The “correct” fan shroud

[Steve McMahan]

Hello 73 Mustang fans. I need to buy a used fan shroud for my 73 Grande with an 87 TBird 302. The car has the radiator, looks to be a two row unit, and AC. What is the correct fan shroud for the car? While I’m no concours restorer, what other fan shrouds will also work? I did my own search on Google, but was still left wondering. I’m planning/hoping to use the OEM 19” fan that came with the TBird UNLESS no fan shroud will bot fit the stock radiator and fit the fan blade.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

Here is my understanding, and I am sure others will chime in if I am wrong. Only the 429 cars used 19" fans, and they used a specific shroud for that fan. The 351 and 302 cars used an 18 1/2" fan. I do not believe that the 18 1/2" fan shroud will work with the 19" fan. My understanding is the the footprint of the radiators and the fan shroud mounting points were the same, meaning you could swap the fan shrouds around if needed. The difference was in how many rows the radiators have, standard cars came with a 2 row radiator, and the HD cooling and 429 cars came with 3 row radiators that had a higher fin count. I would imagine that you will need a 429 fan shroud to fit the 19" fan you have. The 429 fan shrouds were originally built out of fiberglass, and are reproduced by a company called Crites. You can get one here:

https://www.critesperformanceparts.com/page8

 

[71ProjectJunk]

FYI: Another company, Dearborn Classics, makes a plastic shroud, but it seems to not be of very good quality. It is said to warp and crack with use, so try and avoid it.

 

[Stanglover]

Hi Steve, I can't be sure for the 73, but I have some pics of a 71 351 shroud I was lucky enough to pick up last summer for my car. I think you can make out the Ford part number. The suggestion is to install a Hayden fan clutch and Derale fan. #'s Hayden 2710 and Derale 17118. On yours you would obviously need to find the right fan clutch and fan to fit your 87 302. The combination works extremely well on my 351C. so it's a good thought to go with a ne clutch set up rather than an old fan.

What you would need to check is any offset on your setup. In the pic, you can clearly see there is an offset on the 351C shroud.

I still have the one I took off my car, but it had a crack in it that I repaired with "Bondic" (marvelous stuff!). Pic # 4 is it. The repair is good, but there is a slight line showing at the repair. I would sell it so if interested, PM me.

 

[Steve McMahan]

Here is the fan I have from the 87:



In the first photo by Stanglover, the fan clutch show is how this fan attaches to the water pump. According to the TCCoA guys, these were a very solid paring. The PO of the car said she never had an overheating issue (and I couldn’t find any signs as I took the front of the engine off and the radiator also looked good), and she lived in a very hot climate. That’s why I was going to stick with the stock fan. I have access to a few shrouds, so I’ll see if the 429 unit is still available. Thank you.

 

[RD-72]

My 2 cents based on my understanding/experience.

For my 72 mustang (302 CID without air conditioning) it came with a smaller fan shroud than the 302 with air conditioning.  I think the 351 might be the same situation.

I ordered in a new repop fan shroud a couple years ago, but it was too big, (turns out it was for an air conditioned car) so I had to return it.

If my notes from a couple years ago are correct, the non air conditioning shroud is ~23 inches wide and the air conditioned one is ~28 inches wide (that’s outside dimensions).

good luck

 

[Hemikiller]

There were two radiator core sizes used on the 71-73s, a 21.75" and a 26". 21.75" was only used on the 250-6, and the Standard Cooling 302 (non-AC). All other engines used the 26", in two thicknesses, a 2 row at 1 1/2" thick, and a 3 row at 2 1/4". 

The shrouds were broken down to: 250-6 w/AC, 302 Standard Cooling, 429CJ/SCJ and then everything else (302 XC and/or AC, all 351s). 

Fans were 17.5" & 18.5" 4 blade fixed, 18.5" 5 blade flex, or the 19" 7 blade flex for the 429CJ/SCJ. 

As far as the question by the OP, @Steve McMahan, you'll most likely be able to use the Daniel Carpenter reproduction shroud as long as your fan is 18.5" or less. I have plenty of good used shrouds, but the shipping would be expensive. 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sdk-d1zz-8146

 

[Steve McMahan]

It looks like I’ll have to wait to get back to my car in Jan to measure to know what I have. I’m in CA, car is in AZ.

 

[Steve McMahan]

Do you know if the 429 shroud was 29” wide?

 

[EdM]

I have my original take-off shroud from my 73 Mach 1 351 Cleveland available if that will help.

 

[Hemikiller]

Do you know if the 429 shroud was 29” wide?

The 429 shroud is the same width as all the others for the 26" core radiator, but it's made to work with the diameter and location of the 429 fan. 

 

[Sheriff41]

Make sure you're running the right rotation water pump and fan.  The 5.0s with the serpentine belt use a reverse rotation.

 

[Steve McMahan]

Has anyone ordered the SBF fan shroud from Summit, SDK-D1ZZ-8146? It’s a Scott Drake unit. If you have one, any chance you could measure the diameter of the fan blade opening? I ask and got a response from Summit but I believe the answer they gave me makes no sense. So I thought I’d ask you see a someone has one. Thank you, Steve

 

[71ProjectJunk]

I don't believe that a SBF fan shroud will work with a 19" fan, but I could be wrong. The only shroud that was made for a 19" fan was the 429 big Block one. 

 

[Steve McMahan]

It is sold as a shroud for a 302 & 351 with A/C. IDK, I’m just trying to get product data and so far, I’m striking out, but hope springs eternal.

 

[Stanglover]

Steve, looking back at the pic of your T/Bird fan, it reminds me of way back in my early prototyping days, like 1978, we were building prototype truck fans with a full "ring" around the circumference of the fan blades. This was supposed to draw way more air and concentrate it over the engine. Although I don't recall this idea ever going into production, we only did the prototypes, the idea of the ring worked. Your fan's blade tips are doing much the same thing, so yes, it's probably a good fan. However, are you sure it's actually 19" diameter? A 7 blade fan is hard to measure unless you center it and rotate around a fixed point if you get my meaning. What was the opening on the T/Bird shroud? You probably went over that before, but please remind me.

 

[Steve McMahan]

So, I measures the diameter of the fan by measuring the radius at two locations of the furthest point from the center, being the bimetallic spring for the clutch to the outermost tip of two blades. I’m pretty sure I have it right. Sure, ask me the TBird fan opening question the week after I took it to the salvage yard. I was hoping the TBird radiator and shroud would work on the 73, but it wasn’t as wide. As I said, my car is in AZ and I’m in CA for the holidays. I’m likely just whistling Dixie until next month. I have questions, you have questions, but I have no good answers.

 

[Stanglover]

So, I measures the diameter of the fan by measuring the radius at two locations of the furthest point from the center, being the bimetallic spring for the clutch to the outermost tip of two blades. I’m pretty sure I have it right. Sure, ask me the TBird fan opening question the week after I took it to the salvage yard. I was hoping the TBird radiator and shroud would work on the 73, but it wasn’t as wide. As I said, my car is in AZ and I’m in CA for the holidays. I’m likely just whistling Dixie until next month. I have questions, you have questions, but I have no good answers.

 No problems, Enjoy your stay in CA and get back at it when you get back home. It will still be there........... you hope!!

 

[Steve McMahan]

Ok, back in AZ door a few days and finally got measurements. My radiator is the two row variety, my car has factory air. The cooling area is 26.5” wide by 19.25” wide, not the overall radiator, just the cooling area. The face of the radiator is 5.5” from the base of the water pump fan mount. In order to help explain if the 19” fan would fit, I made a drawing of the cooling area verses the fan‘s location. Most of you know, the fan is not centered in the cooling area. Why, who knows .



Now, I’ve drawn a 19” and 18” fan on top of the cooling area, and including the dimensions where the center of the fan intersects the cooling plane. I’ve also included the distance on the drivers side of the fan opening to the edge of the cooling area. Since I don’t have any shroud to use for comparison, these measurements are what I can do. More pics for your viewing pleasure:


That wire (hard to see) in the first pic is where in centerline of the water pump intersects the cooling plane. You can see I have the bargain basement radiator.

Ok with all this new info, what shroud do I need and will my 19” fan work? I can take a no.

 

[Steve McMahan]

So I’ve stumped you guys? I’m leaving town soon and I’m worried I’ll get a great question with no way, again, to respond. What other info do I need to find the right shroud or find out if my 19” fan dream is just a nightmare in the making?