Hot it is!!! I saw in your webshots album that you were trying one of the back-mounted flex-a-lite fan blades and figured I could save you some additional headaches. I tried several different combinations and through trial and error, have a combo that minimizes any overheating and clearance issues.
Care should be taken to use a sharp scribe and a good circle template to get the 1" hole centered around the stock 5/8" fan hole. I found that a couple rat tail files and some armstrong muscle made short order of opening it up. The fan is fairly awkward to grip for drilling and I just bolted on a piece of flat stock to two of the holes and steadied it in the bench vise.
The only down side of my arrangement is that in order to pull just the fan I have to remove the radiator. However, the pump and fan can be removed as an assembly should you ever need to change out the pump.
By getting rid of the short shaft pump with the big pulley and getting your fan speed within limits, and with the adaptor plate controlling the coolant flow, you should be in good shape for extended periods of idling at lower engine rpms.
My compliments to you on your album....I find that photo documentation and explainations are
a great source of information and I have learned much from the information shared on the "bolt". After all..."a picture is worth a thousand words!"
