Radiator Shroud?

I am in the process of installing a new Radiator to our project. I've noticed several companies sell a Radiator Shroud that goes between the Grill/Radiator and the Fan/Front of Engine. Has anybody used this Shroud? Or was this a OEM that was removed from mine by the PO. Just wanted to know if I needed it for additional cooling.

Thanks in advance,
Ken

 

Jeep supplied a fan shroud with the HD cooling option. I bought a shroud for my CJ-6, but the fan hits it - however, my fan is not original and I think it's oversized.

A shroud will definitely increase your cooling capacity.

 

If you are going to do much wheeling in the rocks, the fame flex will cause the stock fan to hit the shroud. At least that's how I broke mine, I never bothered to replace it and it is hardly noticeable on the temp gauge. But my 304 if bone stock, the modified 304's I have seen run hotter and would benefit from a shroud. Not sure how the I-6s run temp wise.

 

Just FYI - I had a new '73 with a V8 and a new '75 with a 258. I know they both had HD cooling and the V8 has a shroud, and the 258 may have too. I drove them plenty hard in the rocks and never had a problem with the fan touching the shroud.

Maybe the aftermarket shroud is made less accurately, or an older vehicle with saggy mounts is more likely to hit the shroud.

 

The '74 was over 20 years old at the time, so it could have been any number of things that were flexing, that may not have flexed when it was new. The brittle shroud plastic didn't last long, couple of hits and it snapped right off.

 

Thanks Guys, I'll go ahead and order one this week to be put on when I return from my trip. I'll keep you posted on if it rubs.

Thanks again,
Ken Miracle

 

My 304 is bored .040 over and was running way hot. A shroud solved that problem for not much $$$. Highly recommended.....also wheel all the time and never had the fan rub it...(stock fan with clutch)

 

I was thinking about adding an electric fan and doing away with the original... Is this more of a pain that it is worth? I don't have a shroud....

 

Electric fan is a good option. It will take less power from the engine and take up less room. However, adding a shroud will be less expensive and keep the OEM set-up. Your call.

 

I had electric fans ,two 12in units. They were noisy, and used 15 amps and my motor ran hot. I recently switched back to a mechanical flex fan.

There is no real performance or economy gain, any gain from removing the fan is just added back on to the alternator.

If you do switch you will need to upgrade the alternator, to handle the extra current from the fans. As well as the extra switches to control them.

In my opinion buy the shroud and be done with it.

Sent from my HTC Liberty using Tapatalk

 

when I had my '67 with the 225 Buick v-6 in it I had a new 3 core radiator in it without a shroud at first, but had an oversize fan. The rig would gradually climb, and I'd have to wait for it to cool down once it would get to 235. I made a really nice looking shroud out of sheet metal to my exact specs I wanted for clearances and everything, mounted it up to the radiator, and the jeep never got over 181 degrees!! Definitely go with a shroud. You can always clearance the hole for the fan bigger if you need to.

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but where can I find a shroud for my 73 304? The one I see at Quadratec is for 74 and up. Has anyone bought this one?
http://www.quadratec.com/products/51218_102_07.htm
Posted via Mobile Device

 

Seem like it should work for a 73 as well. Aren't all 72-75 grills the same?

 

I'm wondering if something changed under the hood in 74 as I have also seen body mounts for 74+. Maybe tim will chime in.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

Interesting...the V8 shroud should be for all 304's, that would be I think '72-81 in CJ's from the factory. There were some body/frame changes, but in '76. The shroud you have linked should suffice...but I would get Tim's confirmation too.

 

Don't know of any reason why a '73 would have a different shroud from a '74. I don't have a '73 parts book, so I can't compare PNs. Many times the aftermarket suppliers have the wrong year ranges attached to various parts. In general, nothing much changes from '72 through '75.

I suspect that a lot of the ranges are picked from Hollander's guide, and not by people with any first-hand knowledge of the vehicles. Hollander's can either be wrong or list compatible parts as incompatible because of some minor issue wrt the original production of the part.

 

You are welcome to your opinion but I’m going to disagree with you.
I’ve found there is a surprising amount of throttle response and power, particularly off the bottom, hiding behind a mechanical fan. While the increased current load does cause the alternator to drag more the added parasitic loss at the alternator is only a fraction of the power released by removing the mechanical fan.
The drawback to electric fans is, as you found out, they don’t move as much air. A mechanical fan with a good shroud will move around 3000-5000 cfm of air, depending on the fan and engine speed. Most 16” electrical fans are rated around 2000 cfm.
When I first made the switch I found that a single 16” fan wasn’t enough to keep my engine good and cool in the heat of summer so I added a second fan and then had to turn the adjustable thermostat up because it ran so cool the engine wouldn’t thoroughly warm up and run right.
At the end of the day I like my electrical fans but not everyone has too. The mechanical setup certainly is simple and effective.

 

The OE part number for 73 is 999305 which doesn't change up to the 74 part number. Can't really see why the 73 shroud would be a whole lot different. Then again that could turn around and bite you in the butt too .

 

I've heard the Ford Contour Fan is the right upgrade to electrical fans on the Jeep CJ.

I have one, it fits perfectly, but I dont' know about operation yet, the Jeep is not on the road.

 

I Installed a fan shroud plus a coolant reservoir and have noticed a great improvement in cooling.