The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop AD truck OEM radiator fan shroud

I have an OEM big AD truck fan shroud available to me in good condition at a fair sale price, and am considering picking it up and putting it into service. I have a 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton truck, running a rebuilt 235 c.i. engine out of a 1955 2nd series truck, using an OEM Harrison radiator. I currently do NOT have any over-heating issues. Is this fan shroud an item that I could use and benefit from? Any concerns?

Thank you in advance for the advice.

LUKE

I had one that I was going to use in my 54 and thought it would not fit but after I thought it did not fit due to the newer style waterpump .so if you are doing a waterpump adapter plate it should fit . I never installed it and ended up giving it to another bolter.

I put one on a '49 3100 with a 350 V8 in it with a stock looking e Bay aluminum radiator and a flex fan. It has Vintage Air and runs cool on the hottest days.

52Carl...can you post a picture or two of your radiator fan shroud as installed?

Here are a few snapshots of the clearances that I am concerned about...

Typically you want the blades on the fan to set centered in the shroud opening. If you have adequate clearance, running a shroud should a good move.

As Kevinski stated, the earlier engine water pump locations were positioned differently than your 1955 engine. It may not fit, or might require some adjustments to recenter the opening for the fan.

Fonz I don't have any pics of my shroud installation.
Some key points to consider are:
1. The fan needs to be in the center of the radiator. If yours is not, you will need to drill new holes on the shroud flange to relocate the shroud to clear the fan blades. You may not be able to pull this off with your low water pump on your later 235. A water pump relocation adapter which uses an early 235 high mount pump would be your best option to use an original shroud. It will bolt right up to your radiator shroud in the original holes.
2. The fan works best with a shroud when half of the fan is inside of the shroud.
3. The space between the fan and the radiator is not as crucial when using a shroud. Without a shroud, 3/4" to 1" is what I shoot for.
With a shroud, you can get away with a bigger gap.

The rad shroud is for a older 216 and the waterpump is higher that your waterpump I see you have a waterpump that is a short shaft to fit in your truck but it is still lower and the shroud will not bolt to the rad cradle using the origional holes and if you lower the shroud and drill new holes you would have to cut the bottom off and the top part would not enclose the top part of the rad .if I remember right it will look something like this and I don’t think it would help unless you fabricated a top portion to cover the rad area at the top but that would be more butcher work and in my opinion would be easier to fabricate one from scratch because you would also have to fix the bottom that you have to cut off.

Time for me to put the brakes on this thought! I appreciate the wisdom that has been shared. I do not want to butcher a nice OEM radiator shroud. I am not interested in installing a water pump adapter plate to make this work. If this were a simple bolt in project, I would jump on it. The shroud needs to go to someone who can use it as originally intended. I have the contact information for the man selling this shroud. PM me for the details.

I'm not so sure this is OEM. We had things like that made at a tin shop 60 to 70 years ago when we did have overheating problems. A shroud makes a world of difference. And I have made them out of 14 gauge. Anyone who can do a little fabricating can make one.