I'm running the '93 spec. 9-blade plastic fan with the correct thermal clutch in my '94 GT 5.0. It's holding the temperature far more constant than the factory electric fan did. A/C still throws real cold, even right after
starting up when the fan clutch is still "cold". So, no problems, just as my '93 Cobra worked.
Not about my present thinking, though. We kicked around flex fans before; some swore yes, the best, some swore at them. Anyone care to take a crack at really trying to figure them out with me? There are imponderables, be aware.
Literature claims flex fans throw maximum air at lowest speeds, less at higher fan speeds, thus saving power over a fixed-blade. Is it really so? What exactly flattens down those blades? Force applied by the air. To flatten them takes maximum force; try it with your fingers, bending the blade back. If they're moving LESS air at higher speeds, what the hell is flattening them? That's an imponderable.
The angle of pitch determines mostly how much force is exerted against the air. Airplanes can "feather" their "fans" to zero pitch, a flat rotating disc, pushing NO air. Or, negative pitch, to slow the plane. So, if the flex fan's blades reach flat, no pitch, they are moving no air! Can't happen, I don't think. Your thoughts?
Imagine a flex fan spun in a vacuum. No air to move. Would axial forces due to the shape of the blades tend to flatten them? Only if they were cut in such a way that centrifugal force would act on them to make them flatten. Does not look like they are made that way. I've always thought of the flex fan as a power-robbing device, maybe better than a fixed blade, but inferior to the clutch fan. Yet, they have been supplied as OEM from the factory. One guy on another Forum (Mavericks), stated his '73 came with a flex fan from Ford. This I don't remember.
Help me to figure out these dag-goned things! imp
starting up when the fan clutch is still "cold". So, no problems, just as my '93 Cobra worked.
Not about my present thinking, though. We kicked around flex fans before; some swore yes, the best, some swore at them. Anyone care to take a crack at really trying to figure them out with me? There are imponderables, be aware.
Literature claims flex fans throw maximum air at lowest speeds, less at higher fan speeds, thus saving power over a fixed-blade. Is it really so? What exactly flattens down those blades? Force applied by the air. To flatten them takes maximum force; try it with your fingers, bending the blade back. If they're moving LESS air at higher speeds, what the hell is flattening them? That's an imponderable.
The angle of pitch determines mostly how much force is exerted against the air. Airplanes can "feather" their "fans" to zero pitch, a flat rotating disc, pushing NO air. Or, negative pitch, to slow the plane. So, if the flex fan's blades reach flat, no pitch, they are moving no air! Can't happen, I don't think. Your thoughts?
Imagine a flex fan spun in a vacuum. No air to move. Would axial forces due to the shape of the blades tend to flatten them? Only if they were cut in such a way that centrifugal force would act on them to make them flatten. Does not look like they are made that way. I've always thought of the flex fan as a power-robbing device, maybe better than a fixed blade, but inferior to the clutch fan. Yet, they have been supplied as OEM from the factory. One guy on another Forum (Mavericks), stated his '73 came with a flex fan from Ford. This I don't remember.
Help me to figure out these dag-goned things! imp