The Question I have is,, Did any of the 1st gen birds have a clutch style cooling fan blade???.. One of the reasons I ask is I know these cars were notorious for running hot due to poor air flow,, and I just figured they would need the fan blade turning at all times.. and I don't remember ever seeing one with a clutch fan.. anyone know,???.

I belive all AC cars came with clutch fans from the factory.

Once I installed my 19.5" 7-blade clutch fan my "hot" issue was compeltely resolved after 7 years of running hot!!! Prior to that I had a 16" 5-blade "fixed" fan and was always running hot. You can find the 19.5" 7-blade clutch fans in the junk yard. My friend Mike and I find one everytime we go. They are on full size GM vehicle from the 60's right through the 90's. We find them often on GM pickup trucks all the time...

It's amazing what the varied fixes are for hot running Firebirds.

The 68 400 w/AC I'm working on currently has a 19.5" fixed flex fan. I thought it was original as I saw where some cars had this type of fan. But, apparently, it should have the 19.5" clutch fan. I would assume it was removed and replaced with the flex fan to help with the cooling problem.

So, while your solution of the clutch fan fixed the overheating problem, I guess my clutch fan never did cool enough right from the factory.

400's and a/c cars had a clutch fan.

It is always possible that a clutch fan could have a weak or bad clutch as well.