fan shroud

[senseikrang1]

Has anyone ever seen a metal fan shroud for sale, a replacement for the plastic one infront of the rad....I've seen one on a supra before but I think the dude might have fabricated his on his own. I think his was polished stainless steel

[EdgeSupra]

Could I ask why you'd want a metal one?

[Setheroo]

An aftermarket plastic one would be the way to go - metal is way to heavy....

My plastic one is cracked as it is, but some zip ties have held me over.

Or there is always that option of installing some electric fans - which would have a shroud of its own.

[senseikrang1]

Could I ask why you'd want a metal one?

It looks nicer, something made of aluminum or stainless, its not heavy

It looks nicer with an aluminum rad

[Setheroo]

I guess that aluminum wouldn't be too incredibly bad as far as weight goes. good luck on finding one though.

[Steven]

It looks nicer, something made of aluminum or stainless, its not heavy

It looks nicer with an aluminum rad


My stock plastic shroud broke on the highway, smashed the fan, nearly wrecked the rad. I replaced shroud with new Toyota factory part, new Toyota fan, and straightened rad fins.

Three months later, new shroud breaks again, smashes fan again. Toyota dealership would not warrant it (nor any damage it did.)

Shroud material was so brittle it hadn't a chance of lasting a year. Plastic probably was overheated in moulding, then oxidatively degraded over its years in the parts bins (I was running a plastics lab at that time). Pointed this problem out to Toyota head office in Canada. Not interested.

That was a few years ago. I gave up on buying Toyota plastic crap.

Have been running the car without a shroud. Works ok except in extreme hot weather. Also a bit of a hazard working under the hood if the engine is running.

So I'm in the market for a metal shroud too. Leads, anyone?

[edi]

i need a new fan shroud as well. mine broke off a few months ago. but, i have been debating on going with the electric fan setup, some electric fan kits have shrouds on it. i still don't know if I'm gonna go that route.

[Mr.PFloyd]

one day, i will build an aluminum one. and then sell it for mad profit :D

[Fletch124]

I say just get yourself some electric fans and forget the shroud.

[Mr.PFloyd]

I say just get yourself some electric fans and forget the shroud.
electric fans ftl. As i will say time and time again, i will never trust electric fans over a time proven fan clutch system. It just pull air like no tomorrow and is riding off a belt from the crank! Just my .02.

[plaaya69]

electric fans ftl. As i will say time and time again, i will never trust electric fans over a time proven fan clutch system. It just pull air like no tomorrow and is riding off a belt from the crank! Just my .02.
I agree

[Steven]

I agree

Yeah, when it's really hot weather, you can hear that fan howl and feel the drag. It has to be eating at least a few horsepower. I can't imagine any electric fan having a continuous-duty, two-horsepower 12-volt motor - it would be huge.

Heat is the enemy of engines.

Electric fans must do a great job when cooling isn't needed.

[supraman7mgte]

I have had no problems.
Stock a/c fans on custom bracket
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/3600/im002693ma9.th.jpg (http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=im002693ma9.jpg)
Perma-cool 14" fan
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1053/im002695vq8.th.jpg (http://img507.imageshack.us/my.php?image=im002695vq8.jpg)
Fits in nice and smooth
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8536/im002699xc4.th.jpg (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=im002699xc4.jpg)
To all you guys that say that the elc. fan system is crap,maybe you just did the install wrong. I made my system myself and have had no problems for the last 2 years. Summer heat here averages around 110,and I get normal temp readings with the a/c on.

[Steven]

I can believe your coolant temperatures are ok, but I suspect the rubber parts toward the back of the engine bay, especially on the turbo side, will not last well. Metal throughout the bay must be well above boiling point after hard runs on a hot day.

Are those vents in your hood? I've been thinking that would be a great modification.

[LordLo]

I was watching the news a few days ago and saw that the public Tri-met transport buses switched over from engine clutch fans to electric fans and saw a 10% increase in gas mileage. Hmm... gets me thinking I should do the same as well.

[CassMori]

My stock plastic shroud broke on the highway, smashed the fan, nearly wrecked the rad. I replaced shroud with new Toyota factory part, new Toyota fan, and straightened rad fins.

Three months later, new shroud breaks again, smashes fan again. Toyota dealership would not warrant it (nor any damage it did.)

Shroud material was so brittle it hadn't a chance of lasting a year. Plastic probably was overheated in moulding, then oxidatively degraded over its years in the parts bins (I was running a plastics lab at that time). Pointed this problem out to Toyota head office in Canada. Not interested.

That was a few years ago. I gave up on buying Toyota plastic crap.

Have been running the car without a shroud. Works ok except in extreme hot weather. Also a bit of a hazard working under the hood if the engine is running.

So I'm in the market for a metal shroud too. Leads, anyone?

Have you checked that your fan clutch isn't locked up? That is what caused my shroud to break, at high RPM it just ripped it right off the radiator. New clutch fixed the problem. (or rebuild the original, may be less expensive)

[Steven]

Thanks, but the clutch seemed to be fine through those events, and at present. It is hard NOT to know if it locks up - the fan howls and throttle response gets gluey, and engine not even hot yet! I had it happen on a 280ZX.

The fan is basically idling in cold weather, or if driving lightly, if the clutch is working right. You can hold it stopped with one finger, at idle. Not so, if it gets hot.

There must have been something wrong with those buses' clutch systems if they got 10% better fuel economy on electric fans. Something else was going on.

These were GASOLINE powered buses? Weird. I thought diesel had the market except for school buses and African tro-tros.

The Toyota shroud replacement moulding was ultra-brittle "as received". It started one crack during installation, and bigger washers didn't save it. That accounted for the problem. By brittle I mean you could easily snap chunks out of it with your index finger and thumb in the summer. Crap.

[CassMori]

Thanks, but the clutch seemed to be fine through those events, and at present. It is hard NOT to know if it locks up - the fan howls and throttle response gets gluey, and engine not even hot yet! I had it happen on a 280ZX.

The fan is basically idling in cold weather, or if driving lightly, if the clutch is working right. You can hold it stopped with one finger, at idle. Not so, if it gets hot.

There must have been something wrong with those buses' clutch systems if they got 10% better fuel economy on electric fans. Something else was going on.

These were GASOLINE powered buses? Weird. I thought diesel had the market except for school buses and African tro-tros.

The Toyota shroud replacement moulding was ultra-brittle "as received". It started one crack during installation, and bigger washers didn't save it. That accounted for the problem. By brittle I mean you could easily snap chunks out of it with your index finger and thumb in the summer. Crap.

that does sound pretty bad. mine has a couple spots like that, mostly the upper mounting holes (both of which are broken, actually) - but mine is nearly 20 years old. Given Toyota's generally high quality level for most things, I would suspect storage issues by the dealer/warehouse to have caused the new shroud to be that brittle.

for an aluminum/sheet metal shroud, I would check with local custom shops, like those that deal with street rods. Those guys are always having to custom fabricate something, and know all the good places to get it done if they can't do it themselves :D

[Steven]

If you've got cracks at the mounts, I'd suggest get some epoxy and glass cloth and patch across it quick. OR use lots of glass-fiber sticky tape. Or take the whole shroud out now. Don't lose your fan or your rad because you just looked at it and said "Wow, lookit them cracks!" like I did.

Custom might be the way to go. It doesn't look too bad a job. But I heard rumors about a year ago that there was a source of metal shrouds that fit.

The thing is, motivation is low because it doesn't matter at all in the winter, and it hardly even matters in the summer except when putting 13 psi boost to it repeatedly in hottest weather. To prevent boil out, it does need a couple minutes cool-down idle before shut down, that I don't think it needed before. But a cool-down is a very good idea anyhow.

[CassMori]

If you've got cracks at the mounts, I'd suggest get some epoxy and glass cloth and patch across it quick. OR use lots of glass-fiber sticky tape. Or take the whole shroud out now. Don't lose your fan or your rad because you just looked at it and said "Wow, lookit them cracks!" like I did.

Custom might be the way to go. It doesn't look too bad a job. But I heard rumors about a year ago that there was a source of metal shrouds that fit.

The thing is, motivation is low because it doesn't matter at all in the winter, and it hardly even matters in the summer except when putting 13 psi boost to it repeatedly in hottest weather. To prevent boil out, it does need a couple minutes cool-down idle before shut down, that I don't think it needed before. But a cool-down is a very good idea anyhow.

Well, I've got one mount hole half gone, with an over-large washer to compensate; one is completely gone, with a black zip-tie clamped under the rad. mount (this side was cracked when I bought the shroud - tried glue, epoxy, etc., but when the fan clutch locked up....); but, I also have the two bolts that hold on the aux fans. Had an electric Taurus fan for about a year and a half, but the motor started to go out, and kept burning up relays, so I went back to the factory set-up. Down here, the shroud makes a big difference, esp. when running the A/C in city traffic ;). I've thought about having one of the local street rod shops make me a duplicate of the stocker, but in alum. (similar to supraman7mgte's) - that's probably the way I'll go, if I have further problems out of this one.