I can tell you, the fan was an aluminum POS that looked like it belonged on an office desk, although the motor was pretty good. You could never stop with the engine running more than one red light at a time. If caught in traffic you pulled into a driveway shut it down and waited it out. I always planned any trips very carefully to miss any heavy traffic or slow downs. At speed the car cooled just fine with the fan off (I put a manual switch on mine). Early aluminum fans would throw blades because they would work-harden to the point of fracturing in the fatigued area at the base of the blade, many times damaging the upper nose. Shelby American was aware of the problem because they were running a 427 with several temperature probes in LA traffic but did not change the design on early cars. I think it was Phil Remington's car that he drove home every night.
I have a pusher fan on my car now because the power steering will not allow me to package a puller fan or fans of large enough size. I have been pleasantly surprised because the car cools very well above 20 mph with the fan off and will stand about 15 minutes of idle now with it on. Running very long with no air going by the exhaust can damage the paint so I don't do it much anyway.
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Originally Posted by Excaliber
Some race cars run with no fan at all! Now thats a RACE car, not a street car. I wonder if any Cobra's ran without a fan at all during their time? My, my, how in the world did an original SC survive the street with ONE measely pusher fan????
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