How to mount radiator fans?

[Adoom]

glad someone asked this, fabrication like this is an unknown to me

You are kidding, right?

no? not everyone has experience with metal, or making their own parts..

You should remedy that! Score yourself some "man points".
Everyone NEEDS a bench vice. Get a big old second hand one. New ones are really dear!
Get a hacksaw to cut the flat bar.
Get a largish hammer to bash the bar until desired shape is achieved.
Get drill and drill bits. To make holes in stuff for bolts.
And a metal file(cheap/slow) or a belt sander(expensive/fast) to clean up the cuts and get rid of sharp edges.
Steel flat bar is easier to get and cheaper than alloy. But it is heavier and "harder" to work.
You can get steel flat bar from any engineers/machine shop. Just stand there holding cash money and ask if you can go through their scrap bin.
Or go to steel and tube and buy a 6m length(they usually cut it up for free so it fits in your car), flat bar is CHEAP(Under $20 for 6m if I recall).
You can get short bits of alloy flat bar from mitre10, but they will charge lots for it. Or go to an engineers that works with aluminium and do the same standing with money and asking about scrap bins(expect to cut yourself ).


You have constructed something. MAN POINTS ACHIEVED!!!

[cat007]

Ok FINE
I'll make a proper shroud.
Sheesh

Here's what I've done so far. Sides folded down so it gets a nice air-tight seal.

[Snaps]

Looking good

[Bling]

Just for the record, my comments were only ever about making proper mounts I have no opinion on shrouds, no idea if it's a good idea or not.

[Vertigo]

id have to say its not, really. cooling fans should only be in use when stationary.. when youre driving, there will be plenty of air passing through all areas of the radiator. fans should provide adequate cooling when stationary without a shroud, or there is something else quite wrong.

also, a shroud will by design impair airflow when driving, full stop.

[cat007]

id have to say its not, really. cooling fans should only be in use when stationary.. when youre driving, there will be plenty of air passing through all areas of the radiator. fans should provide adequate cooling when stationary without a shroud, or there is something else quite wrong.

also, a shroud will by design impair airflow when driving, full stop.

Should I cut away the parts of the shroud where the fan's aren't - so to allow air to pass through them? Assuming I managed to seal the area around each fan so when they suck air, they suck through the radiator?

[Mr Revhead]

Imo this is what you should aim for.
When the fan operates all the air passes through as much of the rad as possible.
When driving the shroud will not interfere with the flow of the air.

[cat007]

Imo this is what you should aim for.
When the fan operates all the air passes through as much of the rad as possible.
When driving the shroud will not interfere with the flow of the air.

Yeah - that'd be nice - but then that takes us back to the old "basic tools" discussion

[Mr Revhead]

Then save and get some one to do it. Or save money and buy what you need.
Cheaper than sorting blown head gaskets and cracked heads when you cook it

[Looonie]

Radiator fans are for riceboys. Just don't drive below 60kph

[xsspeed]

If you built a bit of a plenum off the back of the radiator and had the fans more or less flat mounted to that you would probably be ok - so you don't have to fab up a taper.
Having the shroud flat up against the fins and the fans on that is going to create some air not moving over the fins (it will 'pool' there)

If you can't do it, a sheetmetal crowd would eat it up

[cat007]

The fins are recessed about 12 mm from the sheet metal....

[pc]

The types of shrouds in this post look bad and you might as well half the radiator size if shrouding in that manner.

Just make a bracket to hold the fan properly and close to the radiator (but not touching) and leave it at that.

[cat007]

The types of shrouds in this post look bad and you might as well half the radiator size if shrouding in that manner.

Just make a bracket to hold the fan properly and close to the radiator (but not touching) and leave it at that.

Yeah was thinking of doing that...

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

With that size of fans you have basically covered the entire radiator anyway, so its up to you, if you keep making that shroud or just mount them with strap. I didnt realise you had that much coverage.

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Imo this is what you should aim for.
When the fan operates all the air passes through as much of the rad as possible.
When driving the shroud will not interfere with the flow of the air.

Yeah - that'd be nice - but then that takes us back to the old "basic tools" discussion

Nah, just a little planning involved. Cut a shape similar to this, but on 4 edges keep a little tab that will be bent over, this will sit behind the side. Fold it all into shape, rivet it all together and hey presto.

[loudstealthGT-Four]

Whats wrong that shroud, by the time he cuts out the space for the fans there is going to be plenty of space for air to pass through at high speed and will be plenty of air being sucked through at low speed.

[matt dunn]

Should I cut away the parts of the shroud where the fan's aren't - so to allow air to pass through them? Assuming I managed to seal the area around each fan so when they suck air, they suck through the radiator?

Yes cut as much away as possible.

Imo this is what you should aim for.
When the fan operates all the air passes through as much of the rad as possible.
When driving the shroud will not interfere with the flow of the air.

Not what I would do.
Even fan blades are such a restriction at speed.
Fan speed is about 35kmh? so anything above that and the fans restrict air flow.
You need as much air as possible to be able to go through the radiator without going through the fan as possible to help with high speed cooling.

And fans are a necessity too IMO,
but should be big enough to bring the temp down under control when you have stopped from a hard run, but not too big either.

And if your car needs radiator fans whiletravelling it has a problem somewhere.

[cat007]

So here's how I'm mounting the fans.

Each fan has a slot, which conveniently fits the head of a 10mm bolt perfectly. I've cut some steel angle iron which I'll drill a hole in for the shroud and one for the 10mm bolt.
I used steel rather than ali as I didn't want that word "fatigue" to be used again - aye BZG|Bling

And the last pic is showing how much space the fans take up, and how much the shroud is blocking the radiator. To cut this area out, or not to cut it out - that is the question

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Do the fans not come with the little mounting feet that slip in there anymore?