Fan placement post water pump replacement

[White Spyder]

I had to replace my water pump and have a question for the group. In the photo below, the arrow points to a spacer between the fan and the pulley. It seems to be made of nylon or plastic. Is this correct or did it get added by one of the previous owners?  Also, is the direction of the fan correct?  In the photo the raised portion of the stamping on the blade is pointing to the front of the car. 
 

Thanks in advance. 
 

[Andydodge]

AFAIK there wouldn't have been a plastic or nylon spacer used on a 46-48 Mopar, if a spacer was used it would have been metal and the fan appears to be on backwards as those blades would not pull air thru the radiator, in fact as they are the fan would only move air forward from my reckoning.........I think.......lol.......andyd

[White Spyder]

If the fan is backwards then that may be why the spacers were added. I am going to spin test the fan position. 

[Sam Buchanan]

Looks like the belt is too narrow. 

[Young Ed]

Sure that isn't the snout of the water pump?

[Dodgeb4ya]

Better cooling attempt. Poor one if so.

That fan has huge rivets on it?

Needs a better fitting belt too....should be a 3/4" wide belt.

Stock 1946-48 Chrysler fan and pulley shown.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Dodgeb4ya

[White Spyder]

One comment that the fan is backwards, one photo shows it is correct. Two comments on the belt width match.  Who else will chime in?…..

Edited February 11, 2022 by White Spyder

[LazyK]

disregard I stand corrected.

Edited February 13, 2022 by LazyK

[sidevalvepete]

The fan appears to be mounted backwards, indicated by the rivets having the rounded heads facing the block. Perhaps necessitating the spacer. Even backwards though, it has the blades in the correct pitch so won't affect the function of airflow. Agree with the comments about the belt needing to be thicker too. Just one of those funny quirks found after a previous owner has done some work on the car.

[Dodgeb4ya]

The fan is on correct shown by the OP to pull air over the engine.

The crevass creases of the fan blade face to the rear of the engine as shown in my poor picture.

The rivet heads are located just outside of the fan pulley radius so blade should mount flush to the pulley as shown in these Chrysler pulley and fan pics.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Dodgeb4ya

[sidevalvepete]

2 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

The fan is on correct shown by the OP to pull air over the engine.

The crevass creases of the fan blade face to the rear of the engine as shown in my poor picture.

The rivet heads are located just outside of the fan pulley radius so blade should mount flush to the pulley as shown in these Chrysler pulley and fan pics.

 

I stand corrected on the fan orientation. Thanks. Point about the angle of fins remains though. Only way to make fins blow instead of suck air is to make engine rotate in the opposite direction.....

[Dodgeb4ya]

^^^^Yep...that is right.

It is mounted only one way to do it as factory though.?

[White Spyder]

Reinstalled without the “spacers” but waiting on a new belt of correct width. The belt brings another question. The front bracket of the generator is anchored to one of the bolts that goes through the water pump. On my car, that is the slotted bracket that allows for tensioning the generator and the belt. Without the bolt going through the pump loosened, the generator can not move on the slotted end. 
 

By loosing the bolt at the water pump, does that compromise the seal of the pump against the block and possibly resulting in a leak?

 

 

[Merle Coggins]

17 minutes ago, White Spyder said:

By loosing the bolt at the water pump, does that compromise the seal of the pump against the block and possibly resulting in a leak?

 

 

 

No... As long as you retighten it after making your adjustment. 

[DonaldSmith]

At the generator (alternator) bracket, I replaced the water pump bolt with a stud and nuts, so that I wouldn't compromise the water seal when adjusting the belt tension.  A nut and lock washer on the stud secure the pump housing, and another nut loosely holds the adjustment bracket.  I drilled through the stud for a cotter pin to keep the loose nut from backing off too much.  

 

 

[Rick Michalik]

Maybe the spacers were added to get the fan closer to the radiator in an attempt to improve cooling (??).

[Jerry Roberts]

7 hours ago, White Spyder said:

Reinstalled without the “spacers” but waiting on a new belt of correct width. The belt brings another question. The front bracket of the generator is anchored to one of the bolts that goes through the water pump. On my car, that is the slotted bracket that allows for tensioning the generator and the belt. Without the bolt going through the pump loosened, the generator can not move on the slotted end. 
 

By loosing the bolt at the water pump, does that compromise the seal of the pump against the block and possibly resulting in a leak?

 

 

 

[Jerry Roberts]

Just now, Jerry Roberts said:

 

Some of the water pump mounting bolts go  into the water jacket , I think that bolt is one of them . 

[White Spyder]

So far all is good. Doing a flush and re-flush this weekend. Drove the car 70 miles today and it never went above 180*. Air temp was was 72.