What was wrong with the original fan and shroud ?
The truck didn't come with one.
1968 F100. Straight six cylinder 240cu/in. Granny-low 4 speed. No power anything.
Original fan was a solid fan bolted solid to the water pump pulley. Four inches from the 2 row radiator that was 6" narrower than the grill opening. There was no shroud. Just spinning blades.
At the time I worked in an auto parts wholesale warehouse. I got a radiator the was the same with as the opening along with an electric fan/shroud. Removed the original fan. This was in 1987.
Jump to 1998 and the fan/shroud hanging from the radiator core eventually trashed the core. Radiator rebuilt.
Jump to 2018. Engine rebuild just before moving to AZ. Rebuild radiator again with 3 row core. New 16" fan (lighter, no shroud) on new (rebuilt) engine.
Last summer climbing "the hill" from Bullhead to Golden Valley had it running HOT, but never overheated. Dirt roads in Golden Valley were going to quickly cause the fan to destroy the new radiator core. So I made some brackets. They somewhat blocked airflow, but not bad. But the fan was now supported by the radiator frame, not the core.
Then I thought I'd make my own shroud moving the fan to the left a bit for clearance. This was the start of this thread. I had sheet metal sitting there so it only cost me a little time. It didn't work on "the hill", but everywhere else it was great. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So now I've made a framework that supports the fan by the radiator support, not the core. It let's air flow through the entire radiator at speed. So it's now cooling the best it can.
So now I swap thermostats to get it more stable.
Now, climbing "the hill" it runs cooler than before. Going down "the hill" it's running too cold.
Good part, the truck is 51 years old so it's not as delicate or finicky as a new truck.
Another thing cooling it s bit. Went from a full camper to a shell.
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