I have an 84 Z28 H.O and I have been having a bad time trying to fit in the stock electric fan. When I bought the car, there was an aftermarket fan blade and motor hooked up which seemed to work okay, but got pretty messed up after a little bit. I have the upper and lower shrouds that came with the car as well as another set I bought locally and two other fans I got off of other thirdgens at junkyards. These fans that I bought from the junkyard fit perfectly fine in the cars I got them off of, but using the same setup in my car just doesn't work. The problem from what I can tell is that the fans are too big to fit in the shrouds that I have, because when I bolt the actaul fan and motors up the the shrouds, the blades of the fan bend and rub up against the shrouds, keeping the fan from spinning. The fans didn't fit with the stock radiator and they still don't with a new Mishimoto radiator I put in today. Has anyone else had similar problems with the stock electric fans?

 

If the car is actually a HO, it didn't come with any "shroud" in the first place.

If it came with a "shroud", it isn't a HO.

The actual HO setup was basically just a bracket to hold the motor. Then there was a plastic bracket that bolted to the bottom of the core support with 2 bolt holes for the motor, and the plastic radiator clamp on top had the top 2 bolt holes for it.

I've had the stock electric fan in my 83 L69 car for all these years; fits and works fine, just like it came new. No shroud for 30-some years now.

That said, it's REAL TOUGH to find one of those that isn't broken or somebody hasn't already hacked to death. So, get rid of all that "shroud" and whatever else you've got, and instead, the fan to get is one for about a mid-90s Frod Taurus or Lincoln Mark MCMLXVIII or whatever, with the larger motor they had back then (a 3.x, not sure exactly what the x is, maybe it was a 3.8 but I forget); or, a minivan. Pretty eeeeezy to make a bracket to hold it, and bolt to the bolt holes that the car provides. Then wire it up to your stock relay and fan switch, except run a heavier wire from the batt (use the big post terminal of the starter) to the relay and a heavier wire from the relay to the fan motor, since those draw more power than the stocker.

 

Well, I was misusing the term "shroud" then. I have the bracket on the bottom of the core support and the radiator clamp with the top holes for it. I couldn't fit any of the fans with this setup in the core support with my radiator, so I just cut the ring off from around the fan and put that in. It fits fine now and I have all the wiring hooked up to stock, but a switch to ground instead of the temp switch in the cylinder head.

 

I was going to add that 93-97 LT1 dual fans fit with no problem-obviously you need to fab your own mounts but that's not a big deal.

 

I am doing up a Taurus fan right now. DO NOT USE THE STOCK RELAYS they will burn up, along with the wiring. I will be running a Volvo 2 speed relay with a 70 AMP control relay. it will be a totally independent system. the trick to mounting those things is you put them in sideways, and drop right in (after a little trimming of the upper radiator support [picked one up at the JY so I don't hack up my original]). There are tons of posts on them.