You can always trim a bit off the end of the pump shaft to gain a little more clearance.


Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks Marc for the information. The stock radiator in my '54 Merc is nearly 4" thick so this explains why you have so much fan clearance with your later 3" thick radiator. I am going to need at least 1/2" of fan spacing because with no spacing at all the fan blades will hit the add on power steering pulley bolted to the crankshaft pulley. I will try to buy a 1/2" spacer or cut down a thicker one. Alan

The fan mounting flange on the pump shaft can be (carefully) moved a bit using a puller or press. All I've moved have been snug -but not stuck. Its a way to make the alignment "nuts-on" without having to futz with little spacers. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Sounds like you may have it solved Alan, but I took some measurements on my '54 Merc with a '61 292 with passenger car water pump. Distance from rear of pump to front flange looks to be 4.5". I'm running a 1.25" spacer and have 1.5" clearance from the leading edge of the fan to the radiator. This looks to be a later model radiator as it has a cooling chamber at the bottom for the liquid cooled transmission. A long time Ford mechanic guessed it to be around a '57. The radiator itself is just under 3" wide from the mounting support to the inside edge facing the fan. Hope this helps.



BTW, a 292 in a '54 Merc is stunning. I opened mine up on the freeway last week for the first time - it romps....and sounds good doing it.

Marc

'54 Merc ragtop

Pt Townsend, WA   

                                                                                                                                   

Speed shops and parts stores have a packet of thin spacers for fine tuning the fan spacing. If you need to further adjust the fan I would pick up a set. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I had pretty good space on mine but still taped a cardboard panel to remedy my clumsyness when I removed mine.  Thinking now would have been wiser to pull fan, might help.

Ted, Redding, CA

That, my friend Charlie is a brilliant idea...just leave the spacer out entirely. I just bench assembled everything without the spacer and it looks like it goes together fine without it. Does anyone see any problem with leaving out the spacer? Alan

I think 1" is about the shortest spacer possible because the pilot is about 1" Do you have to use a spacer?

Make sure that your pulleys are lining up.


Lawrenceville, GA

I received the correct water pump today. It has an "ECE" casting # so it was from a '55 or later passenger car. The center shaft is 5/8" in diameter but only about 1/2" shorter than the one on the truck water pump which was on the engine which had a larger 3/4" shaft. I went through my extra parts and the thinnest fan spacer I have is 1" thick. I set up the pump, the fan and the spacer, with the radiator in the car (without actually bolting it together). It looks like the fan will only be about 1/2" from the radiator. Two questions: Does anyone know of a Y-Block fan spacer thinner than 1"? Also, with so little clearance, I am going to have to assemble the pump, pulley spacer and fan and then install the radiator last. It will be impossible to install the fan last as there is insufficient space to insert the fan bolts with the radiator in place. How am I going to wedge the radiator in place last without messing up the fins bu scraping the radiator on the fan blades. Any ideas? Remember, this is a '54 Mercury , not Ford so the radiator will only go in one way. The smaller '54 Mercury water pump is more than 1" shorter than the '55 and later pumps. Thanks, Alan

Pete55, your idea would be a good one if I was working on a '54 Ford and not a '54 Mercury. The Ford core support/hood latch panels were designed to take the radiator either behind or in front of the support. The V-8 car radiator mounted behind and the 6 cyl. in front in order to have room for the longer 6 cyl engine. Mercurys all came equipped with V-8's so they were not set up like Fords. I am trying to do this car to look original other than the '61 292 so I don't want to do any major cutting or fabricating. Somebody out there must have put a 292 in their '54 Mercury so please let me know how you solved the fan clearance problem. Thanks, Alan