Does anyone know where I could find a radiator fan for a 84 Firebird S/E 5.0L, I just need the fan? Does it matter if the car used to have air conditioning? I was on flex-a-lite's site and they said you need one of their fan clutches or it could damage the fan. I don't need a fan clutch and would rather not spend the money if I don't really need it. Has anyone here used a flex-a-lite fan without one of their clutches?

 

is this a manual fan? if so you need a clutch cause the fan won't spin fast enough without one

if its electric i am sure there are direct replacement parts availible

 

the firebirds with belt drive fan use a 17"diameter
standard rotation fan,the original clutch fan had 7 blades
and the same blade can be found on many cadillacs,
'80-90,with diesel,368,or olds 307 engines.
A flex fan could also be used with a spacer of around
2-2 1/2"-some of these have pretty bad aerodynamics
-especially the cheap black plastic ones.
flexalite 1300 series is decent but a little noisy at high
RPM.
If you are concerned with horsepower draw at over
4500,best to use a clutch fan as flex or rigid fans
can start to draw noticable HP at around that RPM,
especially with stock pulley ratios

 

I have a belt driven clutch fan and the clutch I already have is working fine. On flex-a-lite's website it says that their clutch fans will work with most OE clutches, but on the same page it also says that you should use one of their clutches or it could cause serious damage. I don't understand why they would say it can be used with an OE clutch but then say you need to buy one of theirs. Is this just a marketing scheme to get you to buy one of their clutches or can you really use an OE clutch?

 

i think i have seen that warning before-something to do
with original fan clutch bolts bottoming out and not
tightening against the fan or something....
your original GM fan clutch will work fine with the
replacement fan(and is of better quality than an
aftermarket one that might have chinese bearings or
other bogus parts)

 

Thanks for the help, it's good to know that. I have one more question, it says the fan is rated for 4000RPM. Does that mean if you exceed 4000RPM you could damage the fan?

 

that 4000 rpm rating is the maximum constant rpm
rating for the fan-if constantly operated above that
speed there is a chance of fatigue cracks eventually
developing-you can run it well over that speed for
short intervals without damage.As long as the fan
clutch is working properly and not way oversized,the
fan will never get close to 4000 rpm anyway as the
fan clutch will limit the torque deliverd to the fan,
limiting it to a max of around 2500 rpm.