Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeK
...Despite all the broken fan horror stories, there are still plenty of excellent originals...
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Mike, how do you propose the restorer identify an "excellent original" fan?
The guy whose fan started this thread has been restoring Model As, and collecting parts, for over 45 years. He is very selective and conservative. I have seen him cut defective parts in two, or otherwise render them unusable, to make sure they would never end up in use on a car.
He picked an apparently good fan. He cleaned it to bare metal, found no visible flaws, then had it wet-Magnafluxed by a qualified shop. It was certified crack-free...yet it failed in about 1400 miles of medium-speed touring. No pits, no cracks, no welds, no grinding, no bondo--yet it failed.
What else should he have done? What else would you do? My feeling is that one CANNOT be positive that an original welded fan is good. They are all subject to catastrophic failure at a moment's notice. Failure is certainly more likely on a motor that is operated at higher rpm, but can happen at any time on any motor.
Joe