Hi,
I’m trying to install a Mishimoto MMFS-MUS-67 fan shroud and a Mishimoto MRAD-MUS-67X radiator in my 68 Eliminator. The radiator and fan will not fit with the clutch fan installed. Is it ok to remove the clutch fan completely? Thanks
-Justin
Carefull the “Mush” fan & set up can actually block air & cause more over heating! I’m sure you had a “fat finger” on the “68” Eliminator 
A fan & clutch w/ a good 24" radiator w/ a shroud will keep most Cats cool. Even up here at high altitude I have no issues w/ all cats & a 24" rad…
Maybe try a new rad- Alum ones @
http://www.genesisautoparts.com/all_aluminum_radiator-mercury-cougar-1969.htm
HI Justin and welcome! Are you trying to install an electric fan and also keep the stock fan? I think it will have to be one or the other. What year Cougar and which engine are you working with?
Thanks for the replies
69 it was a typo. The engine is a 302.
I’m trying to install an electric fan but I don’t have enough room with the stock clutch fan in place. I plan to take the stock clutch fan out and run just the electric fan but I’m not sure if that’ll break something or if I have to make some kind of modification if I take the clutch fan off?
I’m doing this because my engine runs around 220 after about 3 minutes at idle and quickly jumps up to 240+ if I stop for more than 5 minutes. I’ve also taken it to several reputable classic auto mechanics around the area and they all say that there’s nothing wrong with the engine. It’s getting to the point where if this doesn’t work my wife is making me get rid of it because it’s been a money pit 
. I’ve spoken with several cougar owners around this area and two of the guys and a gal are running electric fans because they are having the same overheating problem during the scorching summers here in NC. There is one guy who’s running a 24" radiator, repro shroud, and the original clutch fan and he says he hasn’t had any issues but then again he only drives it a couple times a year.
Cougar Bill, that radiator looks great but I think I’d get sent to the doghouse if I bought a $1k radiator on my modest military pay.
You wouldn’t happen to be stationed at FT Bragg, NC would you? If so I haven’t seen you driving the cat around Post yet. I won’t have mine here till June and I sure miss driving her.
I run a very thin electric fan in between the AC condenser and the radiator along with a 7 blade clutch fan that has a fan clutch eliminator a machinist buddy made for me, I have a 24 inch 2 row (1-1/4 tubes) Griffen exact fit radiator and a 180 degree Milodon T-Stat.
Works well, if you have the room in front of the radiator for the electric that might help.
What motor is in the car and what condition is it in?
You can remove the clutch fan and just run an electric, if it has enough capacity. Make sure that when you bolt the water pump pulley back on that the bolts do not foul on the water pump. The bolts are UNF.
Have you checked the temperature reading with two different gauges and senders? If it is running that hot you probably have a blocked cooling passage or bad or incorrect water pump. If you are running normal V belt set up. make sure someone hasn’t installed a reverse rotation pump.
The clutch fan moves more air than that little electric one will. You likely have a rotten old radiator, or a tune up problem. Throwing a bunch of money at a shiny aluminum radiator and an underperforming electric fan is not what I would do.
The 24" 3 row radiator and stock fan shroud will keep any Cougar cool in any temperature weather. That’s the best answer for the least amount of dollars and time installing it.
Before you do that, make sure the timing is set to stock specs and the vacuum advance is functioning properly. Your car will overheat all the time if the timing is not set properly.
Also make sure the clutch is working properly. When you start her up cold, you should hear lots of air pushing through the radiator for about the first minute, and then it will quiet down. After she starts getting hot, you should here the air start whirling again, when the clutch is engaging… Clutch fan should be plenty of air if it’s in working order, and everything else is proper…
i second Johnny and Royce’s comments. I live in Georgia, and the summers here are no less hot than NC. I have ZERO overheating issues with my 289 auto at the less than short traffic lights here in Conyers (average 7 min red light).This has been on 100 + degree days. That wasn’t the case when I first got it. The culprits were a fan clutch that wasn’t engaging, an old cap that didn’t properly seal, and a thermostat that had been installed backwards by the previous owner. So even with a brand new radiator that the po installed, it still overheated. Of course the dead give away was when my cat started puking coolant at a lengthy red light on its maiden voyage. The Fomoco engineers that designed this stuff did a pretty good job, and properly working with the car in a decent state of tune, they are more than sufficient for cooling a stock to warmed over engine.
Start with the simple stuff first, then work towards “I need to throw a bunch of money at an aluminum unit” to replace a non working/flowing factory rad.
Agree the state of tune and the condition of the fan clutch make a huge contribution to the temperature of the car…I had a good re cored 3 row 24 inch radiator in the core prior to installing the Griffen, it worked well too.
I talked myself into the Griffen one night after a couple of beers surfing the web.
My Wife tells me she is going to start hiding my credit cards when I am in that condition…
You too huh? I don’t drink often enough that I can get away with that excuse 
. I may keep some around just so I can hold the bottle up, shrug my shoulders, and give her the innocent “whaaaat” look. 
Yeah that’ll go over like a lead balloon. I’ll just give her the “I needed it. You wouldn’t want me stranded, would you?” That usually works. Now if it were a $4,000 supercharger, not by a long shot. Heck, usually I’ll be two words into the dissertation and she’ll just sort of give the same bull$%^# look and go “God just get it so I don’t have to hear the War and Peace version of why you need it!” I say that but I ended up with a big surprise box full of car parts that she picked out for my '65 Galaxie and they all fit so I don’t have to do a lot of convincing. She’s cool that way. Two days after that she got me a 12 string acoustic.
The guys at work call her the unicorn (look up the “hot crazy matrix” on youtube).
We just did a fan and radiator video. This combo will cool any small block.
Can I convert to the 24" 3 core radiator on my 67 289 and use the same fan and clutch or do I need to change to big block fan and clutch?
Other then a good clutch fan and radiator you need to make sure your thermostat is working properly. A bad thermostat or trying to run no thermostat in a street car will cause a car to overheat even with a good radiator and clutch fan. If you have a 195 thermostat it is going to open at that temp and let the cool coolant from the radiator exchange with the coolant in the block, when the stat senses the cool coolant in the block it will close. The cycle continues. So if your stat is sticking or staying open or closed your going to run hot., because the coolant is not being cooled properly. Try and get a thermostat with the bypass ball in it the Motorcraft thermostat should have it.
Fords were not noted for running hot but Mopars were.
And the small block clutch and fan should work, with a fan shroud
Thank you for the info New clutch, new 190 thermostat. Just don’t think the 20" has enough cooling capacity for a Oklahoma summer.
Yes, use your original fan. In the video I show how one can use a Big Block fan because an original small block fan can be hard to find at times. The 24" 3 core brass / copper radiator with clutch fan and shroud will cool anything you can throw at it. I know that aluminum is very popular these days but it does not cool as well as copper.
I had intermittent near over heat conditions on a 67 390 GT, that all went away after having the factory fan clutch rebuilt its hard to believe how much air a factory set up moves.
What is the best way to tell if the clutch on your clutch fan is working with the unit in the car?
- Phillip
Good question, I’ve never had a new one that worked worth a crap, I use a 7 blade fixed fan like used on the SCJ’s.