The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Fan for 235 in a 1952 3100 5window

I cannot find a thin enough fan to clear my harmonic balancer and the radiator. The fan that came off was a 6 bladed very narrow fan, it had been damaged and was no longer balanced.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a similar fan that is thin enough to clear. Has anyone else had that problem? How did you solve it? thanks in advance

Try starting a thread in the "Parts Wanted" forum, with pictures and measurements. 6-blade fans are a little scarce- - - -most stovebolt engines had 4 blade fans.
Jerry

As a thought...I ran a flex fan on a pickup for several years to clear the balancer without any problems but they're not for everyone.

When I replaced my balancer, it was longer than the original, causing the fan to hit.
I put a fan spacer on to get the clearance. It actually put my fan closer to the radiator and improved airf;ow.

The stock water pump on a ‘55-‘62 235-261 positions the fan too far forward (interferes with the radiator) and too low on the radiator to be efficient. They make shortened water pumps to solve the too far forward issue, but it doesn’t address the too low on the radiator issue.

There is one of our fellow ‘Bolters, Pre ‘68 Dave who invented an adaptor plate that utilizes a stock 216 water pump and moves the position of the pump up, so it is centered on the stock radiator which solves both issues. He offers it to us thru his email. This plate is also for sale on eBay, but the seller copied Dave’s idea and has capitalized on this invention. Dave receives nothing thru the seller nor eBay.

I personally have installed this adaptor on my ‘52 3100, that I bought thru Dave, and it works great. Fairly easy installation, accomplished in an afternoon. I provided a photo of my installation. The red arrow points to this adaptor plate.

I highly recommend emailing Dave, pre68bowtie@hotmail.com and let him profit from his invention. He also has a website that has allot of info on old Stovebolts here. [chev235guy.blogspot.com]

Is the 15" fan that JC sells just for the 216 engine. I have the 235 and the no-good fan that came with it is 18". Would the length matter? Center hole is 1" on mine.

This is the exact problem that I am having with my 261- the fan is now too low, and it interferes with the harmonic balancer. I had to trim the fan blades to provide clearance. I’m going to pick up one of these plates from Pre 68 Dave.

How do you trim fan blades and keep it balanced?

So I’m at the same spot,trying to figure out the water pump etc.. I have a short pump off of a 216 but they have the wide belt pulley. My balancer and 12 volt generator are set up for a 3/8 belt. Sooo, do you purchase the special short pump from Carter with the 3/8 pulley or is there a better solution. Will Carter’s pump work with the relocation plate?
I’m a little confused 🤔
Tom c

There is a pump for a 1954/early 55 235 that has the narrow belt sheave It's in the same position as the 216 pump- - - -high mounted, that works with Dave's spacer plate. It's also possible to machine the wide pulley sheave off the 216 pump leaving just the hub, and use a stamped steel pulley for a Ford 302 V8.
Jerry

I purchased the pump 3/8 pulley and adapter plate from Jim Carter .The water pump on the original 235 in my truck had a 3/8 pulley .The older pumps had the 5/8 pulley .I would keep the pump with the 5/8 pulley for a spare as it may be possible to switch the pulley .My parts are sitting on my tool cart next in line .One man assembly line is slow this time of the year .I would have liked to buy the plate from Dave but factor in shipping it is better for me to get as much parts from one place .I am in a similar situation as Kevin is from Alaska only I am Kevin from Canada but the shipping is about the same .lol

Another solution is to replace the harmonic balancer like I did. The earlier 216 harmonic balancer came with a 5/8 sheave. There are plenty of them out there so getting one shouldn’t be much of an issue. In addition I bought a 5/8 sheave from Speedway to replace the 3/8 one on my alternator.

You will also need a fan blade from a 216 to fit the 216 water pump. Once assembled, it duplicates the stock fan setup that originally came on your truck.

Start a thread in “Truck Parts Wanted’ forum for a harmonic balancer should you decide to go this route. I have had very good luck getting the parts I want using this forum. Good Luck!

The stock fan for both the 216 and 235 engines is a 4 blade, 18" unit according to the shop manual (page 6-88).

I believe the issue may be the stock location on a 55-62 235 water pump is too low creating the problem.

Before you go chasing moving stuff. Are you running a fan shroud that is fitted correctly. This will more of a difference than anything when sitting still and not pushing air thru the radiator.

I thought we were talking about a 1952

The real question is what year is the 235?

EDIT: looking at a previous picture the OP posted, it is a later model 235 and it is the water pump location being too low that is causing the issue. Here us the post.

That's from 3 years ago. Who keeps all that in their head? It would be helpful to post the engine year if it's different from the truck's year in the question.

So the bottom line is that the OP should use the adapter plate to relocate the pump and the stock fan will work and everything will line up correctly, right?

An accelerometer, an optical trigger, a balance computer, and some reflective tape᠁ (I balance aircraft rotating assemblies)

Hahaha! I suppose that's one way to do it.

I pictured you in the garage with a file or die grinder and eyballing it!

Heck, the fan was probably better balanced after you worked on it than it was when it was new.

I just thought it would be fun to balance the fan. I trimmed it with a die grinder, then balanced it by bolting it to anothe water pump I had laying around , then removed more material from the blades on the heavy side. Actually, eyeballing it worked pretty well- it was pretty close to acceptable the first time I checked the balance.

I had that issue with the stock fan ending up too low on a 55-62 water pump conversion kit I purchased from chevsof40's. I had to do some work to get the radiator to not hit the fan first of all. Then I ran into the fan hitting at the bottom. Solution: ended up getting a fan on eBay from a 57 chev engine from a car. The bolt pattern is the same and it shorter. Problem solved.