Pusher Fan Necessary?

Hey y’all,

long time lurker with a ‘72 304. Previous owner had a cheapo plastic tiny aux pusher fan mounted with those rad ties in addition to a pretty small 5 spoke mechanical fan (no shroud). It ran a little hot (previous owner put a 160 thermostat in there), I don’t think I’ve ever gotten it past 220/230 but man it can heat up when crawling through the desert.

Just got a new oem style brass/copper rad from summit racing, an omix shroud, a 19” 6 blade mech flex fan, and an electric permacool 14” fan to use as a pusher up front w an intake sensor to kick the fan on at 195, and a 180 degree thermostat

Went to put everything together, and I just realized that with the rad mounted I only have maybe 3.25 in to the grill. Can’t fit the permacool fan in there, or this other plastic flexalite fan I had sitting around. How is everyone else getting a pusher in there? Saw someone even had the 14” permacool fan I have, and it’s supposed to be 3.75 in thick!

The original fan I have on the cj has a 2.5 in spacer, and I ordered a 2 in spacer for the new mechanical fan. Should I try to put some .5in risers on the rad mount bolts to squeeze the fan in there?

Or will the jeep be fine without the electric fan w the new shroud and mech fan? Really just wanted it in there for peace of mind. No idea what temps she’ll run though until she’s back together.

Thanks y’all.

 

Try it and see what happens.

 

I would think that would be perfectly fine for a 304, even without the electric fan.

 

sweet, thanks guys, puttin it back together without the electric fan for now.

 

I agree. I have a Buick 350 in my '71 with a 17" low-profile flex fan, an aluminum radiator similarly sized to an intermediate, and a shroud. I can run the Jeep in 104 degree weather and It never gets hot even in normal usage. If I'm crawling up a hill in low range at 104 degrees, I shift down a gear to keep the RPM over 1500 so the fan works and it still stays cool. I think you'l lbe fine without the electric if you do a shroud.

 

Yep. Should be all you need. Throw a bottle of water wetter in there too. I do much prefer aluminum radiators over brass. Way more efficient at exchanging heat.

 

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Finally got the jeep back together. had a bunch of other projects going on so it sat on the back burner for a while. Been testing the cooling system and it seems to be idling just fine at the thermostat opening temp in 90 degree weather on the driveway…. I have yet to take it out on the road (had the whole dash off) but seems like it’s staying cool!

 

Was checking out at the parts store and saw the water wetter, tossed it in for the heck of it

 

I used to have a 68 MGB that would heat up. I used water wetter and it helped a lot