396 fan identification

[James W.]

Re: 396 fan identification

A few more.

[Tony S.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Wayne. This is off your 8/2/65 L78 car?
Tony

[Wayne M.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Wayne. This is off your 8/2/65 L78 car?
Tony

Tony --- Yes, it was on the car when I bought it in July 1988 (and still is). But I highly doubt it is the original, due to an Oct 1970 accident when owner T-boned a school bus; Corvette nose went down and partially under the bus -- no injuries]. Original rad support still there, but the top front channel has a little dent. Popped the top skin right off the hood. Have pics but too embarrased to post .

So I assumed the fan is a service item from that era (part #3872792 was still listed in period P&A catalogs). If that's the scenario, and original stock was exhausted, then GM must have been using the 3888366 spider, with all expected '66-up stampings, but installing the 1/4" shorter blades from the L78 fan assy, to give the 17" nominal diameter.

I take no position on the "W" stamping for TFP 396's, as I haven't really examined any for this feature. Anyway, the plant seems to have continued using L78 parts on the first few hundred 1966 BB's (hood, hood support, radiator, rad support (assume fan as well). Don't know how the '66 judges handle this.

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 fan identification

A few pics so that we're all on the same wavelength as to stampings; the 'W' on the back of an arm of the spider. 'FRONT' (amazingly) on the front, hence not visible during judging because of the fan clutch, and the heavy "H", and finally the '66'.





b

Wayne------


This fan is a GM #3888366.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Wayne --- This fan is a GM #3888366.

Going by the stampings alone, yes; but the blades are the 5.68 inch: length (Noland, pg. 286) versus the 5.93" shown on the GM dwg. for the 3888366 = 17.5" O.D. (Noland, pg. 415).

[David L.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Going by the stampings alone, yes; but the blades are the 5.68 inch: length (Noland, pg. 286) versus the 5.93" shown on the GM dwg. for the 3888366 = 17.5" O.D. (Noland, pg. 415).

Wayne,

I agree that your 17" fan is GM # 3872792 even though it is stamped "66". The "66" is the middle two digits of the Hayes-Albion part number, NOT the last two digits of the GM part number. Both the 3872792 fan and the 3888366 fan use the same spider and have the same pitch (2 1/8"). The only physical difference is the length of the blades. Hayes-Albion must have used the spider (stamped "66") for the GM 3872792 fan for service use since they were making 3888366 fans for the 66-67 Corvettes w/427 and 68-70 Corvettes. The spider must have been stamped before the blades were added.

Other Hayes-Albion fans with 2-digit STAMPED part numbers:

69 Z28, 69 Chev. & Chevelle w/AC & some Chev. trucks 7-alum. blade fan stamped "94" (2 1/4" pitch)
GM # 3956684 = Hayes-Albion # 159432
(Optional fan as shown in the AIM's)

65-71 Chev. truck 5-steel blade fan stamped "89" (2 1/8" pitch, 5 rivets/blade)
GM # 3883159 = Hayes-Albion # 148932

Early 69 Z28, 69 Chev. & Chevelle w/AC 7-alum. blade fan stamped "84" (2" pitch)
GM # 3947838 = Hayes-Albion # ?????? (possibly 148432 or 158432)
(Optional fan as shown in AIM's)

I would say that the GM 3888366 fan is probably Hayes-Albion part # 146632 or possibly # 156632.

Reference: GM to Vendor part number conversion book for medium duty truck models
I have never seen a GM to Vendor part number conversion book for cars.

Dave

[Bill W.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Wayne mine is just like yours rivets and all except I dont have the 66 or any other number stamped on it . my rusty one has the dome shaped rivits . Maybe two suppliers ?

[David L.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Bill,

There was only one supplier of the 1965 Corvette 396 fan (GM # 3872792), Hayes-Albion. If you have fan has domed rivets it's probably from an "early" 1965 Corvette 396. The "early" 396 Corvettes were first made sometime in the middle of the 1965 production year. As indicated in other posts Wayne's fan must be a service fan. Read more about his fan in other posts. Based on my research the factory installed 3872792 fan had no identifying marks on the center hub.

Schwitzer was the other company that supplied fans to Chevrolet. The Schwitzer fan are stamped with their part number and a date code on each blade. Starting in 1968 the Schwitzer fans were stamped with the GM part number as well.

Dave

[Ray K.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Bob

My original '65 L78 ( June '65 ) has a very prominent " W " on the rear of one blade and an " H " plus " Front " in the area that bolts up to the fan clutch. It has the flat rivets as shown in the photo's above by James .

Ray

[Bill W.]

Re: 396 fan identification

It seems That the good folks in St Louis could have used two maybe three are more versions on the line . Early Vin #16120 letter H.& 17" with no other stampings and round head rivits . Later #17346 17" with flat rivits letter H & word FRONT stamped on the front side ,with a W stamped on the rear . And possibly the same as #2 later with a 66 stamped on it .Makes me wonder where a fan with no stamping comes from? If I were judging I would give credit to all the above as long as they were 17" with the correct blade until this works itself out .

[Bob P.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Bill

I agree. It seams that there are various fans installed for the 396. My vin 115119 has no markings at all. I am going to run with it as is.

Thanks

Bob P

[David L.]

Re: 396 fan identification

Bob

My original '65 L78 ( June '65 ) has a very prominent " W " on the rear of one blade and an " H " plus " Front " in the area that bolts up to the fan clutch. It has the flat rivets as shown in the photo's above by James .

Ray

Ray,

I assume that your original 17" 1965 396 fan has a pitch of 2 1/8" and NOT 1 5/8" like the 17 1/8 base fan for the 327 engine.

Dave

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 fan identification

It seems That the good folks in St Louis could have used two maybe three are more versions on the line . Early Vin #16120 letter H.& 17" with no other stampings and round head rivits . Later #17346 17" with flat rivits letter H & word FRONT stamped on the front side ,with a W stamped on the rear . And possibly the same as #2 later with a 66 stamped on it .Makes me wonder where a fan with no stamping comes from? If I were judging I would give credit to all the above as long as they were 17" with the correct blade until this works itself out .

Bill------


The kind of nuance differences that we're talking about here can easily occur. As a matter of fact, these kind of difference can easily occur without there being any change, whatsoever, to the specifications for a part. A part's manufacturer always has some flexibility in the manufacture of a part and I would think that these sort of differences fall within that.

I can say this: the vast majority of GM blueprints specify that the manufacturer's ID "must appear on the part". However, a large number of parts of the period have no manufacturer's ID to be found anywhere on them.