Free factory hood scoops! Complement of GM Fan blade!

[sandlapper]

sorry for that fan failure --- dang purdy paint!

the later GM pickups etc with serpentine Reverse Rotation pumps & OE Plastic mechanical Fan & clutch --- anyone else recognize how those OE fans seem to Never come apart?

*edit*
to be clear --- the above OE Plastic blades are NOT flex fans --- they DO have a clutch

 

[oldman14ss]

Weld from underneath, have your son standing by with the air hose everyone you spot weld have him blow air on it right away to prevent warpage. I have a huge hole in my hood where a hillbilly put a ford scoop on it. I'm spot welding from underneath and hitting compressed air after every spot myself.

 

[CountryBorn]

Well after the two years of body work and repainting… I was out with my 18 year old son keep him to learn to drive the rock crusher. I told him to rev it up more and thought a piston went through the hood. Ended up being one of the 7 fan blades sheared off and went up through the hood!

What are the odds of this happening and in the thinnest part of the hood!

Spent some time this evening hammering and tapping it down. Progress but it doing to take time and the all the rounds of filler, sanding primers….

Questions:

1. When we weld the seam, should we spit weld it from the top? bottom or both?

2. Recommendations on a replacement fan? I think it’s 18”? There was now cluch on the fan so assuming I should put one on?

3. Or should I go with electric fans?

That’s still getting over the shock but sh$t happens.

Thanks for the input here.

That is crazy

 

[nova joe]

I

Thanks yes I think I go with this or the Derale 17018 HD Flex fan, thoughts? If I use the rigid fan I would then need a clutch (maybe).

Clutch fans are nice since they allow the engine to warm up faster but I dont really need one up here in Seattle. They don't offer any horsepower benefit once they engage. The larger question is why did your fan fail -- one thing flex fan manufacturers will tell you is if your fan is larger than your radiator core area this stresses the fan as it pulls air through the low resistance area of the core and the high resistance area of the solid upper and lower tank. Over time this load imbalance weakens the fan and they can take flight as you know. If this is the case you're better of with an electric or rigid steel fan. I totally agree with Sandlapper about OEM fans.

 

[NCCAMARO]

Lol have seen more than one flex fan blade fly through a second gen hood.

 

[carhead22000]

sorry,my story was i,m pulling out of work,just had my distrb gone threw,and a new shift kit.rolling out on a easy turn i hit second waiting for the chirp,fan blade right threw my hood.thouht the same.thought she came apart.your not alone brother.

 

[forphorty]

Lol have seen more than one flex fan blade fly through a second gen hood.

For me, flex fan belongs in the trash can.

 

[rebski]

Flex A Lite Nylon flex fan good to 8000 rpm used them for years. Never had one fail. Make sure you use a shroud and place it correctly in the shroud.

 

[tom3]

Thank goodness you weren't under the hood doing something when it let go.

Might fix that damage something like this:

 

[8pack]

I have a clutch fan on mine which is a heavy duty reverse rotation one.

I am not a fan of the flex fans. They are too noisy for me and the clutch fan works just fine.

Now, after saying all that I am having my car re-wired completely and since I am running a Holley sniper with 2 stage fan control I am going to switch to electric fans. I tried it once before without great success as I had an heck of a time finding the right temp sensors to get it to work and moved back to a clutch fan. I am hoping that since the sniper is reading the temp and it is controlling everything it will work out. I got a Derale 2 fan system.

I dint have a link for the fan clutch. I can’t remember exactly which model I bought but I know it was a heavy duty or severe duty model. The link for the electric fans is below.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/DER-16927