Please HELP - fan spacer to pulley to fan mounting trick with Rad still in

[68 Sport Satellite]

I have never come across a slick trick for this. I fight it every single time. Do any of you have a trick or preferred technique to reinstall a water pump pulley/spacer/fan to get the stupid bolt holes to all line up and get the bolts started without the spacer falling or spinning twenty dozen times and success only comes by luck? I was thinking double sided tape? Is that the only way? I could pull the rad out, but I don't really want to and it would still be the same problem, just a little more room in front to see.

Thanks in advance

 

[Dennis Weden]

buy some bolts the right diameter but a little longer and cut off heads. Hand tightened in two holes and the do the two normal bolts. Take out hand tighten ones and you are done

 

[1 Wild R/T]

buy some bolts the right diameter but a little longer and cut off heads. Hand tightened in two holes and the do the two normal bolts. Take out hand tighten ones and you are done

Course you might need to drill a hole through the radiator to get the bolts out but it's only a minor issue...

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

yeah in the past I've just removed the radiator and it goes a LITTLE bit easier, but still a bit frustrating. The trouble is, now I have my rad opening expanded from 22" to 26" with a wider rad, an A/C condenser and trans cooler are mounted in front and those 3 all share the same left (passenger) side top and bottom mounting bolts with nut spacers. The kicker is, when I had the outside shop run the trans cooler lines for me after I mounted the rest, the mechanic (who is overall top notch) ran the lower trans cooler line right smack next to the lower rad mounting nut so I can't even fit a socket on there and barely an open end wrench. That's something I'll need to address later.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

FWIW a clutch fan is easier to install (you can use a stud to align parts) uses less horsepower & makes less noise... B bodies have limited space so some fan clutches won't fit but the Hayden 2947 absolutely will fit..

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

FWIW a clutch fan is easier to install (you can use a stud to align parts) uses less horsepower & makes less noise... B bodies have limited space so some fan clutches won't fit but the Hayden 2947 absolutely will fit..

thanks. Yeah, my fan is a factory steel 7 blade, 18" diameter. Heavy son of a gun, but it cools really well.

 

[Kern Dog]

You could take a pen and mark one of the spacer bolt holes on the side. Put the water pump flange so that the holes are at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. In many cases, the flange stays in position unless you wiggle stuff around too much. Put one bolt through the fan, spacer and pulley and fumble around in the same way we all seem to do when trying to find the hood latch in a foreign car......fingers wiggling around until we get the bolt in the hole.
Funny, that also reminds me of what used to happen to me on a successful first date with a new chick....

 

[wagonman]

If I had a shroud I would use studs. This clutch is the OEM from the 67 C-Body that came with the 440. 1/2 inch from the fins to the Champion core. Like a German Virgin Gudntite. Runs 185 to 195 in our summer heat.

 

[turbine68rt]

I went through this exact scenario with mine when I replaced the clutch fan for the original direct drive with 2 piece metal shroud. You could try using a thin piece of double faced on the back side of the pulley like you suggested, get two of the holes lined up with golf tees then remove tees. Once the pulley is held in place, lower the fan, spacer, and 4 bolts pre-installed as one assembly. You should be able to get one just started at 12:00 then the next one that's accessible.

 

[wagonman]

Good idea with the golf tees.

 

[beanhead]

With the Hayden shorty setup, the holes are slotted so I put one bolt through the pulley and pump snout and thread it in just enough to catch, then slide the fan assembly on to it. That at least keeps things together and gives me a head start...the other three bolts still require the usual "go in at kind of an angle and rotate them straight as the threads start" method. Leaving them loose until all four are started is key so you can wiggle the fan around when needed. It's not too bad that way.
I'm not sure if any of this helps with your spacer setup though as it's been years since I've run one... Good luck Dwayne!

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

SUCCESS! I've got the fan mounted back in and it was so easy.I woke up in the middle the night last night and suddenly thought of using a wooden chopstick. Then I read Turbine68RT's golf tee suggestion which is similar. Good thinking! The key is that the chopstick is not threaded and it's just small enough to pass through into the bolt hole. I cut it long enough to clear the pulley/spacer/fan arrangement with 1" sticking out. I only needed one wooden cut chopstick piece to support one water pump flange hole with the pulley/spacer/fan arrangement oriented at the 12 O'clock position. Then I was hands free to thread in the other 3 bolts. I then pulled the cut wooden chopstick out halfway until it ran into the radiator, then cut it in half with some large wire cutters, then pulled the remaining chopstick piece all the way out and installed the last bolt.

So the process is:
- Flat carboard piece in front of radiator face to protect it and your knuckles
- Orient Water Pump 4-hole flange with one hole at the 12 O'clock position
- install the single groove water pump pulley by first angling the top back to allow the pulley bottom to clear the crank pulley
- Cut wooden chopstick 1" longer than water pump bolts and insert through pulley/flange into the 12 O'clock hole. Rotate pulley slightly as needed until hole is aligned to accept wooden piece. Now you're hands free.
- Feed spacer/fan as one unit over 12 O'clock position wooden chopstick piece and water pump flange center hub
- Install other 3 bolts half way (1st bolt don't rotate fan, but after first bolt, you can rotate to install next 2 bolts)
- Remove wooden chopstick piece halfway, cut end off while leaving 1/4" to grab, then pull remainder out
- Install last bolt
- Don't be afraid to jiggle pulley back and forth while starting each bolt until all 4 bolts are in. I also found once the bolts were started, it helped to use a socket held with my fingers to get more force to pull the threads in.

Thanks for everyone's comments. I hope this helps someone else

 

[beanhead]

Nice!

 

[moparedtn]

FWIW a clutch fan is easier to install (you can use a stud to align parts) uses less horsepower & makes less noise... B bodies have limited space so some fan clutches won't fit but the Hayden 2947 absolutely will fit..

Confuscious (Ed) says "not always so, grasshopper!"
I got a whole thread on here somewhere of my journey with installing a Griffin "exact fit" 26" radiator
(it's a thick rascal!) and factory shroud on Fred... and the "Jaguar" Hayden simply got things too close
for comfort.
Wound up selling the fan clutch and such on here and going with a simple spacer (sourced locally) and
a straight drive fan from Summit:

P.S. - the whole process of getting the bolts in the whole mess got easier by default as well, since both the water pump
and the spacer had that centering "pintle" built into them, as well as slotted bolt holes instead of straight ones.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Confuscious (Ed) says "not always so, grasshopper!"
I got a whole thread on here somewhere of my journey with installing a Griffin "exact fit" 26" radiator
(it's a thick rascal!) and factory shroud on Fred... and the "Jaguar" Hayden simply got things too close
for comfort.
Wound up selling the fan clutch and such on here and going with a simple spacer (sourced locally) and
a straight drive fan from Summit:
View attachment 1317298
View attachment 1317299
P.S. - the whole process of getting the bolts in the whole mess got easier by default as well, since both the water pump
and the spacer had that centering "pintle" built into them, as well as slotted bolt holes instead of straight ones.

Don't know if it's enough but the Jag clutch which use to be the shortest available is about a quarter inch taller than the 2947.. Actually after re=reading your post it appears the Jag clutch fit but was to close for comfort.... An extra 1/4" would probably be just the ticket...

 

[beanhead]

Don't know if it's enough but the Jag clutch which use to be the shortest available is about a quarter inch taller than the 2947.. Actually after re=reading your post it appears the Jag clutch fit but was to close for comfort.... An extra 1/4" would probably be just the ticket...

Sometimes a 1/4" can be YUGE!
I put a "Cold Case" radiator in my car for the current build, and it sat too far away from the core support for my liking so I cut the mounting brackets off and TiG'd then back on to get an extra 1/4"-3/8" or so of clearance....after 3000 miles of bumps, jumps, and launches no fan contact so I'm happy!

 

[moparedtn]

Don't know if it's enough but the Jag clutch which use to be the shortest available is about a quarter inch taller than the 2947.. Actually after re=reading your post it appears the Jag clutch fit but was to close for comfort.... An extra 1/4" would probably be just the ticket...

I don't actually remember specifics (I should go back and read my own thread, eh?) but the clearance at the bottom
of the fan was scary close - the top was acceptable, but we all know things don't sit "plumb" in that area.


Oh heck, EDIT:
I just remembered also how damn frustrating it was trying to get the hardware installed with the Jag Hayden,
so my using another clutch even shorter would have had me fetching a shotgun in "short" order.
Screw that nonsense, I'll deal with direct drive thanks - which I have, with zero negative affects to report at this point.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Confuscious (Ed) says "not always so, grasshopper!"
I got a whole thread on here somewhere of my journey with installing a Griffin "exact fit" 26" radiator
(it's a thick rascal!) and factory shroud on Fred... and the "Jaguar" Hayden simply got things too close
for comfort.
Wound up selling the fan clutch and such on here and going with a simple spacer (sourced locally) and
a straight drive fan from Summit:
View attachment 1317298
View attachment 1317299
P.S. - the whole process of getting the bolts in the whole mess got easier by default as well, since both the water pump
and the spacer had that centering "pintle" built into them, as well as slotted bolt holes instead of straight ones.

I like the slotted holes. Those would have helped me a lot. Do you know the diameter of that fan and can you provide the Part # link?

 

[Kern Dog]

I don't actually remember specifics (I should go back and read my own thread, eh?) but the clearance at the bottom
of the fan was scary close - the top was acceptable, but we all know things don't sit "plumb" in that area.

I was told that the reason aftermarket radiators sit closer at the bottom of the fan is because stock radiator cores are wider at the top than the bottom.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I like the slotted holes. Those would have helped me a lot. Do you know the diameter of that fan and can you provide the Part # link?

I provided the pt # for the clutch above & the typical B body fan is the 216