I'm almost through with a restoration of my 57 Bird and am running a passenger car engine without the waterpump spacer and using the passenger car damper.  Before ordering a alternator kit I am wondering if there is any interference with the shock tower or would this just pertain to running an orginal generator setup?  I decided to leave the orginal drivetrain intact due to converting to an AOD and having a spare 312 to build that I had run in a 55 Crown Vic many years ago.  If someone has been down this road before I would appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Larry Boyer

Pelahatchie, MS

Cell (601)260-7646 

This picture doesn't go down far enough to view the point of interference - but if it were back one inch, it would be very close. Anyway at low elevation - and you might not be shooting to hide yours down here - the one inch pump spacer gave me room to sink it in there.

The Bird and the original drivertrain is all out at David and Robin Church's Metal Finishing Building where the restoration shop is also located and I have been out of pocket for a week or so and haven't been over to Jackson since I posted my question.  The body has been back on the frame for a while and all the body work has been completed and the engine compartment has already been painted and taped up while the body has been in the paint shop.  This is one reason I haven't been able to get in there to do any measuring to see how much room I may have. When I get back over there I will do some looking at the original engine and get some measurements on the generator location or even better maybe the 3rd coat of paint and the clear will be on it by then and I can get back into the engine compartment to see what I've got.  David was running a alternator at one time on his yellow 55 racecar but we have been unable to locate the brackets that he had rigged up for reference purposes.  It has been a long and slow process to get the car to where it is, but it is getting a lot closer that it has been and hopefully it will make it to Columbus next year. 

Thanks for the pictures.  Like I told Charlie M. I should be able to get into the engine compartment again pretty soon to get a better idea of what I will need to do and what will work.  Like you I am going to run a GM one wire alternator and had originally "assumed" that I should be able to fit it in there with some spacers etc.  However, I'm to far down the road now so I'm sure we will figure it out and it may be of some use to somebody else in the future.  I'll put it wherever it will fit!

Thanks

The passenger car style damper is a lot more economical to get your hands on than the "rare" T-bird part. Charlie's comment about the extension seems to be an interesting option to me. The usual T-bird fan spacer is an inch too - so a two inch spacer on the passenger car set-up would put the fan in the same spot as the Thunderbirds.

I recently re-fitted my outfit with a Hayden "fan clutch" and it moves the fan centerline about an inch and a half forward (leaving out the stock spacer). An 18 inch fan will clear the shroud with that arrangement  - so you have some leeway in figuring out the stack-up.

Your right about why I'm not using the w/pump spacer.  It would have needed to use the hard to find and expensive T-Bird specific damper to line up with the w/pump pulley.  I wanted to leave the original engine and trans with all the correct pieces and parts in case one day someone wanted to put it back absolutely original.  Since I had the spare 312 complete engine I decided to use it to build a warmed up street motor.  I had a few fan spacers around and knew I could space the fan out another inch to makeup for the spacer like Charlie has said.

Where did you get your Hayden fan clutch setup?  Are there any specific advantages to using a fan clutch setup?  I had thought originally about running a electric fan but decided to get the thing going first with the old fan setup.

Thanks

I was also running a six blade fan - and the fan noise really went up. So one of the guys here mentioned they bought a kit from CASCO(?) to fit a fan clutch. I read up on fan clutches and found that they "waste" some RPM - slip to the tune of about 10%-20%, just right to get my fan speed back down where it was before.

Being a cheapskate - I got on Google, found Hayden and spent about a whole evening working my way through their catalog of clutches. I only found two worth trying on the T-bird - they are listed for the early eighties Bronco and F-150 with a 351. There is a "heavy duty" (#4797) and a severe duty (#2797). The biggest difference between the two is that the clutch area on the #2797 has about twice the friction area of the #4797. The mounting bore of the #4797 is 3/4 inch and (according to the catalog) it includes a sleeve to take it down to 5/8. The severe duty #2797 has a 5/8 bore and no sleeve. 

Both of them have the same mounting dimensions from the flange face to the centerline of the mounted fan - about 1.50 inches. The normal T-bird spacer is 1 inch thick - so the fan centerline is about 1/2 inch closer to the radiator. There was plenty of room for the clutch and heatsink that hangs out the front.

Both of the fan clutches are listed by several suppliers on the web - but I bought mine (new) on ebay for $20.

This is good information to have if anyone wanted to consider this option.  As you say a lot of time is usually involved in doing the research when it comes to adapting things to our Y-Blocks and it is such a big help when someone has already been there and done that.  Also, along with all your other detailed information the picture is really nice to actually see if on the engine.

Thanks Again,