Fans move air through the radiator assisting in cooling the engine. A fan without a shroud is better than no fan. But, consider this. At idle or cruising speeds, you need the entire cooling system working at its optimum. An unshrouded fan is moving air through only the portion of the radiator equal to the surface area of the fan. For example, on a ’32 Ford, the area of a 15.50” fan is about 189 sq. in.; the core of the radiator is approximately 371 sq. in. This means that almost 49% of the unshrouded radiator is not receiving any benefits of the fan. Shrouding your radiator lets the fan pull air through the entire core.

 

Thought I'd chime in my 0.02.

I've ran an electric fan, broke the blade due to motor rotation, and plan on going back to an electric fan.

Things I liked:
-thottle a bit more snappy

-little better mpgs

-doesn't overheat when deep snow wheeling (bet ppl are scratcing their head here) but here goes an explaination. In deep snow, I mean like feet deep. I roll with both crawler (2:28) and t-case (4:70) in low with only the slightest throttle we can stay on top of the snow, the monent too much thottle we fall through the snow to the frame (got this trick from 4crawler's site) Slow creeping for distance and the mech fan just doesn't pull enough air through. Stop and speed up the RPM's and boom temp drops in a second. The fan needs to be wired for always on or the power steering is going to hate you when doing this.

-still have the mech fan as a trailspare. When I broke those fan blades I was low-low 2wd, enjoying fishtailling around trees. The same motor rotation that caused the tensioner bolt to be forced into fan would have pushed the mech fan into the radaitor this would have left us stranded on the trail.

Things I don't like:
-reliablity of the flex-a-lite #165 (think thats the model #). When getting truck smogged the relay board fried while waiting. Had a brand new motor in. I said some choice words and saved the motor. Could've been alot worse.

-I run a winch too, winching is done with the motor running, so the fan kicks on frequently. The two murder the battery and the stock Alt takes a beating.


Some of my reasons may not apply to some ppl, but shoot I mod'd the truck out for a reason and each mod can potentially cause an issue elsewhere, since the design the engineers made the truck too has now been altered.

Good luck.

 

Oem....

 

here's something else i just remembered..although my truck is 4cyl..not v6..but still

when i got my '86..(it had an E-fan on it)the truck would soar past 80 in a short amount of time and hold any speed i wanted it to in 5th gear

now after the first headgasket my mechanic convinced my dad to take the e-fan off because its not reliable....next time i got on the interstate..the truck would not even come close to goin 80mph..and would JUST BARELY hold 70mph..and even the SLIGHTEST of incline and the needle would start dropping..therefore i know for a FACT that an e-fan does rob some power..

P.S. compression was the same before the headgasket as it was after it...as in all cylinders still had roughly 190-200 PSI

*EDIT* and yes i will be putting either the Villager fan or the Taurus 2 speed setup on the runner

 

I've got an electric fan, without a shroud. And mine gets hot at slow speeds, too. I think that in combination with a malfunctioning water temp gauge let to my head gasket failure. So is the verdict here to get a shroud, or what?

 

a shroud that covers the whole radiator will be a DANG good investment..listen to runnermedic..he knows what hes talkin about so far LOL at least as far as cooling goes

 

Anyone run e fan and stock fan , just a thought as i am looking to upgrade to e fan . One other cool thing about an e fan is you can wire it so you can turn it off while crossing water witch will stop the fan from churning and throwing water all over the motor wich can lead to the engine dying ,

 

well this efan theme is next to be dumped,so many post and tips and till this date for my surprise there are some buddies that dont undestand or doesnt read at all the posts.
please stop makig dumb questions and follow the rules from my mercury efan swap posted here, and there will be no problems with the swap.but if you still want to use fans with out shrouds,dont want to use relays and fuses,dont want to simply follow the rules to make the swap keep trying until you get tired or the engine breaks again and again,the perfect swap i found is available with pictures,wiring and some details whatt more you can need?
me too come by your garage and help you make it? nope this is whats all about make something good better by doing it yourself!!!!!
soooooo its time now to get the parts and of course good quality dont go cheap and start the efan swap,then post your experience bad or good
and yes you will need money to buy parts
TOOLS
and please at least know how to use a screwdriver!!!!!!!
anyone whit me??????

 

yo, runnermedic.
last I heard, screwdrivers don't turn nuts and bolts.
"doh!"


on the other hand, you've probably already figured out that most people don't read old threads unless they come up on a google search.

 

Ah. its just the bueaty of YT. Some topics get covered over and over. And I think the funniest is when the post starts out I search but... fill in your favorite frequently repeated question. It just one of those things.

On a different note I think next e-fan I do will be the mercury or tuarus. They appear to not come of the rad as far as the flexalite.

 

x2

 

good for you. amazing discovery you have made,now go and learn how to use a ratchet and a wrench one at at a time. please dont hurt your hands, always use safety googles!!!!!

 

Originally Posted by runnermedic
well this efan theme is next to be dumped,so many post and tips and till this date for my surprise there are some buddies that dont undestand or doesnt read at all the posts.
please stop makig dumb questions and follow the rules from my mercury efan swap posted here, and there will be no problems with the swap.but if you still want to use fans with out shrouds,dont want to use relays and fuses,dont want to simply follow the rules to make the swap keep trying until you get tired or the engine breaks again and again,the perfect swap i found is available with pictures,wiring and some details whatt more you can need?
me too come by your garage and help you make it? nope this is whats all about make something good better by doing it yourself!!!!!
soooooo its time now to get the parts and of course good quality dont go cheap and start the efan swap,then post your experience bad or good
and yes you will need money to buy parts
TOOLS
and please at least know how to use a screwdriver!!!!!!!
anyone whit me??????


Someone could get tired of the same old bullcrap getting dished to them when all they want is info not bull from some pissed off troll like mofo . There are a million ways to install a fan and a million fans to install , so it makes since that there would be a million threads on the subject . cheese people lets try to help not badger people , Telling someone to do the fan like i did or your dumb is actually kinda dumb PEACE

 

sorry to everyone i will post pictures soon, tomorrow i'll be trying to fab a shroud since summer is around the coner and vegas gets hottt. i have some sheet metal that i'll use i'll also search to see if anyone has a write up on this or feel free to give your 2 cents thank you all....