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Flex Fan.....

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Has anyone ever fitted a metal flex fan on a TR6? The TRF blue parts catalog shows this as a part but notes that it is questionable if BL ever fitted any to the TR6. Seems that this would be a more efficient method of passing air through a radiator without robbing the engine of needed HP at higher rpm. I have the 13 bladed red fan on my engine, albeit rather tattered at this point. I don't think plastic was made to spin under torque for literally millions of rotations before it degrades, over 32 years! Are there any quality flex fans in the after market that would fit. We used to use them on muscle cars in the '60s routinely.


An addendum, I plan to change out my cam and redo the head in the near future. Will take a hard look at the duplex timing chain while I am in there. Tell me this can all be done with the engine insitu and does this involve removing the front engine plate. The gasket that rests beneath this plate looks awfully cheesey.

Bill
 
Hi,

I fitted a flex fan to my TR4 briefly. It required quite a bit of work to get it to clear the steering rack and the suspension cross brace, plus the center hole needed to be enlarged to fit, and the mounting bolt holes had to be re-drilled since they sit in a rectangle on the extension hub, not a square that the fan was designed for.

Later I got a deal on an electric puller fan and ended up swapping them before the flex fan saw any real use, so I can't say if it was a big improvement. Just based on the deep stainless blades, even after I trimmed and shaped them a bit to clear everthing, it should move quite a bit more air than the original fan. It probably should be properly balanced, too.

The car never really had any overheating problems, even with the 4-blade TR4 fan. But, I'm running high compression and a number of other modifications now and wanted extra cooling capability.

Personally, if I were starting from scratch, I'd probably go straight to an electric fan and skip the flex fan. It offers even less draw on the engine, at all rpms, plus thermostatic control and probably the same air volume or more will be moved through the radiator.

Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L
 
I agree with the electric fan. Your weather is like ours in the summer so running warm is the norm. I have two fans on my TR3 one pusher, one puller. The puller is wired directly to the ignition and is on all the time. The pusher is on a 190 themostatand rarely comes on. The extra insurance is a good thing.
 
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