One last question, only slightly off-topic. How did the Spectra 7-4150 condenser fit? The original condenser on my '84 has decided to spring a pinhole leak after only 33 years. Criminy, you'd think you could get parts to last longer than that...

From product reviews and some comments on this forum, it sounds like this isn't always an easy fit. Some modifications may be required. Did you run into any trouble?

 

Checked on a few things after work.

1) looks like the original radiator

2) Is the fan supposed to completely stop when it's cool? I've never seen my fan not spinning when the engine is running. I didn't even know it had a clutch. I'll check in he morning, but I'd bet real money fan starts spinning the second I crank the motor in the morning.

heres a tip down pic of my fan blades:




3) The fan may or man not be crappy, but the problem happens at highway speeds, so it's either not the fan, or at the very least not just the fan.

4) I ordered the thermometer off Amazon. I'll take just about any excuse to buy another tool.

5) I didn't have to modify the condenser, but it sure the hell didn't want to fit. I but a good bind on both *edit* LOWER , not power, typo *edit* brackets to get them to line up with the bolt holes. I'm honestly surprised I didn't cross thread the bolts.

6) I'm going to buy some of the rope calk stuff. I didn't feel like the tape was going to hold long.

 

Okay, phew, the orientation of the fan blades is correct. Must have been the camera angle in the earlier picture. Thought I was on to something. Was getting ready to pat myself on the back, too.

Re: The fan clutch operation. They never lock up 100% or release 100%. The fan always spins.

When cold, the clutch deliberately slips quite a bit because it takes energy to spin the fan. Slippage reduces noise, power consumption, and improves fuel economy while still moving some air.

When hot, the clutch slips way less, moving a lot more air, at the expense of fuel economy. I know it seems weird that you'd still want some slippage, but that's the intent. One advantage is slowing down the RPM of the fan. If locked 100% at high engine speed, the fan would not move air as efficiently through the radiator. You'd end up with a spinning mass of turbulent air that actually reduces airflow through the radiator, the only place it counts. Nice smooth airflow is what you want, not a tornado. The fan works best within a certain speed range, and deliberate clutch slippage is part of the equation.

 

The fan will always spin. But when the engine is cool the clutch allows the fan blades to "slip" (you can't see this by eye). That is why I suggested you feel the drag trying to turn blades when engine is cold and comparing to fan drag when engine is hot. Or you can use the timing light method to see the amount of slippage.

 

I spun the fan before I started the truck this morning and a regular flick of the wrist gave about 1/4 rotation. Putting a little mustard on it only increases it to about 1/2 a rotation. Drove to work without the AC so when I showed up the temperature gage was straight up and down where it normally sits. Turned it off and immediately opened the hood and spun the fan. I didn't notice any difference at all. Got the same results as when it was cold.

 

Those fan clutches are inexpensive - if it were me, I would get a new one to be sure. They are under $30,
Note that there is a different fan clutch for A/C and non-A/C engines.
http://www.haydenauto.com/upload/Hay...gn%20Types.pdf

 

I may have misled you talking about the engine being cold or warm, and how that affects the fan clutch. It's more like the clutch has two modes, but the switchover point isn't cold versus warm. The two modes are normal temperature and above normal temperature.

Your truck was operating in the normal temperature range for your drive to work. That includes starting out cold and so on. Spinning the blades by hand as you described sounds perfectly normal.

If your truck started running above normal temperature (for any reason), there will be a point when the fan clutch switches over to draw more air. Sounds like you were never in that range this morning.

Don't forget my previous comments (post #73) that the clutch has to sense that hotter air leaving the radiator before it will switch over.

 

About to leave work, thankfully I know just the way to get it to operate at above normal temperature range so I can test that theory out Hahahhaha.

Also, i'm having problems with my car as well, and have a post on a different forum that's been there for 20 hours without a single answer. Last time I posted on that site was several years ago and no one ever answered. I really appreciate you guys all taking the time to help me out with this, thank you!

 

What's up with the car? Most of us old farm boys have drivin or owned one o those thins too.
Give us some details and we'll tell you what we think.

 

Well, maybe the silence is due to the question. I've pasted it below, copied from the AMC Matador Enthusiast's Forum:

"Been hauling some bodies in my trunk for a few days. They're gone now, but does anybody know how to get rid of the smell? Also, what is the spark plug gap for a '73 258?"

Hopefully somebody can chime in. Most of us drive trucks, and since we can just rinse out the bed, any experience here may not be of much help.

 

Pine Tree Air freshener.


Here's some info on the 258 CID http://theamcforum.com/forum/uploads...ine_Manual.pdf


Plug gap .035" Federal-Mogul Motorparts

 

Edit because of wrong information:
I am shocked that site http://theamcforum.com/ did not help you as that is (was? have only checked in a few times over 3 years now) the better of the 2 you was on a few years ago. I am under the same screen name.
Only reason I am not on all the time is I moved and my AMC projects went on hold, then got my 81 F100.

That plug gap dose sound right. No spec sticker on the firewall?
Should have timing & idle settings sticker on the right side of firewall.
Dave - - - -

ps why did you leave the bodies in the trunk that long for?

 

So things have taken a turn for the strange, I drove home from work without getting on the interstate with the air conditioner on and two things happened which may or may not be related. The temperature gage did not show that I was overheating at all, and the gas gauge stopped working. The ammeter still seem to work because it bounced a little bit when I revved the engine when I first started it and the oil pressure seems to work because it did what it always does, show me low pressure until I got hot and then showed no oil pressure at all. Don't know if the temperature gage not showing overheating had something to do with staying off the interstate or if it was related to the fact that the gas gauge suddenly stopped working. None of this makes any sense to me. The good news is the infrared thermometer thing that I bought off Amazon should be in tonight, so I'll be able to check it out for sure this weekend.

I tried to drop it off at my local Firestone this morning to do cooling system flush and fill in the guy ask me why so I told him. He told me that the flush and fill was just for maintenance it wouldn't have anything to do with cooling problems. I told him it's just as well probably needs to be done anyway and he told me I need to fix whatever's causing the problem first and then bring it back for the F&F. I'm not normally in the habit of begging people to take my business so I just left.


The other forum is the Buick forum. I have three vehicles, the 86 F150, A 94 Buick LeSabre (68,000 original miles) and 73 shovel head Harley Davidson FLH. I'm a glutton for automotive punishment. The Buick intermittently doesn't want to shift out of first, and sometimes it slips while I'm driving like it dropped into neutral really quick and then comes back. The big clue (to my mind anyway) is that every single time there is a problem with the transmission, the speedometer stopped working and drops to zero. As soon as the transmission straightens out and acts right again at the exact same moment the speedometer start working again. I figured that anybody who knew how these transmissions worked would probably make something of that, but so far still zero answers. I don't think it has to do with the nature of the question. When I ask about installing heavy-duty shocks in the Buick on the Large Ladies Love fetish site I got like 50 responses.

 

A common denominator for the speedo and the tranny are the speed sensor. I would get the codes read. But get ready for a hassle. My daughter has a 94 bonneville with the buick 3.8. It seems GM did not go straight from their OBD1 system where you read codes with a paper clip, straight to OBDII where you use a code reader. 94 and 95 are oddballs, you need a code reader that has the OBDII connector, but can read OBDI style codes.

I found all this out and told my daughter the story. She kept going around to garages (she lives in Wilkes-Barrre) and was trying to tell them what they needed to read the codes on her car. She finally found a muffler shop and they understood, the boss of the shop had a old code reader at home that could read her car and brought it in for free and read the codes. I have one now, it's a old Snap-On code reader commonly known as the "red brick".

All this to say you my have a speed sensor code in the computer.

P.S. I told you not to believe that factory gauge. And the guy that turned you away; Sounds like a good shop to me.

 

That actual explains something on the Buick, I tried using my OBD II code reader and all I got was "ERR". No wonder! Also, isn't it hilarious that I got more help with my Buick LeSabre problem on the 7th gen Ford F150 forum than I got on the Buick LeSabre forum?!?