Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Ohhh...I just noticed your BIG fan!!!

Wow...now I have fan envy. Do you know what car it came off of so that it can work on the Packard water pump?

Not sure if you mean DeluxCanucks fan or mine but if mine then that is the stock 5 blade that came on the 356 engine. Believe the smaller engines had 4 blade and a different pulley and hub on the pump

Howard...could the 5 blade fan be adapted for my 288?

Mark, I don't have any detailed info on the fan or hub used on the pre 51 smaller engines. Stuart at Kanter said the pumps are the same for the junior and senior engines but the hubs are different. Larger for the 356 and pressed to a different depth on the shaft. The question would be if the larger fan could bolt to the smaller hub and probably smaller pulley and still clear and that I don't know.

If you want to compare hubs and see if it might be possible, the 356 hub is 3 1/8" diameter and has a total depth at the shaft of 7/8". 1/8" of that is the pilot inside the pulley center hole, 5/16" thick at the bolting surface and the remainder is behind on the shaft. Pilot diameter into the pulley center hole is 1 1/8" wide. 4 attachment bolts and hole spacing is 2 1/2" across with 5/16-24 threads. Pilot diameter from the pulley into the fan center hole is 1 5/8".

The parts book also lists different pulleys for the senior and junior engines. Not sure if the difference is to accommodate the larger hub diameter or the belt width or both. Probably both because they list different belts too. Belt width on the 356 is 15/16" at the outside edge and the junior engines may be smaller. If the fan wouldn't bolt and hub and pulley had to be changed then that might cause issues with finding a belt that would work on the old and new pulleys.

In addition to what Howard has mentioned, the hub for the 288 and 327 engines is smaller at 2-7/16" diameter and uses smaller 1/4-28 bolts. The pulley is stamped steel and the belt is narrower..
The pulley for the 356 is a heavy casting that is matched to the asymmetric fan and drilled for balance.

Another option for a more effective fan, though I don't know about any fit issues, would be to locate a 288/327 Korean War era (1952/53) fan. Others will know more about it and perhaps there is a reference in the Parts List but the restriction on critical metals required Packard and other makers to reduce the copper used in radiators and Packard compensated with a more effective fan. There may well be a Service Bulletin reference to it as well, worth a search.

Yet another option though probably very hard to locate would be a fan from a 1954 car with factory AC. You might also take note of TSB 51-T-30 which introduced a new fan with improved air volume. Again, I don't know how these fans might adapt to 1950 and earlier engines with the higher and more-centrally mounted water pump.

Thanks gentlemen.Just by what you guys have described it sounds like it could be a bit of a PITA to do, with the belt width and other things. It was just a thought. I haven't got my exhaust finished yet so I can't start the car and see how effective my fan shroud is. I'm pretty sure it will make a big difference in air flow.

If I could re-resurrect this thread...Has anyone with a 327 CID engine mounted the 5 blade fan from the larger engine? If so what was needed to do the conversion?

THANKS!!!

Bill

Has anyone investigated to any degree the adaption of a readily available steel multi blade Mopar fan used on their larger engines. They seem to come with 5 to 7 blades and are about 18" in diameter -- just a tad smaller than the Packard 6 blade. I believe KevinAZ came across one on his parts car engine that he used for his 55. Someone made that one work by boring out the pilot hole to fit the Packard hub.

There was a discussion about that possibility a couple of years ago but rather than boring out the hole and maybe having balance issues I wonder if it would be easier to have a spacer adapter made or found to fit the larger Packard hub and different bolt pattern. There are many of those fans on ebay but here is a company offering new ones.bouchillonperformance.com/inc/sdetail/865/897

I was looking at that same unit. drilling out the center hole if done properly would not have any effect on balance as long as the hole was exact. The four bolts that bolt it onto the hub would need to be the same diameter.