Thread: 38 ford shroud

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I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the electric fan on my 5.0 powered Jeep crapped out. It was an Autozone special and was the biggest one I could fit in there 3 years ago when I swapped in the engine. It always ran warm, and I tried everything to get it to run cooler, but sometimes at lights it would get into that 225 to 250 range, and I think that is too high.

So when this fan died, I remembered I had a SPAL fan in the shop that I got with a bunch of other stuff in an Ebay purchase, so I dug it out and put it on. As soon as I did I noticed I picked up about 3/4 inch more clearance (the old one just about touched the lower crank pulley) but the real surprise was how much air this thing moved. You could tell it was putting out the 2700 cfm's it said it would.

On the way home that night I got caught in traffic and the temp never went over 200. Actually stayed more like 190 most of the time. If I had built a shroud it would probably have been even better. I am sold on Spal fans.

You also bring up something I know to be a fact. When you stuff a big V8 in an engine compartment that held a small engine originally, the air has no where to go, and creates a blockage for the incoming cooler air. The air will actually go around the grille. Also, as some on this forum will point out, make sure you have a vacuum advance distributor.

A shroud can be as simple as a flat aluminum plate with a hole the size of the fan cut out in the middle. If this helps, here is a picture of my Sons radiator for his Olds powered '29. The manufacturer says he cools an 800 HP Willys with this same set up.

Good luck.

Don