1985 Capri 5.0L 5-speed

[JasonR]

My 1985 Capri 5.0L 5-speed is completely original and unmodified. The radiator fan is plastic and has the usual cracks at the base of the blades. My son has an '85 Mustang GT 5-speed and the fan in his car is steel. The part number begins with "E5". Can someone please tell me if the steel unit is an original part for certain '85-86 5.0L engines? I drive the car quite a bit and I don't want the plastic one to come apart but I am also an originality nut and want to keep the car as original as possible. Also - someone told me some early built 1985 cars had non-roller cam engines with steel fans and later cars had the roller cam engines with plastic fans. My VIN comes up as a later built "Capri 5.0 liter" , a 1985 1/2 if you will, which makes sense because the body side moldings in front of the rear wheels do not have the "RS" callouts. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Bentley]

My 83 GLX 5 liter/4 speed car is a metal fan from the factory....

[jeff85]

My early 85 has the steel fan. I've never heard of that as an indicator of a non-roller cam engine.

[FoxChassis]

All 85 5.0L Capri/Mustang manual trans had a roller block and roller cam/lifters. It was the auto trans that did not have a roller block (it did not ever have roller cam/lifters) early in the year.

[KevinVarnes]

How many blades are on the metal fan on your son's car?

[Bentley]

Here are two pics of my 83 fan

[tbirdman]

According to the Ford Master Parts List, the part number for the fan blade on the 85 5.0 cars, standard A/C cool with manual transmission is E5ZZ 8600-A...




That part number was eventually superseded by F3ZZ 8600-A, which looks very similar to the E5ZZ fan...



For 82-84 5.0's and for the 85 5.0 with the auto transmission, the part number for the fan is E1ZZ 8600-B...



Based on the picture that Bentley posted and the picture I found on Ebay of the E1ZZ fan blade, they look like the same fan blades. Not sure about the "E5" part number on your son's blade. Can you tell me the entire part number? Does his have 7 blades or 5?

Do you know what the production date is on your son's Mustang? Also, do you know if it has factory air, dealer air, or no air?

My 85, which has a build month of March of 1985, has the plastic fan.

[85MUSTANGTGT]

I'll throw in that my 12/84-built, factory air, 5-speed 85 GT has the metal E1 cooling fan.

I'm going to theorize that it all comes down to money. The plastic fan was simply a cost-cutting effort and a running change that took place in the middle of the '85 production run (between 12/84 and 3/85 based on dates provided so far). The plastic fan was phased in as stock of the metal fans was used up. I'm sure the plastic fan was quite a bit cheaper to produce than the stamped and riveted metal counterpart.