Okay, after installing another harmonic balancer (Thanks again Reed, and everybody else!), I'm putting the rest of the stuff back on. It's kind of cold here today, and I've been thinking about leaving the fan and shroud off for now. I don't have a long commute anyway, and I don't have stop and go traffic to contend with. This way, when I go to my part-time auto parts store job later today, I can see how an electric fan will mount under the hood. I like the idea of the fan shroud not being in the way.
I do plan to carry the fan, shroud, wrenches, etc., in my Volare just in case. What do ya'll think?

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"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

Do you have a temp gauge, or an idiot light?

If it was me, and I had a real gauge, I'd probably do as you plan to: toss the fan and shroud into the trunk, and just run it. Temps get too high, pull over, install fan. I'd probably leave the shroud off, at least try it w/o the shroud.

But if it was an idiot light, I'd probably bolt on the fan, sans shroud, for the run. Unless if the shroud was easy/fast to install, that is.

I don't have a working guage, or a working idiot light. I live in Texas, but I've noticed that on cold days, it takes her awhile to warm up.
Again, I don't have a long commute anyway, and I also almost never have to be in stop and go traffic, so I'm going to take a chance today and see how it goes.
It's kind of nice having some extra room under there. I do have the fan, shroud, hardware, and tools in the Volare just in case.
Thanks for your response.

_________________
"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

I have run 3 trucks without a fan before. First, let me say that it helps, but only marginally, in terms of warmup. If it's windy at all, the speed at which warmup happens is almost the same as if you have a fan.

The biggest help is to run a warm air heat stove on the manifold, and use a thermostatic controller. That does more than anything else, by far, in terms of stopping carb icing, stumbling, stalling, etc.

The biggest impacts you have by not running a fan are power and economy. Depending on your original fan (most slants don't have a big fan) size, you could gain up to 10 horsepower. My old Crew Cab was good for 1 to 2 mpg and very noticeable power gains (especially when towing) by removing the fan. The smaller, 4 blade, shallow fan on my slant six was barely noticed in terms of power, but definitely improved the noise level.

I have a 16 inch electric fan on my radiator, which is 22 inches wide, and use a shroud so that almost all the air goes through the radiator - across the whole radiator - with the electric fan, and yet, on a cool day, while tooling around in the sand dunes, in 4 low and working hard, it would not get or stay cooler than about 200. It feels like a lot of air moving through the radiator, but it is marginal for an engine working very hard but the truck moving slowly. It would not be anywhere near enough, if it were, say, a big block.

On the other hand, if you're just moving an a-body car around, it would be well more than adequate.

I use a mechanical thermostat, but it trips a relay, not power the fan itself.

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'81 W150 on Propane... Oversize valves, Oregon Camshaft cam, 10:5 static CR, Distributorless ignition, megajolt timing controller, PowerTrax lockers.

Thanks for the input.
I think that I'll be okay for now without a fan. Like I said, I don't have a long commute, and I'm almost never in stop and go traffic.
I'm going to be looking at electric fans.

_________________
"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

just a thought here, since your trips are short. why not go with a range or two hotter on the spark plugs. even then though, if your trips are about ?10mins? or less even leaving off the fan and hotter plugs wont help. my time frame is just a guess on how long it would take to heat up.

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1976 Plymouth Feather Duster
2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7l v8

My youngest son's daycare is about 5 minutes away, and the school that I work at most often is just down the street from the daycare. The longest part of my commute is my part-time job, which is about 20 minutes from the house.
Thanks for your input, I had not thought of hotter plugs.

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"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

Okay, the "real" test is about to start: I leave for my part-time job in a few minutes.
We'll see what happens!

_________________
"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

im interested to hear about your results. if you think about going with a electric fan, you could install a manual cut off switch inside the cabin. shouldn't be all that hard to do..

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1976 Plymouth Feather Duster
2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7l v8

She's still runnin fine. However, there is some squealing now from under the hood, which I assume is a belt. I'm guessing that it's the belt that goes around the alternator. The new pulley had some rust inside the groove, could that be it? It only makes this sound sometimes, not all the time.
Other than that, no issues.

_________________
"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

It probably is a loose or old shiny belt. Once rust is polished off pulley a belt will ride a bit lower in its groove causing it to become loose.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Okay, thanks! I'll check the tension.

_________________
"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318