Fan radiator distance?

should be a lot closer than that, there is no shroud, do you have the spacer installed between the pulley and the fan?

nate

There is no spacer and the bolts are not long enough to use one. The car came to me with no shroud. Might have had one at one time.

I have no idea about the finer points of the L6 equipped Larks as this is my first.

Wiz.

The bolts are just plain ole 5/16-24 grade 5. They come in any length you want. Jerry

Oddly enough the parts book only shows a spacer when equipped with power steering or A/C. I just assumed that they all had one, but it appears that the standard, no accessories version did not have one. I'm not sure why this is, but the V-8 versions have less than an inch between the fan blades and the radiator, and this is probably why there's no shroud except on HD cars.

In any case I would see if a standard Stude V-8 spacer would position the fan appropriately, and as Jerry says, the bolts are not difficult to find.

nate

Jerry Forrester wrote:

The reason I brought up the bolts is to show that it appears to be stock with no extra length sticking out the back of the water pump mountings.

I live in So Cal and lately it's about 100 F and the temp on the car is pushing the limits of my comfort zone. I would like it to run about half way on the temp gauge. Driving the streets it's just over half but if I drive on the freeway after a few miles it gets up there, especially in late afternoon, after work. Admittedly I am driving it with the rest of the traffic and faster than some. Around 80mph. The total trip is less than ten miles with about six on the freeway.

I will try to get the spacer and if I could get a shroud it would be even better.

Wiz.

I have a 1959 Lark 6, I measured the distance between the fan and radiator and it's about 2 1/4" There isn't a spacer on my fan. My car has always been in TX and OK, I have noticed when the temperture outside is over 95 and the engine is running over 3000RPM the temp gauge is past the half way mark. I have had the radiator re-cored, replaced the thermostat etc. and it didn't make any difference, I switched to synthetic oil and that helped some. At highway speeds you can remove the fan on that car and it won't make much of a difference, my point is when it's really hot outside and at that engine speed I think it's the nature of the beast.

Joe

Thanks Joe,

That sounds right. I have not had it boil over and I have not taken it on any very long drives, about 20 miles max, since I have owned it over the past three years. I will give it a good tune this week end and take it out for a 100 mile run.

What type of synthetic oil did you use? Any different noises after adding it?

Wiz.

I've always used spacers to keep the fan within a inch of the radiator. All Larks should have come with shrouds especially in Texas and other hot summer states.

JT

Wizard of Oz wrote:

The shroud was still available NOS from SASCO as of a couple years ago. It was only used on HD apps but should bolt right on.

nate

Wizard of Oz wrote:

I'm running Castrol Syntec 10W-40 and I have also used Mobil 1, I think any brand of synthetic oil would work. By the way make sure your carb isn't on the lean side that will make it run hotter too.

Joe

I swapped out the original carb, still have it on the shelf, for a Holley

1940 that was remanufactured by Holley. It appears to be just right for me at this point but will play with it over the next few months. The car was running the same way before the carb change. The plugs are clean and I would like to get them to be a bit darker so I know I have over corrected to the rich side. Then I can back it off a tad.

Wiz.

So for the HD apps the shroud and the spacer would be used?

Wiz.