Fan Blade

[dancrim]

Tom's Import Toy's has a stainless steel 6 blade fan, 15 inch for our engines. Anyone have a review? Looks good in the pictures. $75.00

 

[steveg]

I bought this fan 15 years ago. It has worked perfectly. US made and has 4 rivets on each blade vs the three on the Moss fan. Believe the design is bulletproof.

Agree - fan is noisy - adds a loud whirring noise at idle. 6 cyl noise while driving isn't that much of an issue due to exhaust noise.

If you buy it, be sure to chase off the tips as they can have sharp flashing.

 

[Lin]

Same here (well, twelve years). Has worked like a charm. Some who have it complain of noise, but it has never bothered me - but, I hear lot’s of other noise!
Lin

 

[Michael Oritt]

I have that one as well--the SS flex fan--and like it very much. It is a bit noisy but so is everything else.

 

[John Turney]

The plastic fans that have irregular spaced blades, like the Texas Kooler and BMW fans, are quieter.

 

[Keoke]

The SS fans shown above are noisy because they utilize an even number of blades equally spaced

 

[Michael Oritt]

Previous to the metal flex fan I had a plastic one--don't now remember the source--which worked well for a number of years and then seemed to lose its effectiveness. For some reason I removed it (probably to replace a water pumP) and when ai laid it on a flat surface I found that the blades had permanently flexed forward so that the tips of the blades were forward of plane of the hub.

 

[steveg]

AH Spares plastic fans: 4 cyl - Red; 6 cyl - Yellow.
DW pictures for both 4 & 6 cyl - red.

AH Spares:

DWR:

 

[dezand]

Just FWIW, I used a 6-blade fan from a 1973 or so Mercury Capri V6. It is essentially identical to the construction of the stock Healey 4-blade fan. Same rivet spacing and diameter.
Works really well and looks stock. Got it at a local pick-a-part yard about 30 years ago. Probably hard to find today.

 

[Novamonte]

The Mercury Capri V6 is almost identical to the same era European Ford Capri. It used the 2.6 litre Ford Colone V6 which was also used in some Ford Broncos and Aerostars in the US in the 80's, so it should be possible to find a fan in the US.

 

[dcarlg]

Ebay has new Derale Heavy Duty stainless steel 6 blade fans listed to fit a Capri. Part #17015, 15". $50-60.
4 rivets on each blade. 4 slots on hub.
Tempting.
My Texas Cooler is getting old and I worry about a blade separating.
Has anyone installed this fan?
Does it make too much noise?
Douglas

 

[steveg]

Ebay has new Derale Heavy Duty stainless steel 6 blade fans listed to fit a Capri. Part #17015, 15". $50-60.
4 rivets on each blade. 4 slots on hub.
Tempting.
My Texas Cooler is getting old and I worry about a blade separating.
Has anyone installed this fan?
Does it make too much noise?
Douglas

This fan would be quieter than the evenly-spaced Derale BCS sells, however it probably won't fit.

Scrolling down to the Q&A below, the fan is 1-7/8" deep from the mounting surface to the blade trailing edge. This looks to be too much for the Healey as even if it fit, using a thick spacer, it would be right next to the radiator.

The BCS Derale above with its 1/2" spacer clears the crank pulley and nut with 1/2" between the fan and radiator top tank. It makes a whirring sound noticeable at low speeds and idle, but you get used to it.