New flex fan and shroud

[General_01]

My car was always running hot. I knew it was because I didn't have a shroud and I was running a 14" electric fan. I decided to get an aluminum fan shroud. The plan was to use my existing electric fan. Unfortunatly, while doing mock up I found that there was not enought space between the water pump pulley and the radiator for mounting the fan to the shroud. I thought about using a grinder and making the hole in the shroud the outline of the fan so I could mount the fan to the radiator and have the shroud surround the fan. I decided I didn't want to take the radiator out to do that.

I ended up going to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and getting a Hayes 19" flex fan and a 2" spacer. I have had it idleing for about 10-15 minutes in the garage twice today and the temp has stayed right about 195-200. Hopefully I will get some time on the road with it tonight and see how it does.

[General_01]

Well, looks like it's back to the drawing board. Went for a drive and the temp was about 215-220. Only dropped a little when I got on the highway and did about 60mph for about 10 miles.

Maybe I will take the electric fan and put it on the front as a pusher. Maybe that will help.

Cars....gotta love 'em.

[A383Wing]

I doubt putting the fan in front of yer radiator will solve yer overheat issue....with that radiator and fan blade, it should do it's job.

I'm thinking you got some other over looked issue causing engine temp to rise

Bryan

[bill440rt]

Having that shroud setup with the fan like that isn't helping matters much. The fan should sit inside the shroud for proper air flow. The way it is now the shroud is actually diminishing air flow, and the fan is not doing it's job. Kinda like sucking air through a straw.

[1974dodgecharger]

Having that shroud setup with the fan like that isn't helping matters much. The fan should sit inside the shroud for proper air flow. The way it is now the shroud is actually diminishing air flow, and the fan is not doing it's job. Kinda like sucking air through a straw.

was going to say something like that.....noticed his shroud and fan were not matched in within each other.

[myk]

Agreed.  Either you get the proper shroud and fan 'combo that has the proper relationship to one another, or you get the biggest electric fan you can fit in there set up as a puller.  On another note, did you say your 'temps got up to about 220?  Was that idling and in slow moving traffic?  220 isn't that bad, actually.  I'm sure mine runs around there as well.  Finally, I ran without a shroud for years, and never had cooling issues...

[General_01]

Looks like I need something to go around the fan then....

Guess I will take the shroud off and see if I can do something about that. In the mean time I guess I will see how it works without a shroud.

Thanks for the input guys.

[charger Downunder]

You could use a smaller water pump pulley to make the fan turn faster. Fix up that shroud first.

[c00nhunterjoe]

You don't have the famous 440 source water pump housing do you? Thermostate hanging up? With that big aluminum radiator I cant see why you are hitting 220 while cruising at speed and 190 idling in your driveway. Something is wrong. I have a cheasy stock 2 row with no shroud and a small flex fan and I rarely go over 200 idling around. Typicly 180 on a cruise.

[A383Wing]

Having that shroud setup with the fan like that isn't helping matters much. The fan should sit inside the shroud for proper air flow. The way it is now the shroud is actually diminishing air flow, and the fan is not doing it's job. Kinda like sucking air through a straw.

well crap...I didn't notice that the fan was not inside the shroud opening

Bryan

[General_01]

You don't have the famous 440 source water pump housing do you? Thermostate hanging up? With that big aluminum radiator I cant see why you are hitting 220 while cruising at speed and 190 idling in your driveway. Something is wrong. I have a cheasy stock 2 row with no shroud and a small flex fan and I rarely go over 200 idling around. Typicly 180 on a cruise.

To be honest, I don't remember where I got the water pump, but I do not recall ordering it from 440 Source. Just the 496 stroker kit.

I think the guys are right. I will have to do some modifying on the shroud.

[Ghoste]

That would absolutely make a big difference.  Get that set up so the blades are halfway into the shroud and it will be a lot different.  Do you have the rubber strip on the leading edge of the hood underside to make sure air does not just pass over the top of the rad?" 

[myk]

'OP by all means please don't think I was trying to recommend not running a shroud, I was just trying to make the point that without a shroud cooling should still perform adequately...

[ACUDANUT]

 You really need a fan clutch.  It keeps the water pump from going too fast and wearing out the bearings.  When that happens, the bearings go out in the water pump and and your radiator will get eatin by the fan.

[ACUDANUT]

Anyone who looks like this, I would not take seriously

[c00nhunterjoe]

You really need a fan clutch.  It keeps the water pump from going too fast and wearing out the bearings.  When that happens, the bearings go out in the water pump and and your radiator will get eatin by the fan.

You lost me. The belt\engine rpm determines the water pump speed. How will a fan clutc speed up or slow down the water pump?

[ACUDANUT]

A flex fan will pull ... but a viscous clutch lets the fan slip at higher engine speeds to cut down the wear of water pump bearings.

[c00nhunterjoe]

That I will agree with, however a clutch will not slow the speed of the pump.

[BlueSS454]

The fan needs to be half way into the shroud to be effective.  I would ditch the flex fan too, those things are completely worthless.  They draw no air at higher RPM.  A stock clutch fan with the correct shroud will do the job.

[Highbanked Hauler]

A flex fan will pull ... but a viscous clutch lets the fan slip at higher engine speeds to cut down the wear of water pump bearings.

  Correct me if I am wrong but the water pump is driven by the fan belt so it runs at the motor speed no matter weather the fan clutch is engaged or not. 

[myk]

oops

[A383Wing]

A flex fan will pull ... but a viscous clutch lets the fan slip at higher engine speeds to cut down the wear of water pump bearings.

  Correct me if I am wrong but the water pump is driven by the fan belt so it runs at the motor speed no matter weather the fan clutch is engaged or not. 

correct

[dkn1997]

The fan needs to be half way into the shroud to be effective.  I would ditch the flex fan too, those things are completely worthless.  They draw no air at higher RPM.  A stock clutch fan with the correct shroud will do the job.

I thought that was the point. Blades flex and don't draw air at higher rpm, which you don't need anyway because you are going fast enough where enough air is flowing over the rad.  If you could always be moving at 30mph+ you wouldn't even need a cooling fan. 

I had some cooling issues that I couldn't resolve on my previous setup on a 440.  stock WP housing, mild build, flowkooler pump, becool direct fit rad, shroud.  started off with electric fan, no good.  put a clutch fan on it, no good.  put a flex fan on it and temps went way down at idle immediately.  I don't know why people hate them so much.  The only drawback I can see is that they may not work as designed and still end up costing you some HP at higher RPM.  I painted mine black so it didn't stick out like a sore thumb too.

[myk]

The fan needs to be half way into the shroud to be effective.  I would ditch the flex fan too, those things are completely worthless.  They draw no air at higher RPM.  A stock clutch fan with the correct shroud will do the job.

I thought that was the point. Blades flex and don't draw air at higher rpm, which you don't need anyway because you are going fast enough where enough air is flowing over the rad.  If you could always be moving at 30mph+ you wouldn't even need a cooling fan. 

I had some cooling issues that I couldn't resolve on my previous setup on a 440.  stock WP housing, mild build, flowkooler pump, becool direct fit rad, shroud.  started off with electric fan, no good.  put a clutch fan on it, no good.  put a flex fan on it and temps went way down at idle immediately.  I don't know why people hate them so much.  The only drawback I can see is that they may not work as designed and still end up costing you some HP at higher RPM.  I painted mine black so it didn't stick out like a sore thumb too.

I forgot your setup, but aren't you running on electric fans only now, with no engine driven fan?

[General_01]

Today I figured out a way to mod the shroud. Took a little bit of grinding, but it looks like it will work well. I say "looks like" because I just finished and have not driven it yet. After my test run yesterday I parked the car and came out today to a big area of oil under the car. I think I have it narrowed down to the oil filter not sealing and oil spraying on everything underneath and the dripping on the floor.

Here are picks of the electric fan and shroud installed now. I will post results after I get some oil and a filter this week and changed it out.