Karl_W944

After doing my first coolant flush this weekend, I decided to order the late-type 6-blade fan assembly to replace the 3-blade version I've currently got. Payed $50 for it and got it installed in my driveway yesterday afternoon!



Removal and installation was very easy. Just undid the 6 10 mm bolts holding the assembly in place, cut off the zip ties that hold the electric connectors in place, wriggled the old fan out, and put the new one in the same way!




It's much quieter than the 3-blade, and cools much more efficiently it seems! But have run into two minor issues.

1. I kinda did expect this, but the passenger fan is rubbing on the lower radiator hose from the water pump. This is both good and bad because...

2. My passenger side fan isn't running anyways. The driver's side is perfectly fine, and somehow sufficient enough to cool the engine better than the original fans were, AC isn't compromised either. I'll check the connections on the passenger side later, I did notice a positive and negative symbol on the fan, I'm not sure if the way I connected the fan could be the problem, even though I did it exactly the same way I did the driver's side?

So I'm wondering if this is a thing I should just leave alone because nothing particularly bad is happening? If I recall, the fan/hose problem can be averted by swapping the lower hose for a later version of it? I just don't want to have to drain the coolant for the 3rd time in less than 4 days..

Anyone have any Ideas of what I could possibly do without removing that hose, and at the same time, what could possibly be wrong with my passenger side fan?

Working on this car more and more gets funner every time!

odonnell

Just buzz off the corners of the blades by 1/4" or so where it makes contact, I have the same setup in my car. Sits dead on the first hash mark, even in hot traffic it's no more than a needle width higher.

For the fan not turning on, try turning on the AC, it usually kicks on the second fan. But definitely don't do anything until you amend the blades.

Karl_W944

Mine sits just a hare under the halfway hash mark and goes no higher than that now.

Admittedly, I did turn on the AC yesterday, but that second fan still didn't do a single thing, didn't budge or start cutting away at the hose; at cold start or when the cooling fans came on when I turned on the AC at those two instances.

ninjacoco

Oh, weird. I've got a set of fans with one three-blade and one six-blade. In the same assembly. Yay previous owners.

I'd keep an eye on having only one fan working, though, and try to make the other one work. I can NOT idle my car with one fan down. I get coolant barf everywhere.

Karl_W944

I've heard about that setup. If push comes to shove, I could possibly replicate that setup with my having both types of fans.

Embarrassingly, I think I know what's wrong with my passenger side fan, but I'll have to check tomorrow. The connector on that side wasn't completely secured and rubbing on my power steering belt while I had the engine running yesterday; I just saw it today, and it never made a sound, but maybe the friction of the running belt on the connector could have caused some damage to it.

odonnell

Zip tie them out of the way, wrap with self-fusing tape if the insulation is damaged and you can see the copper wiring. But first trim the blades slightly to clear that hose. If you slice it, it isn't cheap to replace.

Karl_W944

I'll be running by the hardware store for a bag of zip ties and wrap tomorrow. Sure is a good thing I've been lazy about putting my belly pan back on. And I'll be trimming the blades as soon as possible.

How'd you go about trimming yours?

V2Rocket

i had that hose rubbing problem and solved it...trimming wasn't enough.

Karl_W944

Where'd you get that huge fan from??

Also, I finished the work today and took a look at the connectors.

The power steering belt sheered straight through the rubberish exterior and hit the wires for sure. I've now zip tied them out of the way and hoping for the best. Worst come to worse, lesson learned and I still have exceptional cooling with one fan until I have more time to trim the other. I won't be using AC until then.

V2Rocket

Volvo

Butters944

I have the six blade setup, cut almost through my lower hose at first, ran on the damaged hose for a year with no issues lol. I just ground off a pretty decent corner section off each blade. Just make sure you cut the same amount off each blade to try and keep it balanced. And zip tie the cables out of the way, they plug in at a 90* angle different from the original motors so you gotta keep em tight against the fan housing with zip ties.

konakat

I'd like to improve the cooling on my 84 so I'm looking at going to the 6-blade setup. Is it possible to just install a 6-blade fan in the early housing assembly and not have to deal with all the trimming? Or should I just get the whole assembly with both 6-blade fans? My AC has been deleted, so the 2nd fan isn't really necessary.

joeystanker

Thanks for the info guys.
I'm about to perform the 6 blade rescue on my car.
I will zip tie and trim as needed.
Oh I am so hoping to not have to buy another hose and another gallon of coolant.
Sheesh!

konakat

If your second fan isn't turning on ever, I see two possibilities. One, it runs on a second fuse, so make sure you check that. Two, make sure your fan relay has 6 connectors on it. A standard 4 connector relay will fit and will run the driver's side fan, but you need a special 6 connector relay for both fans to work. The 6 connector is pretty expensive, so I suspect it would be a common thing for people to just replace it with a standard 4 connector relay when it dies.

Dougs951S

By the way guys, just so you all know, the change in the lower radiator hose in 85.5 was to clear the later fan assembly. Cutting the fan blades to fit works, but swapping in the late lower radiator hose is the proper (and pretty inexpensive, new hose is 15-20 bucks) way to put 6 blade fans in an early car.