Work has really been "comprehensive" is the best way I can think to say--- so over winter I didn't drive too much and when I did it was quite cold so not heat issues. But I was figuring stuff out. I decided, as I mentioned, to convert to a mechanical fan and that has been a journey. I thought of doing it out of fiberglass but was concerned with weight and PITA so opted for aluminum...which I don't really work with. So I bought a TIG set up, learned to weld thin ass aluminum over the winter (just good enough, for now), and made a custom shroud. I rolled a frame for the fan side, welded a frame for the radiator side, then made some connecting supports between the two and then skinned the full thing with 0.040" thin aluminum. Thought (other than the welds) that it came out great, but truth is, it is just the first iteration to get the truck on the road for summer and way down the line I will remake it all nice and pretty.
First I rolled a hoop and cut it on the metal chop and welded it up.
To make it fit centered, I used pipe insulation on the fan blades that spaced the hoop about 3/4" from all sides of the fan:
I welded the radiator side frame and then tacked support struts on the sides to keep the assembly in place.
Then I used construction paper to make the general templates for the 1mm aluminum skin.
I skinned it and welded it up. I probably should have just run small 1" tacks, but I used it for practice and did a full weld up.
The welds are mediocre. But welding 0.040" aluminum (1mm) to a 0.125" frame is quite tricky. Only burnt through a couple times, nice penetration and the shroud is stout. 5.6lbs all in. Then painted matte black
Installed.
Recap---it works great. It was 72F yesterday, took it at 75mph and never got hot, just warm. Stayed at 180 at that speed. I will take it to the hills with the trailer to get the real world result and will follow up. So far, excellent cooling and super stoked.
When I remake it (since this is the first thing I see when I open the bonnet and want the welds beautiful) I will do it in two parts so the top half has a removable skin portion to aid in removing the fan. Just a little thing, but I want to do that. Maybe in a couple years. Maybe never. However, out of this process, I can now TIG aluminum
