1957 Ford Thunderbird - Power Steering - Fan

[JonVV]

Good afternoon,

I have a 1957 TBird with a 312. I recently had to remove the radiator and in doing so, noticed a lot of play in my water pump. So I replaced it with one from MAC'S.
Upon installing the water pump I realized the harmonic balance was not inserted on the crank shaft all the way. The power steering pump and generator were both shimmed out to compensate. The water pump pulley on the old pump was pressed off the shaft to compensate.

Long story short, I was able to remove the harmonic balance, clean it up and reinstall it correctly. Low and behold the stock water pump pulley now lines up perfectly.

Now that the pulleys are on correctly, I have a concern that the power steering pulley is to close to the fan. The fan is less than 1/4 inch away from the power steering pulley.

Can someone with a 1957 with a 312, take a picture off how their power steering pump attaches and see how close your fan is to the power steering pulley?

Thank You
Jon

 

[Jimz Bird]

Hi Jon,

When the other folks moved everything out did they not use the stock fan spacer?
57 56 55 Ford Thunderbird Radiator Fan to Pulley Spacer 8546 Orig | eBay

CASCO catalog also lists them for $14.95 and they are 1.18 in thick.

Those are needed, as you are probably aware, so the fan fits into the shroud so that only about one quarter or one third of the fan sticks out of the shroud.

Just a guess.

Here is my '56. It should be the same.

 

[JonVV]

Thank you.

I do have the spacer in place.

How close is your fan blades to the power steering pulley?

 

[Jimz Bird]

Hi Jon,
I am not able to get under the car to get you an accurate measurement.
I took this today so hopefully it will give you a better perspective on the space between the fan and the PS Fan belt.