Yes, I've seen some good solutions at the latest car show I went to. Most of the guys were having their low-pressure radiator recored with a high pressure, 4-core. Then if you use old-fashioned V-belts and a short water pump, you have room to use a mechanical fan with fan clutch. This is obviously the most trouble free method. Still, I would put an auxiliary pusher fan in the front to switch on manually if you're stuck in traffic and can't get the engine to rev high enough to trigger the mechanical fan.
What I'm going to do is slightly different. I like how trucks can idle forever and never overheat...the modern trucks. They do this with much larger, thicker radiators. I want to mount one of these right behind the truck's grill, where the sheetmetal flares out. Then the sheetmetal behind the grill acts as part of a great fan shroud, and that leaves you all kinds of room to put an auxiliary puller fan behind the radiator. Then all you need is some flat sheetmetal and cut it to the shape to complete the fan shroud, and you've got it. I thought the cavernous area above the shroud, where the old radiator used to rise up, could be used for both a cold air intake for the carb, and for access to the radiator cap. Although it'd be a little twisted getting to the cap, a funnel with an extension (like a hose or something) could be inserted in the radiator when you need to fill it.
Know what I mean, or is that confusing?
I've got electric fans on the IROC daily driver, with a 350 in it, 4400 cfm. They do the job, but I had to install a huge 140 amp alternator that cop cars use. If I had room, I'd much rather have a mechanical fan, because they're more trouble free. Thermostatic switches always fail, and I always end up having to use the "panic switch" I've got wired in parallel.
