sc69sam's "Day 2" 69 Z28 Camaro

[Salvatore]

I have L60/15's on 8" rims and Lakewood traction bars. They are black though. I do have some vintage decals but am a little hesitant on using them. I don't want my body guy and friends picking on me. I did have decals on my SS nova in 1969 when it was new. sam [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img]

[hvychev]

Wow Sam then your car is set up just like mine. L60 15's, Cragers, Sun Super Tach, Flex a lite, etc. For the decals I ment on the windows though.

[scuncio]

Nothing more awesome than a '69 with the hideaways! Car looks great. The flex fan is freaky!

[Salvatore]

Yea, I know you meant on the quarter windows. They say decals take away from the car. Had them on my Nova, nobody said anything 30 years ago. Cars were only worth $2,500 then. Maybe I will do something??!! The front tires are 675/15's from Coker tire. That is what we ran in those days. Nylon thumpers when cold. sam [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[DarrenX33]

Hey Sam I like, I like!

[whitetop]

Sam
Great looking car. It has a nice stance.

O.K. Here is my 2cents on the fiberglas fans. As long as they are decent to begin with you will not have any problems. Use your common sense when using a used one. 8-9 years ago I talked with the then owner of Flex-a-lite, Gary, about these fans coming apart. He said of the stories you heard were like the car found in the barn left by the guy who was killed in Vietnam-most are fabricated. Gary said Flex-a-lite had very few cases of these fans coming apart in their day. The majority of those that were returned were caused by installers error: Such as blades hitting componets(the blades actually stretch to the front under power), guys shortning blades and they were off balance, guys turning their engine over by hand using the fan, tightning down the bolt too tight and gouging the fiberglass etc. Gary said the actuall fans that were blowing apart were the aluminum ones. There was actually a fed gov't recall & class action lawsuit of these fans back in the late '70's or early '80's that effected almost every manufacturerer. These fans were the ones that WERE dangerous. These were the fans THAT did come apart. I think people are getting these confused with the fiberglass ones. BTW He sent me 2 NOS fans. If they were defective or dangerous I don't think he would of done that.

If you look at a fiberglass fan it is not only held in place by 5 rivets (each blade)but the blade is sandwiched in between very tightly by two fiberglass backings.

Walk in the pits of any drag strip and you will still see these fans still in use. A guy in my hometown, Jeff Ross is the '2001, 2002 IHRA Stock Champ and record holder(and maybe 2003). He bought a '74 Barracuda new, ran it on the street for one year and it has been on the strip ever since. The fiberglass fan on his car was installed by him in '75 and is still on the car. It has seen thousands of 8000 rpm runs and is still going strong.
Gary from FAL said the reason the fiberglas fans were disc was not because they were coming apart but the manufacturers came out with better materials and it was easier to mold a one piece fan. The fiberglass fans were still in the '79 Mr. Gasket catalog and Rocket where still selling theirs well into the early '80's. These fans first came out in '67.
Pretty good run for a "defective part" IMO.
Dave

P.S. Reher Morrison & Shepard ran this fan on their '84/'85 P/S Camaro. It is seen in the pics in Hot Rod when it was featured_maybe July '85?. I have also seen this fan on one of Jenkins engine in the early '90's. It piced my interest that he still would be running one of thes fans.
If they are good enough for these two I'll keep mine. Sorry for the long rant

[Stitch]

FWIW .Back in the early 80's my buddy built this 38 Olds coupe with a 455/TH400 running a Flex-a-Lite fan We were out one day just cruising the highway at a steady 65-70mph when the fan just let go , it made quite a mess as it took out the top and bottom hoses , holed the top tank and a piece was stuck through the top of the 1/2" thick fibreglass hood.The fan was no more than 2 months old .

[Salvatore]

That is a good post Whitetop.Cleared things up. Only thing is, in the old days they did spin those fans with a belt from an electric motor. Probably around mid to late 70's these fans were spun by an electric motor attached to the front of the water pump. Of course they did NOT spin real fast just spun the water pump and used the fan to pull some air through the radiator when the cars were shut off and sitting in the pits or stagging lanes. I run my car generally hard. I do not loose sleep over that fan. I also have a flex-a-lite fan that is for a clutch attachment. (NOS) I just keep inspecting things as I go. Everybody has to do preventative maintenance. Nothing is cheap anymore, or easy to get! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img] Sam

[Pantera]

For whatever it is worth??? I had one of those flex fan blades go through the hood of my '70 Motion Vette when i did a burnout for some guys one time. It did a lot of damage to the fan shroud too. I looked up and there was one blade sticking through the hood about 1/2 way. I changed it over to a stock clutch fan and it ran a bunch cooler when I was cruising the drivein's back then. I would hate to see you have a problem like that on such a nice car like you have. Parts are just too hard to comeby nowadays.
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/scholar.gif[/img]

[Salvatore]

Thanks for the tip. This car does not go over 3500 rpm's. That is why they stopped making those fans in the 70's. They came apart.This fan is NOS, but I really don't trust them anyway. I actually think they put a drag on the motor besides. Just the nostalgic look for now. I have the correct fan and clutch on the shelf. Thanks, sam