I got AC working in car today. Prior to that car always ran about 185-195. With AC about 200-210 so far. I'm running puller elect fan, I have no room for mechanical fan, I also have no fan shroud. Will a shroud help cooling with the electric fan, maybe get the temp back to what it was? I can't see changing thermostat being any real help. Thanks
How is the fan mounted? Isn't there a housing around the actual blades? That should act like a shroud. How about a photo from the fan side to help out. The Wizzard
If it ain't loosing water it ain't hot...going to assume that is around town? How does it do on the open road?
How far back from the radiator is the fan? If it's more than a fraction of an inch, yes, a shroud will help.
It can help if part of the core is not being cooled by the fan. If you can safely feel the core at the corners, or use an infrared detector, you should be able to tell if a shroud would help at slower speeds. But I can't see it going back to same temps you had without AC, because you are now preheating the cooling air, with the AC. Termostat swap won't help at all.
Yes there is a smallish housing around the blades. Night time here so no pics right now. Fan looks more or less like the one in the link below. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-16-inch...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr
Those fans generally do not use a shroud, it's kind of part of it. If you were to make one you would need to build the shroud and mount the fan to it on the motor side of it and back a few inches. If you had room to do that you should be able to just run a manual fan with a shroud. The Wizzard
Shrouds are primarily used for engine driven fans not for electric fans mounted to the radiator. 200-210 is not a problem with the A/C on. What kind of fan are you using? If its anything but a Spal replace it with a Spal. You will notice a difference.
The number 1 reason I wont run electric fans is that when mounted on the Rad core like yours they only cool a spot the dia. of the fan blade itself. To cool the complete Rad core you need space between the fan and core with a shroud built like a funnel. This is an issue almost as old as Hot Rods and guys still don't get it. The Wizzard
Why not buy a Spal fan that covers the whole radiator width? Not too many radiators are wider then 16". I've run several different cars like that for years with no problems. My 350 SBC powered 46 Ford convertible had a Walker radiator and twin 11" Spals with no shroud. You couldn't make that car overheat. On two others I used a Cooling Components fan and shroud combination that worked great as well. My current late model 350 SBC powered wagon has an engine driven fan and shroud that can't be overheated either. I'm just saying a quality radiator and electric fan mounted high on the radiator, covering the width of the radiator and mounted against the radiator does not necessarily need a shroud.
I've run into your situtation before. I solved it by mounting a 2nd pusher fan to the front of the rad. I set it so it only powers up after 205 degrees.
I run a/c on my flatty.....a/c will raise the temp. by 5-8 degrees because of the increased temp of the air entering the radiator. Your temp increase with the a/c is normal. Assuming every thing else is correct, fan volume, good rad., etc, a shroud should help ensure air flow across the rad.
Also note that a shroud may improve the performance of your AC, particularly if the condenser isn't aligned with the electric fan.
Run a pair of smaller fans. One high on the left and one low on the right. Push or pull. This will cover the entire rad. Done
Pusher fan tends to block airflow and so can be somewhat counterproductive. Cooling components Inc. have a high power 2700cfm shrouded puller that is only 2-5/8" deep overall. I may try one of these in a limited space application but normally I'll run a Mk VIII Lincoln or Taurus fan if possible - failing that SPAL would be my choice. Make sure your relay has enough amperage.... <cite>www.[B]coolingcomponentsinc[/B].us.com/NewComp/shrouds.html</cite>
I looked at the spal stuff, their dual 11" fan only pulls 2720 cfm at it's best. Presently i'm running a 16" zirgo which pulls 2803 cfm at it's best. Those numbers are from their websites. I'm thinking of getting this, which flows 3630 cfm, and fabbing a shallow shroud, to mount it to. http://www.ebay.com/itm/16-Zirgo-Hi...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr This looks like it should solve any problem along with the shroud. Any opinions?
Even though most think there are no Fan Shrouds for an electric fan , there are ! Just take a piece of sheet metal and cut the hole for the fan . then you fold the corners over about 1" so it will box in the entire radiator in . Then make some tabs to mount the shroud to the radiator . Now the fan will pull the air in from all around the radiator , not just where the fan is located at . I just saw this the other week on a cable channel . It showed how to make the fan shroud and how it works . Also a puller fan is much better than a pusher fan set up . The fan with the straighter blades is also better than the curved blades . A big single fan is better than 2 small fans because the one big fan moves more air than the 2 small fans . With just the fan mounted to the radiator , the fan only moves the air as big as the fan . That means the rest of the radiator is getting only the air movement from the car moving not the fan . That is why a fan shroud will make it a lot better than none at all ! Another thing is to add some "Wetter Water" to the radiator as well . That can pull the water temps down from 5 to 10 degrees ! Hope this helps ! Retro Jim
What you need to do is provide some qaulity pictures from the front and from the underhood side so we can see what we are dealing with first. 1. What car/truck, engine are we working on? 2. Installing another fan is not going to fix the issue since you have stated the temperatures are at highway speeds. 3. What are the temperatures when it's sitting and idling with the A/C on?
I hate SPAL, I would buy a Zirgo.... No just kidding, hahaha I had to do it. My opinion is, your radiator is maxed out. The A/C put it over the top. There is a guy in Mich called dissradm he builds really affordable radiators and they arent to bad as far as price goes...
Years ago Streetrods by Michael had a display with several different fans were mounted on a plywood board. They could be turned on and off with a switch. Most fans moved very little air. The Spal would blow your hat off. Thats when I bought my first Spal. johnod, if you think that Zirgo pulls over 2800 CFM, I have a bridge I'd like to sell.
Just my 2 cents but look how moderan cars are designed today with electric fans they may not have shrouds per say but they do have lower covers under the car and covers from the grill to radiator to force the air current through the radiator otherwise the air won't pull throught correctly.
Shrouds are a great help on mechanical fans. Electrical fans tend to be mounted directly to the cooling fins with sort of a shield ring going around them and they don't pull air through all of the fins. If you had room you could possibly get creative and build a shroud that would capture all of your cooling fins. That being said, your running hotter because of the AC. I wouldn't bother with a shroud. I like adding oil coolers but I wouldn't bother with that either. If it was my car, the cheapest, easiest thing that I would try would be to add a bottle of "Purple Ice" to the coolant. It some how reduces the surface tension of the coolant and usually will bring the temperature down 10-20 degrees. Try NAPA as a supplier.
U.S. Radiator, Walker and Vintage Air all sell shrouds for electric fans - CCI sells the complete setup. They are not hard to find and they mount the fan away from the radiator core. Do they work and cool better? Absolutely....
makes a sheet metal shroud. cut a hole fr the fan. mount fan. leave about 1/2" to 3/4" between the shroud and rad. it will help alot.
The Jalopy Journal
