The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop fan blade spacer?

Need help in knowing where or what position the spacer is to be in, just recieved spacer and pulley from Patrick's for the short shaft water pump, and I don't know if it should be between the blade and pulley or???????????????

I don't know your truck, but, if the pulley is not lined up with the crank shaft pulley, then put the spacer between the pulley and the pump shaft. Otherwise, put it between the pulley and the fan to get the fan close enough to the radiator so that the shroud will cover the blades.

The reason I say that is that my truck got a 292 from a dump truck and I didn't remove that engine, plus I put it in my 59 which never had 292s. So...I had to play with the spacers and fan pulleys till I got the mess right.

What shroud? Must be after market if on an AD.
Thadley, I'm thinkin you have a 235 where a 216 was. That's the reason for the short shaft. I'll be putting mine on in the next day or two as well. I think that is probably sage advice to determine the best line-up of pulleys. That spacer ain't much in thickness though. We'll see.

The spacer must go in front of the pulley, between the pulley and the fan. If the pulley groove don't line up with the harmonic balancer, a spacer will do you no good; you'll have to press or "unpress" the mounting sleeve on the pump shaft. If the back edge of your fan hits the harmonic balancer after you align the pulley grooves call Patrick and he'll send you another spacer for free. I did all of this stuff myself just last week.

Yes I am retrofitting the 235 into a 49" 3800, and now I feel more comfortable knowing what in the hey' I should be looking at or for, the pulley groove alignment, and blade not hitting the balancer. duh! Thanks to the "Bolters".

I have exactly the same setup from Patrick's and yes, I did have to "tweak" the fan to clear the bottom crank pulley. Even a 1/16" clearance is good enough as it will pull forward at RPM.