which flex fan

[madvette74]

I have a flex fan now, it's pretty useless, it's the one that has the real small blades. my car runs in the 200-210 range I want to replace it with either the FLX-1318 (summit)or the 771-85180 (jegs) summit's flattens at high rpm.. jegs flows more air at all rpms.. in the real world just how much hp do you think would be lost, regarding the flex fan that doesn't flatten out?

 

[78SilvAnniv]

I don't think it could be much, certainly no more than 50 and most likely around 10-25hp, but I'm just guessing here...find out for sure from someone who knows.

My only concern with the fan blades that don't flex would be the strain they'd be under at high rpms. For street applications, by the time your rpms are up that high you should be traveling forward at enough speed that the movement will do most of the air-flowing and cooling, not the fan. My fan made it's biggest differences at low rpms and stop/go, however I noticed that we could romp-on-it and drive-spiritedly (hi rps) for miles at a time with no elevated temps.

I changed to a flex fan 4 years ago and have NEVER regretted it. It instantly solved 11 years of yearly, summer cooling problems. I purchased mine from the local speed shop for about $25-35, it has two spacers (needed for Corvettes) and metal blades that flex, but they don't flatten. I just checked and I can't find the brand name, sorry. The central housing is a light blue with silver blades.
Heidi

 

[madvette74]

thanks..

I am going with the fan that flattens out. I have an electric fan, I hook it up, to a temp switch, incase there is a problem with high temps. I had this flex fan for about 17 years.. that should be a record.. no problems with loose blades just doesn't cool enough. I changed the front bumper to a 82, with the smaller grills it brings in less air than the 74's

 

[78SilvAnniv]

Could you increase the size of the lower airdam to direct more air upwards into the engine compartment?
Heidi