'59 Plymouth Forum

My 361 engine fan creates a lot of wind noise. It is the original factory fan and has always been loud. Has anyone found a good way to silence their engine fan?

I’m playing with the idea to install a visco fan. Unfortunately I haven’t found one for a reasonable price yet. The visco fan from Mopar Performance (Summit # DCC-4120758) appears to be a little to long to fit between the engine and radiator. Any other hints?

Stefan

I think an electric fan might work. It used to have the factory air installed and maybe the loud fan was required to pull more air.

what is a visco fan?--on the subject of fans, i would not go with a flex one, like u can find really easy(ub know the aftermarket ones i'm talking about). i saw ones a few months back get metal fatigue on one of the blades, break, and lodged itself(just one blade) into the radiator. so i don't think i would go w/ one of those style. i have no idea what u have for space, but clutch fans r nice. - i had an electic fan on a car a few years back, just a factory gm job, overheated and cracked the heads before i caught it. the fans did not funtion due to crud in the fan plug, so i don't have much faith in electric ones either. just my 2 cents. --jeremy

A clutch fan might be te way to go. Do you know of any good sources for a clutch fan for my 361?

give me some dimensons, ie: bolt pattern and how long, and i can try a book at work and see what i can find. the rotation i believe is clockwise, but somebody correct me if i'm wrong. - it's winter time and business is kinda slow, so i get to goof around in our books every so often. --jeremy

Hey, this is an interesting topic for me...ever since I put the 361 into my car, that fan noise has concerned/bothered me. Gets real obvious at around 50 mph. I wasn't sure if it was the belts on the compressor or what, so it is "comforting" to know someone else has the same noise complaint. I find it odd that the standard 4-blades are quiet, but 6-blade fans are not.
Viscous fans and clutch fans are one and the same, am I right?
Maybe we have to go back to the 4-blade fan?

My car has a lot of fan noise at 50 or above also. When I drove this same car back in the late 60's and it made the same loud fan noise and used to really bug me. It is normal but it still bugs me. Is a four bladed fan quiet?

It's good to know you feel the noise is "normal", as I thought my car had some failing part..
Prior to the car I have now, I had a 59 Ply w/318 and 4-blade fan, and I do NOT recall any objectional engine noise...
Some might tell me to put a loud exhaust on the 361 to drown out the fan noise, but that is just dumb. I would like a quiet (as much as possible for a convertible) car that will get me around dependably...

The 361 has a real nice sound when the fan is quiet. Maybe some day I will tackle the problem.

yeah, i think we were talking about the same fans, took me a sec to realize it though. i know on later model pickups, that have a thermal lockup clutch fan, being that when it hit a certain temperature, usually 210-220, and they sound like ur taking off when they lock up. clutch style fans also free up a few horsepower since they don't rob so much power at take-off. - my 230 has a 4 blade, but the engine doesn't rap out enough to hear anything, and if it did, all u would hear would be the engine. --jeremy

I am sending a picture of Frank Lamps 59 SF fan setup via the mailing list. I can't figure out how to send attachment via the forum. He's the new guy in the showcase. Maybe he can answer some questions
Dick

Dick Koch wrote:I am sending a picture of Frank Lamps 59 SF fan setup via the mailing list. I can't figure out how to send attachment via the forum. He's the new guy in the showcase. Maybe he can answer some questions
Dick

Here's the picture for the people who are not on the mailing list.

that "finned" device ressembles a unit I removed from a '64 300 whatever it is...maybe I should try it out (if I can find it, if I still have it)

It would be worth a try if it would silence the fan noise. Does anyone know if I installed a 4 bladed fan on my 361 I would cause it to overheat? I have seen plenty of 4 blade fans on ebay.