Hey everybody, first post. New-to-me 144 (1974). Expect lots of questions from me in the future!

Clutch fan gave up the ghost, sent itself into the radiator.

I'm having the radiator re-cored, replacing the water pump, and want to throw a fixed fan on instead of a clutch fan (until I have time to do an electric conversion).

Ideally, I suppose I'd like to copy the setup Nordicar has here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phz1mMzFc4g

I'm looking at this fan:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/flex-a-lite-3653/cooling---heating-16773/cooling-fan-blade-12865/3a02d8828f66/flex-a-lite-steel-fan-blade/9315h/5992208?pos=13&manufacturer=true

I found these spacer kits:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all30182

But I'm not aware of what size of spacer I might need to mount one of these fixed fans. Will I need one?

Am I at least on the right track? Any tips?

Thanks for reading, look forward to hearing from the experts!

Jesse;

Welcome to this forum and congrats on your acquisition and wanting to keep another example of "the forgotten Volvo" alive and running!

I didn't check the links, but in addition to the good info from Derek, there can be some variation in distance Fan to Rad, as a function of durometer/age/sag of the Motormounts (which includes the Tansmount below), so be aware of that when selecting bolt/spacer lengths.

Also, I'm not certain if by '74/B20 they had added a Fanshroud, but having this this makes a big difference in the efficiency of the Fan getting air through the Rad, which in-turn increases the effectiveness of the Rad...a lot of owners complain about hot hot their cars get (or at least indicate) in the warm times of the year.

If clutch no longer works and that is why you are looking to loose it, be aware that a fixed Fan will also be noisier...I do recall seeing either a page or vid of a viscous coupling (I believe for a Mercedes, similar, if not the same), being refilled and restored into serviceability (it seemed straightforward)...you might try searching around and consider this option.

Cheers

Hi Ron! Thanks!

You don't have any idea where I could find some specs as far as Fan to Rad distance should sit approximately do you?

Honestly, I'm happy to have a noisier fan with less malfunction potential. The original clutch fan went beyond catastrophe and there's no saving it.

I'm planning to add a shrouded electric push fan to the front of the radiator when I have the time to do it right - but this go round, I have to let a shop do repairs :( (my new sweetheart is stranded, and a tow would probably cost as much as this whole fix).

As a side not, if anyone knows how to source a 144 radiator that costs less than a re-core I'll buy you your favorite pizza. I'm headed to a few car yards tomorrow, but my hopes aren't high given the area that I live in.

If you don't have air con, then you don't need to worry about a shroud.

140's are overbuilt in every department & the fan was the first thing I deleted. When the car is moving at speeds higher than 35MPH, no fan is needed. I used a reasonable quality electric fan switched on manually when stuck at traffic lights.

How many tubes in the core did the fan take out?

Hi Paul!

So you deleted the mechanical fan and only have an electric setup that you run in stop-go traffic, etc?

That's part of the mod I was planning.

I'm not sure how many tubes went, my buddy was driving her when it all happened and I'm 3,000 miles away. He sent me a few pictures and a video but it's not enough to get a good look at the radiator.

Thanks for writing!

If you delete the mechanical fan it's not difficult to have it triggered by a thermostat. Plenty of kits to do that and fan kits can have them as standard or as an extra. The override switch is useful too with a tell tale light in the car. As said, depending where you are and the normal ambient temps the fan will rarely run. That gains you less noise, a fraction of bhp and maybe a tiny bit of improved mpg.
If your 1974 has a cross flow rad you may be able to use one from a 240. Care to comment on that Eric?

Unfortunately, 240 radiators don't fit without modifications to the body.

We installed an aluminum radiator into our 1971 142E to replace the stock crossflow radiator.

The aluminum radiator had to modified and when it was done, the cost of the radiator and the mods was almost as much as a re-core and then we had to make it fit. Modifications to the core support and to the body were required to make it fit so we decided to stick with re-cored radiators for our customers 140s with crossflow radiators.

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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

Yeah, in my head I've already got plans to have an auto-on switch triggered by thermostat as well as a switch as mentioned in this thread that I can flip if I know I'm going up a mountain or into traffic.

GOOD NEWS! Found a used radiator. Having everything shipped to the shop today!

I think that the clutch fan is held on by longer bolts. There may be a spacer that you can use which allows you to use the longer bolts with a fixed fan. You could use the standard shorter bolts with the fixed fan but that would take the fan further away from the radiator, which is not ideal.

Hi Derek, thanks for responding! I'm going to hit a couple pick n' pulls tomorrow on the long odds that I can find something with a b20. Mostly because I'd like to see if I can measure distance between fan and rad. Also, because it'd be *sweet* to find an OEM B20 4-blade fan. Wish me luck!

Hello,

Unfortunately, your only hope for an inexpensive radiator is to find a good used 1. AFAIK, new radiators aren't available and re-coring is the only way to get close to a new 1.

I should have the rest of the parts IE the spacer, a fan blade and 4 of the correct length bolts and lock washers if you can't find them in the junk yards.

How much have you been quoted to re-core your radiator?


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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

Ok, I'm new to this website and can't figure out direct messaging. The little envelope by your name should let me message you directly, no?

I haven't gotten a radiator quote yet, they didn't get to my car until Friday and gave me a call just to let me know they're trying to source things.

I'll send you a message privately to see if there's an arrangement we could come to over the fan!

The email forwarding service here on the Brickboard doesn't always work.

You can contact me through my website contact page below.

http://hiperformanceautoservice.com/contact_us.php
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

Filling it out now, thanks!