At this point, this is kind of a heads-up, on the very-possible
retro-fitting of a 1969- 1987 Jaguar XJ-6 type viscous fan clutch, onto
our cars.
At Spring Fling, I happened to be lamenting to a sympathetic 'ear' about
the fact that the 2 1/2" 'deep', "mid-60's Hemi" MoPar fan clutch,
that I had bought @ LAST year's S.-F., which I had sent off to Fred
Oliva (who advertises in MoPar Collector's Guide, & who might be the
only person 'advertising' for the overhauling of fan clutches) about A
YEAR ago, still hasn't returned my 'clutch', & isn't answering my
emails--he hasn't taken any money from me, but did indicate, initially,
that his service might be a 'side-line' job, for him , and that 'it'
might take 4-8 months to get the clutch 'back', & that the expense might
be around $200.00(!!).-----that clutch looked like it had been leaking,
so I figgured what-the-hell...
The 'problem' w/a lot of the FWDLK'ers is that they were so-well
designed, that the usual/typical fan clutches that are available today
(incl MoPar Performance's catalog-piece) are about 3" "deep", which
places the fan blades too close (almost-touching) the radiator core.
Anyway, Mr. Sympathetic-ear told me that he, himself, had installed an
"XJ" fan clutch in HIS MoPar, & that it was a perfect-fit, & works fine!
I got on-line, & found this company:
jagoutlet.com; San Luis Obispo, CA
1-800-706-5247,
& spoke with "Terry", a nice Englisher-type- guy, who said that his
company "stocks" these "USED" fan clutches, for $45.00.
I sent him a tracing of the bolt-pattern of the 7-blade fan, that had
"come" with the MoPar fan clutch, and also the water pump "cross-bar",
where it attaches to the fan clutch.
"Terry" confirmed that the Jag clutch should be a bolt-in-fit, and that
the o.a. "depth" of the clutch was 2 1/2" (which is the same 'depth' as
the 60's-MoPar piece, I'd bought).
Well, the clutch arrived, today, & beyond being greasy-grimey, it didn't
show any evidence of leakage, or bearing-wear.
After a lacquer-bath, it , indeed, bolted-up to the 7-blade fan (altho
the front-edges of the blades
'fall' about 3/4" behind the leading-edges of the clutch's 'vanes'. The
OEM pieces , I think, have their fan's-edges ALIGN with the leading
edges of the clutch's 'vanes'.
If I hadn't had the car's trannie converted to water-cooled (with
plumbing-connections to a 'cooler' installed in the radiator's bottom
tank), I'd have drained the radiator & removed it, today, to bolt-in the
fan clutch assembly, & see how it aligns/works.
I'll wait til the Diamondbacks arrive, & install the
fan clutch when the tires are mounted.
btw, as the Jag's clutch's water-pump mounting-flange has
drilled-bolt-holes, it looks like my shop shall have to cut/grind into
the flange, so as to create "slots", for the easy-insertion of the
bolts, that will attach it, to the water pump. That should be no big
deal.
So, FWIW, 'we' might finally have a source for a viscous fan clutch
assembly, which should provide quieter- engine-operation, more power
& and MPG.
I don't know the comparative merits of (re-)using the OEM 4-blade fan
-vs- installing a 7-blade guy, except that the "7" ought to move a lot
more air, than the "4-fan" unit.
Neil Vedder
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