Fan shroud modifcation

[ray]

I'm interested in hearing comments from anyone who has done the Ken
Thoma fan shroud mod.If I was going to do this, now is the time as I
have allready removed it for timing chain replacement.One of my concerns
is if I remove the steel ring and rubber ring I lose the rear mounting
brackets. This means there are only four screws holding the plastic
shroud.I'm not sure this is a enough to hold the weight.Will I still get
the cooling as intended by the GMC engineers?
Ray and Elisa
1973 Painted Desert
Corning CA

 

[blank]

I'm not saying this doesn't work, but front-wheel-drive engines tend to move
around a lot. IMO, GM designed the shroud the way it is to allow for this
movement. The steel ring moves with the engine while the plastic shroud is
fixed to the frame. The rubber ring seals the two together.

My $.02,
Patrick

>
> In a message dated 3/1/00 9:38:09 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> rhaywood

>
> shroud.I'm not sure this is a enough to hold the weight.Will
> I still get
> the cooling as intended by the GMC engineers? >>
>
> Ray, I did mine. Yes, there will be only four bolts holding
> the shroud, two
> on top and two on the bottom. Its been a while but I believe
> the brackets
> removed were holding the metal ring. Between the ring and the
> shroud it was a
> rubber seal. I took some pictures, I will try to put them up
> on photopoint.
> As for cooling, the new aluminum collar is the same diameter
> as the previous
> metal ring.
>
> Manny Trovao
> 73 Custom/ex-Glacier
> San Jose, California
>

 

[blank]

Thanks Manny - didn't know that. When I removed my radiator, I had the
chance to take a good look at the shroud on my 73. While it's heavy and
complicated, I thought it was actually a pretty clever design. It wouldn't
surprise me if it were redesigned to reduce cost and assembly time, but
that's just my opinion.

Patrick

> -----Original Message-----
> From: MTrovao [mailto:MTrovao]
> Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 10:15 AM
> To: gmcmotorhome
> Subject: Re: GMC: Fan shroud modifcation
>
>
> In a message dated 3/2/00 5:18:29 AM Pacific Standard Time,

>
> movement. The steel ring moves with the engine while the
> plastic shroud is
> fixed to the frame. The rubber ring seals the two together. >>
>
> Patrick, GM redesigned the shroud for the later years to a
> one piece and now
> if you want a replacement, Cinnabar will only sell you the
> later one piece
> design.
>
> Manny Trovao
> 73 Custom/ex-Glacier
> San Jose, California
>