Looking for advice: rad fan rubbing on fan shroud

'72 142

I'm at the point where I reinstalled my fan and radiator. I have a stock fan shroud and stock fan. Unfortunately, the fan is rubbing on the shroud at the bottom. On the shroud, the bottom tabs are fully seated on the bottom edge of the radiator and the screw holes at the top line up perfectly with the screw holes on the rad. It isn't just a light scraping, it's enough off that the fan will not turn. I have brand new motor mounts, so it's not from overly compressed mounts. The rear of the engine is as low as the Yoshifab cross member will allow. The bottom of the rad is seated fully into the center bushing and I pushed the rad down as far as it will go before tightening the bolts. Anything else I can check?

And no, I'm not really interested in ditching the fan shroud.

What's the part number for the motor mounts you used?

Besides the transmission change, what else has been done?

They are the 140 heavy-duty/164 mounts from VP

The t5 trans swap w/ a Yoshifab x-member is the only structural change

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/s67zLTX/IMG-7636.jpg" alt="IMG-7636" border="0">

planetman said:

What's the part number for the motor mounts you used?

Besides the transmission change, what else has been done?

Click to expand...

Shinchan said:

They are the 140 heavy-duty/164 mounts from VP

The t5 trans swap w/ a Yoshifab x-member is the only structural change

Click to expand...

That is your problem. The 140/164 engine mounts are thinner than the stock 240 mounts especially if you used one on the passenger side of the car. They are really good to use as transmission mounts on a 240 but not so good on the 240 engines. Try using a 240 turbo passenger side mount along with a new stock left side mount. The fan won't hit anymore.

Well, it is a 140, so I assumed 140 mounts would be correct. Are you saying I can safely use 240 mounts on a 140/b20?

dl242gt said:

That is your problem. The 140/164 engine mounts are thinner than the stock 240 mounts especially if you used one on the passenger side of the car. They are really good to use as transmission mounts on a 240 but not so good on the 240 engines. Try using a 240 turbo passenger side mount along with a new stock left side mount. The fan won't hit anymore.

Click to expand...

Shinchan said:

Well, it is a 140, so I assumed 140 mounts would be correct. Are you saying I can safely use 240 mounts on a 140/b20?

Click to expand...

Sorry, I missed that it's a 142. I'd revise my suggestion to be to get some genuine Volvo mounts. They are usually the hardest rubber mounts unless you go with something performance. That should support the engine better. I've used 164 mounts in my 140s and my 123gt to help support the engine better.

Is there a way to tell whether it's because the front of the engine is too low, or the back of the engine is too high? (ie is the trans mount a little too thin?)

Some pictures of the radiator and fan shroud might help.

Shinchan said:

They are the 140 heavy-duty/164 mounts from VP

The t5 trans swap w/ a Yoshifab x-member is the only structural change

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/s67zLTX/IMG-7636.jpg" alt="IMG-7636" border="0">

Click to expand...

It's hard to get a good photo. I removed the shroud for now so that I can run the car. You can see that the fan blade sticks down below the bottom of the rad at least 1/2". At the top of the rad, the fan is way too low as well.

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/mDyj67s/IMG-7637.jpg" alt="IMG-7637" border="0"><br><br>
<img src="https://i.ibb.co/BrCv6Pc/IMG-7639.jpg" alt="IMG-7639" border="0">

The shroud extends well below the bottom of the radiator. If the blades are only ?" below it shouldn't be rubbing.

and the bottom tabs of the shroud hook onto the bottom edge of the rad, correct?

Here's what the bottom of the shroud looked like before I removed it. I did trim the clips a bit so that the bottom edge of the shroud was flush with the bottom edge of the rad, but that wasn't enough

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/9t209Zh/IMG-7633.jpg" alt="IMG-7633" border="0">

hiperfauto said:

The shroud extends well below the bottom of the radiator. If the blades are only ?" below it shouldn't be rubbing.

Click to expand...

The shroud is secured with 6 screws. 2 on the top, 1 one each side and 2 on the bottom It doesn't clip on anywhere.

Are you sure you have the correct shroud? It should have part number 687131 on the flat area under the radiator facing the front.

1317338

Fits 740, 760, 780, 940, 940 SE, 960

I guess that explains that. I pulled it from a stash of parts in the back of a 145, so I foolishly assumed that it was a 140 shroud. Shame on me...

hiperfauto said:

The shroud is secured with 6 screws. 2 on the top, 1 one each side and 2 on the bottom It doesn't clip on anywhere.

Are you sure you have the correct shroud? It should have part number 687131 on the flat area under the radiator facing the front.

Click to expand...