when off the highway. I know he had no temperature issues in the 2hr+ long parade.
when looking at alternative fans realize there is limited clearence to the hoses and a big bladed fan like shown in that ebay ad may not fit. this is not as much of a concern on more modern clutched set-ups.0 -
tippleunduly wrote:My '53 Hornet overheated in a July 4th parade and I left the line of march. It cooled right down as soon as my speed increased. The radiator is in excellent shape. Rather than adding an electric fan, I was wondering if there was a replacement 6-blade fan for the stock 4-blade that would move more air. Has anyone tried this? Or is a radiator shroud a good idea? I'd appreciate your advice. Bill
Bill, I recently added a 6 blade fan to my 50 Pacemaker with a 262, that came off an old Ford. I can't tell you the difference in efficiency between a 4 blade and 6 blade fan because I changed radiators at the same time. I can tell you that it does help a lot. I went to a 6 blade fan on my old Plymouth flathead and it made a big difference. On an 85 to 90 degree day my car runs about 150 to 155 degrees as long as I'm moving and it will climb up to 175 to 180 degrees in heavy or stopped traffic. I'm not using a thermostat at this time. Richie.0 -
Think I'll try the 6 blade fan as a first step. Thanks for all your good advice. This is a great site.
I should have mentioned that the restoration guy who worked over my Twin-H 308 removed the thermostat and put in a restrictor plate. He's a race car builder/racer on the side and has had good experience with restrictors. He claims this is the way to give coolant enough time in the radiator to be efficiently cooled. (?)
I thought it was a good idea to abandon the parade and cool things down. The Hornet was getting really rave reviews from the sizable crowd and I didn't want to embarrass our good Hudson name (or myself) by boiling over in front of the hundreds lining the route. I'd already had that experience a couple years ago in my small block Studebaker!
Bill0 -
Bill, Jegs.com has a light weight mechanical 6 blade fan made from glass filled nylon for $19.99. They come in 14, 15,16,17, and18 inches. Click onto cooling then mechanical fans. Click on picture and you can see the fan from different angles. My Hudson is not running yet but I have this fan on my chevy and it really pulls the air. It pulls much more air than a steel flex fan. I have used the steel flex fan in the past and was lucky. When it broke it hit the ground rather than the hood. Any six or more blade fan is going to be a big improvement. Lee0
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tippleunduly wrote:Think I'll try the 6 blade fan as a first step. Thanks for all your good advice. This is a great site.
I should have mentioned that the restoration guy who worked over my Twin-H 308 removed the thermostat and put in a restrictor plate. He's a race car builder/racer on the side and has had good experience with restrictors. He claims this is the way to give coolant enough time in the radiator to be efficiently cooled. (?)
I thought it was a good idea to abandon the parade and cool things down. The Hornet was getting really rave reviews from the sizable crowd and I didn't want to embarrass our good Hudson name (or myself) by boiling over in front of the hundreds lining the route. I'd already had that experience a couple years ago in my small block Studebaker!
Bill
Hi Bill,
The restrictor may work well while driving at speed but a thermostat IMO is a better bet for everyday driving conditions.
A Shroud is definitely the way to go as it concentrates the air flow of the fan.
Dan0 -
if your car works fine EXCEPT for when you're in a parade,wouldn't that be an indication that driving in parades is bad for your car?
I'm all for parades,but not with my car you don't!0 -
I too am fighting cooling issues. I added a fabricated shroud to my 36T and it helped a lot. Next step is a 6 blade fan as well. Just needed some ideas as to where to get one the right size.
Thanks,
T Jeff0 -
Why not mount a 6V pusher fan on the front of the radiator with either a thermostatically controlled switch or a manual switch?0
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I'm curious: did the guy who put in the restrictor plate, do it because you were overheating? Or because -- for him -- that generally worked on most engines?
Had he re-done 308's before?
Had you considered -- just for grins -- pulling out the plate temporarily, and putting in the correct thermostat?0 -
Jon - He's done this now on 2 of my cars, so I think it's just his "style". He used to own a Hudson many years ago, though he never mentioned working on its engine. Based on all the good advice, I will first try the 6 bade fan, then a shroud, then an electric booster fan. Maybe the best suggestion of all, though, was to avoid parades!0
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I would think it more economicly feasable to try removing the restrictor plate and install the original style thermostat first. Then if that doesn't give the desired results, try the other possibilities. I've been around Hudsons and Hudson engines most all of my life, and never witnessed or heard of a properly tuned Hudson engine that would overheat, even in a parade situation..
Jerrry
53jetman0 -
I put a electric pusher fan on the front of my 53, and it works greats. I put a manual switch to turn on when needed. Nobody knows it tere, you cant even see it.0
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You know, Jetman, you're right! Our family owned about 8 Hudsons from 1941 thru 1960 and none of them ever overheated. Why should this one be any different?0
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We're currently running one of the 6 bladed flex fans from Jegs on our 308 w/4 barrel.
It works fine until you exceed whatever rpm it "flexes" at, then you start loosing fan capacity. As the pitch of the blades change, there goes your air movement. I've never really cared to measure the rpm of the fan itself, we just know that once we get over 2700 engine rpms in cruise, the engine will run 10 degrees hotter.
Since I admire Park for his electrical expertise, I'll enter some of my Ag engineering expertise on fans.
Stationary fans are very inefficient without some kind of shrouding. Air will recirculate around the blade itself going from the high pressure side to the low pressure side in circular motion around the blades. Neither pushing nor pulling. On all of our low-tech older cars with no shrouds, this is why vehicle movement becomes so important. We're basicly force feeding the fan at highway speed and messing up that low pressure side of the situation between the radiator and fan.
When building a shroud, the closer you can keep to the rotating diameter of the fan blades, the more efficient the fan will be. Late model cars have very efficient shrouds as does all the modern electric fans. This is how they move so much more air with so little power and blade pitch. The only real improvement to be had by an electric fan is that you get the best designed shroud for it as an assembly. If your electric fan doesn't cover enough of the radiator to actually match the liquid transfer rate required by the engine - you're still gonna be hot.
Sometime in the future, I'm going to build a nice shroud for the situation we have right now. I'd advise anybody with an unshrouded fan to look into doing the same or run a very aggressively pitched fan that sounds like a P-51 Mustang trying to take off. Option 3 would be to go electric, which effectively is also proper shrouding of the fan.
Mark0
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