stevenb

Alright so some may know that my car was overheating bad. I got another radiator and it seemed to help a lot...to a point. Well currently I got a mechanical fan setup with a 3" spacer. My car takes longer to heat up then before, but it still does. ALTHOUGH, I DO NOT HAVE A FAN SHROUD ON, HOW MUCH WILL THAT LOWER MY TEMP? I was thinking about getting that purple stuff that is suppost to lower your temp from 20-30 dergrees, can anyone comment on that? I have a 180 degree thermostat and once it kicked in at around 185ish it dropped down around 5 degree, then slowly got hotter and about after 20 mins at an idle in my garage, i was running around 230 degrees. The major questions are, how much will a fan shroud help, how good is the purple stuff? Also, I have two electric fans from a grand prix I could use...should i?

Apeiron

Without a shroud, you may as well not have a fan.

stevenb

That makes me feel a lot better! Can it help it drop maybe 20-30 degrees at idle?

Apeiron

Easily. While you're at it, get rid of the spacer and use a thermal fan clutch with a 5 blade fan.

stevenb

What is the advantage to those?

Apeiron

The 5 blade fan will be more efficient at moving air, and the thermal clutch will let the fan freewheel to save horsepower until the air coming through the radiator heats up.

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

YES! You'll be tons happier with the shroud!

stevenb

Anyone ever built their own shroud?

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

Not sure about anyone on here off hand, I'm sure it's been done though. Summit sells aluminum shrouds that might be worth taking a look at.

jimdutro

iTrader: (1)

stevenb, you can get shrouds from Hawks, Modern Day Muscle, e-Bay and others. I got an LT1 dual fan shroud for $35,it required a lot of trimming to fit, next time I would try one for the LS1. I prefer Hawks or MDM or House of Camaro for used parts. The water wetter may help lower your temps 5-10 degrees, it lowers my 383 about 5. Pep Boys carries Redline water wetter so you don`t have to order it and pay shipping. I should get my `88 Iroc on the road by Thursday and I will let you know how well adding a shroud helps.

GuitarJunki17

iTrader: (1)

The july 2007 issue of carcraft has a great writeup on cooling.

"Airflow through a radiator can be maximized only if the entire core is covered by a shroud".

I guarantee you'll see results, because think of it: if you have no shroud, the only air that is getting pulled in is the air directly in the area of the fan. The shroud will make the air contact the entire core of the radiator.

Apeiron

It's worse than that, without a shroud the fan is only throwing air to the sides and pulling very little from in front.