Clipper Radiator

[Rudy Frimbrez]

Got a question- friend has a Flx Clipper.  Well, friend has the remains of a Clipper anyway.  More like a shell, completely stripped.  Friend has big dreams of making it a motor home.  Anyway, I am looking at the rear end, trying to figure out engine options.  Can't seem to figure out how the radiator is supposed to mount.  Is it supposed to be above the engine, in that slanted duct?  Can't see any sort of mount for a radiator behind the engine (think this one had a Buick in it).  Thanks guys.

[Dreamscape]

Hi,

Sent you a personal message of a guy who owns such a beast, Kenneth Ufheil.

Good Luck,

Paul

[TomC]

The air for the radiator comes in the roof scoop through the radiator then out the rear of the bus-with the fan providing the pull.  In that way when going down the road, the motion of the bus did more of the cooling then the fan.  If the fan doesn't have to pull as much, less power is lost.  Good Luck, TomC

[Dallas]

Ummm,

The air doesn't go out the back of the bus on a Visicoach or Clipper or Starliner, or any of the other boat tailed Flx's.

The fan on the motor is suppose to be reverse rotation and actually pull air in, across the engine and down through a set of vents built into a belly pan, which, by the way, just like the GMC's has been lost to history.

The air exits down through the bottom of the bus and out under the bumper.

[Rudy Frimbrez]

O.K., maybe the one time I saw a Clipper with the back open, I think I was looking at the fan.  So since the engine is in 'backwards', the fan was blowing back across the engine towards the front of the coach?  I think this one my friend has might actually be a later 'Visi' model or something, but they are the same thing, right? 

[Dallas]

yup, the fan sucks the air forward across the engine then down and out the bottom. Many people put a full length flap behind the drive axle to increase the low pressure area under the engine and draw more air through.
Visicoach, Clipper and Starliner all used this system

[47FLXclipper]

Rudy - like Dallas says, the air movement is in via the roof scoop, down over a baffle to the front of the engine, fan sucked back across the engine, then down behind the engine and out just behind the axle ... most old Flx's are missing the baffle above the engine and behind/under as well

this place has rads, which look like this, and mount on the 2 bracket plates above the bellhouse area, seen at the top here

Bill

[Rudy Frimbrez]

Thanks for the help, gents.  Air comes in through the scoop on the roof, goes through the radiator (mounted on an angle above the engine), passes to the rear of the coach behind the engine, is drawn by the engine fan back over the engine towards the front of the coach, goes down under the coach in front of the rear axle.  Sounds complicated, but I see how it can work.  One last question: looks like this coach had the Buick in it, but at some time it was replaced with one of those GMC gasoline V-6's.  We are thinking that the best engine to use would be a Chevy 427 or 454.  Would the water pump on one of these engines be able to pump water up to the radiator if we left it in the stock location?  Thanks again, Rudy.