[62thunderbird]

I just a bought a Flex a Lite fan 1300 Series for my 1962 Thunderbird and I read that on a note -Not for use with serpantine belt drives because the water pump runs in the reverse direction of standard pumps. What does that mean. I bought this fan under the same spec what summit recommended online. It met all the specs engine size and all model and year. I am just worried of hurting my water pump. My main question is what does that side note mean?

[Aftrbrnr]

If you don't have a serpentine belt system, you should be fine. However, since you're posting this here I assume you do have one and are wondering if you should still use the part, in that case I'll defer you to the next poster in this thread.

[Darkwriter77]

The water pump spins clockwise on V-belt 302's, and COUNTER-clockwise on the serpentine belt 302's. If you try to run the fan backwards, it won't pull any air (or it will PUSH instead of PULL air) and you'll overheat in short order. Take a look at the direction of the blades on a stock plastic Mustang fan and you'll see the difference between that and, say, an old 60's or 70's Mustang fan.

Flex fans suck, BTW. Makes the car sound like a giant Hoover vacuum cleaner, and they're prone to flying apart and causing damage with debris at high RPM's. FWIW, Frankenstang and I have TWO flex fans with spacers laying around in the spare room that we'd be more than happy to get rid of for next to nothing. We pulled one off her Capri and one off my '84, both are serpentine belt cars.

[TheRican]

The fan goes backwards?

[62thunderbird]

The car it is going on is my 1962 Thunderbird that spins very low RPM. I idle at 400 RPM and redline of around 4500 RPM EST I do not have a tach. The motor is a low reving engine.

[Darkwriter77]

Again, if you're using a V-belt setup, you're fine as long as you ordered a clockwise-rotation fan. If you ordered a counter-clockwise rotation fan, you need to return it and get the proper one.

[62thunderbird]

Thanks for your help, I was just worried about the notice that came in the box to check before installation.

[timeless2]

Thread scrubbed and moved to the Other Auto Tech forum.