The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Help with 235 engine swap

This weekend I installed my 235. All went well but for one major
thing. The fan sits too far foreward. WAIT! before you say, "get the
short water pump", I did. And got a late model fan. When we installed
the radiator, the fan was prssed against it. ALSO, the fan blades
were too long. They hit the radiator outlet at the bottom.

Please help. What can I do. I have done all that was suggested, but
it still does not fit. Do I need a thinner radiator? Do I need a
diffrent fan, if so which fan? I do not want to modify the radiator
support. Thank you.

Also, does anyone know the part #'s for the adapters for the oil and
temp gage units to fit into the 1960 235 engine?

Depending on what year of truck you have installed the 235 you probably will have to use a electric fan,I installed a 57 235 in a 37 and the pulley just cleared the radiator and if a fan would of cleared the radiator it would hit the crank pulley. The perfect motor to use is the late 53 or 1954 235 as it has the same waterpump as a 216,I had the chance to buy a 54 before I found the 57 and I wish I would of gotten it instead of the 57.

I ended up doing the same thing (electric pusher fan) after trying to make a mechanical fan work. I finally gave up after trying to modify a fan that still would hit the bottom of the radiator and just took the fan off. The electric fans work great, especially with a thermostatic control switch. There may be a mechanical fan that will work, but I could not find it.

I put a late fifties 235 in my '37 using the short shaft water pump. I used the stock fan from the 216 and it clears everything. It works ok going down the road but idling at a stop the engine heats up. The fan for the later 235 sits too low in relation to the '37 radiator. The thought of that old rivited fan coming apart at speed scares me also. When I find the time and ambition I'm going to put in an electric pusher fan and get rid of the old stock one.

I put an electric fan on my 261, it works great. It plus a thermostatic switch cost me about $100. It is a 17" 2000 cfm 14 amp model. You will want an alternator if you use an electric fan.