Volvo RWD 444-544 Forum

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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

While the body of my '65 PV544 is in the paint shop, I've focused my attention towards rebuilding the B-20F I pulled from a '75 240. This engine is equipped with the 5-bladed radiator fan with viscous clutch and I've noticed it is positioned a couple inches forward (towards the radiator) from the original B-18 direct drive configuation. Could someone who has already gone down this path tell me if there will be enough clearance between the fan & radiator to run this configuation? I'd like to make up some A/C compressor mounting brackets while the engine is out & the water pump/fan assembly plays into the design of the brackets.

Thanks in advance,

Joe in St Louis








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

No, there is no way that fan will fit, what I did was get the 5 bladed fan, ( better cooling and quieter ) from an early 140 ( I think 69- 71 ) and reverse the spacers which worked nicely, even then its a close fit.
Ciao
Hans








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

I'll measure the clearance between mine and the radiator. I'm using the B18 style 4 blade fan and B16 nose and just off hand there isn't a whole lot of clearance.








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

My --incredibly-- accurate measurement shows there to be about 1 1/2 inches of clearance from the tip of the water pump shaft (pokes out of a hole in the middle of the old style fan blade). And about an inch of clearance from the fan blade tips.

Despite that, at idle that fan still doesn't do enough air moving to stop my car from boiling within about 15 minutes, sitting still. That's why there is the big electric fan in front of the radiator.








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

Why do you keep the original fan when you have a big electric one? Is there any benefit?








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

I initially took off the puny engine fan. But in slow speed driving the temp gauge would show it going up and down. The electric fan is on a thermostat, and only goes on when the radiator is fairly warm, higher than the thermostat regulates. When I put the engine fan back on it evened out the engine temp in slow speed driving.

It's possible my car is a little finicky because of the combination of a B16 radiator and a bored out 2.2 liter B20.








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

Could you perhaps have had the fan thermostat switch in an inappropriate place? If its too close to the cool water coming from the antifreeze, of course it would only turn on when you are about to overheat...

A properly mounted electric fan should easily work fine without the stock fan.

You mention you are interested in A/C... stop reading here, and jump over to the 1800 section and get in touch with the fella who's thinking of tearing the A/C out of his ES.

-Matt








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

Matt,
Probably the one item I could use from that guy's ES system is the double shieve idler pulley (I presume it's a double). My '75 B-20F was from an air conditioned car, and I have the York compressor (double pulley) & all it's mounting brackets. In addition the crankshaft pulley has 3 belt grooves.

I took some quick measurements last night and comparing them to the data provided by John Mc, I'm afraid the 5-bladed viscous coupled fan arangement will not fit. Interesting to note there is a spacer installed on top of the water pump pulley that is aprox. 1/2" thick that, if removed, might allow enough clearance. But then again, moving the fan aft may interfere with the A/C fan belts. There may be an electric fan in my future.

If anybody can help me out with the idler pulley assembly, I'd appreciate the help. Please email me directly at jumpjg@hotmail.com.

Thanks for your time
Joe in St Louis








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

My 1800E (and the other early 70's A/C equipped Volvo's I've seen) use a single pulley idler, and only use one belt on the A/C compressor. Which looks a bit wrong with the compressor's double pulley. The crank pulley is a double, with one belt running the water pump/alternator and the other just the idler pulley and A compressor.








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B-20F Fan/Radiator Clearance 444-544

The thermo-switch has a brass probe insrted into the radiator fins. I currently have it placed in the top corner of the radiator. I -think- the hot water enters the top of the radiator, but I'm not that sure. I suspect the switch is just set at a slightly too high temperature, and it isn't adjustable. In any case I don't think the irregular temp swings in slow speed driving really hurt anything, anytime it ever actually got close to boiling the electric fan would come on.

I probably need two thermoswitches - have a lower temp one hooked up through a resistor for a'low' fan speed and a higher one hooked directly. My '95 VW has a two speed fan that normally operates on low and is very unobtrusive. On a really hot day you will occasionally hear it kick on to high.







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