will any 17" 5 blade fan work for a 66 396 car:confused:

I just bought a new 5 blade fan for my '67 from Hinshaw's..it fit the new thermo clutch and radiator spacing was just fine. :thumbsup:

I just bought a new 5 blade fan for my '67 from Hinshaw's..it fit the new thermo clutch and radiator spacing was just fine. :thumbsup:

I previously "upgraded" to the ~1970 7-blade fan and clutch in my Short Water Pump 396 '66 Chevelle... Fit with no problems, but I needed the ~1970 clutch (different bolt pattern on the clutch/blades)... It fit in the stock shroud with the stock radiator, but naturally, it didn't look completely stock (still an OEM clutch fan), but I don't recall anyone ever noticing the difference (its pretty well hidden in the shroud), of course, my car wasn't "judged" for originality...

Not sure if it helped any, but they didn't have the 5-blade repro yet, and I didn't have a pare, AND I figured there must have been a reason they changed from 5-7 blades...

I had planned on doing the same Tony.
But I had already purchased a new '67 clutch and soon found out the the 7 blade fan that I already had won't fit that clutch. :(
As you mentioned...the bolt pattern is different...
And the clutch that was originally on the 7 blade fan didn't fit the bolt pattern of the BB short waterpump pulley. :clonk:
So...simple solution, I guess, was to buy a 5 blade fan.

I had planned on doing the same Tony.
But I had already purchased a new '67 clutch and soon found out the the 7 blade fan that I already had won't fit that clutch. :(
As you mentioned...the bolt pattern is different...
And the clutch that was originally on the 7 blade fan didn't fit the bolt pattern of the BB short waterpump pulley. :clonk:
So...simple solution, I guess, was to buy a 5 blade fan.


Back when I bought mine, I also bought a "66" clutch, and it didn't work with the 7-blade...

But I exchanged it for a "1970" clutch, and it bolted to the short WP (stock '66 deep groove pulley) with no problems and no modifications...

But as I mentioned, this was years ago, before repro 5-blades were available... I had a 5-blade, but it was being saved for my L78 car...