318 fan options

Guys, one of the first dumb things I did to my car just after receiving it (many years ago) was to replace the stock fan with an aftermarket flex fan, and ever since it has been running warm.

Even worse, I threw out the original fan, 1 spacer, and bolts.

The car currently has a thicker aftermarket aluminum radiator (ECP). So even if I had the original spacer, I assume I would have to get it machined down to use it.

Since it is a non-ac car, it did not originally have a shroud.

Would you guys recommend going back to stock, or getting a clutch fan, or something else?

Go back stock.

Nothing but nothing beats the OEM fan, clutch and shroud set up for cooling. If you have a clearance issue due to a new and thicker radiator, Hayden makes a shortened clutch unit for this. Sorry to say that I do not know the part number. Just go to Hayden.com and seek it. It was right on there home page as the Muscle Car cooling solution IIRC. I use one myself.

The only set up I have seen do as well and maybe better for use with more extreme engine builds are the aluminum radiator and electric fan set ups. A local to me did a aluminum radiator (made in Cali.) with a Ford Contour dual electric fan ordered from Autozone. The fan package has a lifetime warranty but made in Pakistan IIRC.

After my poly rebuild with some performance upgrades, motor running hotter. Among the things I did to cool it down was swap out the OEM 4 blade for a 7 blade and found an OEM shroud I refurbished. Wish ya lived closer, I'd hand you my 4 blade since it's taking up space on a shelf now.

I also dumped the 4 blade fan that was fixed on the WP.
I moved to the MP viscous unit. Immediate temp drop.

If I'm reading this correctly, you had a direct drive factory fan with a spacer. If that is correct, you can get 5, 6 n 7 blade direct drive fans from flex a lite that are very heavy duty like a factory fan. Then use their spacers to get the fan the proper distance from radiator and in/out of shroud. Otherwise, do a search for the factory fan and spacer. If the spacer is too thick, then have it milled down.

In case this might be helpful, without insulting your know how, I did several things to reduce the heat. Reading about aftermarket fan shrouds, read that some can actually go from bad to more bad with fan distance being vital and some shrouds just may not provide the desired air flow or velocity where it’s needed. The factory shroud I found and put in with a 7 (found it on ebay) blade sure doesn’t look like a whole lot compared to some deeper tunnel shrouds. But evident it reduces wasted air movement. My car also had a top seal option and installed it. Amazing what nice added features came on police/taxi cars (have a '63 Fury). I reduced the ratio of coolant to water around 70/30 as my ride sits in a heated garage in winter, reading that higher coolant ratios can produce more heat. Had been running 20/50 visc racing oil and further reading was interesting about engine oils, including when higher weight racing oil is recommended and not so much. Higher visc oils can also retain more heat and can impede HP (variances with what engines being discussed and racing vs street driving). Since my build called for zinc oils, I had also found my motor always running super high oil pressure. Reduced the weight to 10/30 and noticed oil pressure improved. These changes obtained significant reduction in engine temp. Next step was going to look for a better radiator if these measures didn’t work. Funny thing as at a show a guy parked next to me with a 426 dual quad setup…4 blade fan, no shroud, stock rad, saying he’s never had issues with engine overheating...go figure.