Why should I use a fan shroud?
At highway speeds shrouds (and fans for that matter) are not that useful but fan shrouds true benefit happens when you need it the most; at slower speeds and idle. By shielding the core area the puller fan’s can draw draw air from the entire radiator core’s surface area. Absent a fan shroud, a fan pulls from… well…everywhere.

Why metal when plastic is cheaper.
Plastic can get brittle but, mainly, it looks cheap. The Brassworks fabricates custom metal fan shrouds from steel, polished brass, polished German Silver or a combination of metals. If it is steel, you can powder coat it, chrome it, paint it your body color or have us paint flat black like the radiator. If it is polished, we will make it shine like a mirror here.

How do you mount the electric fans?
We never ever zip tie anything to the fins of our cores. In addition to looking cheap, vibration can cause fin separation. We generally bolt the electric fans inside the shroud for a cleaner look and cap the nuts. If we are tight on shroud space and have a concern about trapped air, we will mount on the outside.

What is trapped air?
Air wants a way in and out. If your shroud is too close to the core or the finger guard of the fan blocked air flow you could trap air in the shroud. This would cause the air temperature to rise and get closer to the fin surface temperature and electrons like to move unimpeded from the source to the sink. When in doubt we would say “pass” on building a shroud if we had a concern about cooling.

Do you make a fan shroud from my mechanical set-up?
We will make a fan shroud for your mechanical set-up. We will need a drawing with dimensions but we leave the hole cutting to you to do on-site. It is difficult to “uncut” a hole if your measurement is misunderstood or lost in translation.

Will you fabricate a custom fan shroud for another company’s radiator (e.g. Walker, Griffin, Be Cool, US Radiator etc.)?
Sure, if it helps keep them run cooler, why not. We will need a drawing to be sure of the size.

Can I use a pusher fan and still have a puller fan and fan shroud?
The core does not know that the air came from the pusher or the open highway. So, yes, as long as the air can get through the shroud and out of the engine compartment there should be no problem with a pusher.

Will a puller fan perform better than a pusher fan?
CFM is certainly a factor but if you have the room, install a puller fan before a pusher fan. Fans a most important and slower speeds and all fans become largely irrelevant at higher speeds. Having fan blades, finger guard and motor in front of your heat exchanger (radiator) could disrupt airflow and potentially block air.

Will a electric fan help more than a mechanical fan?
Though a spinning fan blade on a high rpm pulley is a compelling draw, at slower speed and idle when you need cooling the most, we find electric fans pull more efficiently. They can also keep the heat exchanger exchanging when you shut down the engine and help prevent burping.

How much CFM should I use for my engine?
As much as you can get in the space you have. Be wary of the advertised CFM claims of fan companies. We use SPAL because they consistently outperform higher rated CFM fans, they use brushless motors, and have a good product with extremely low failure rate. We have not found a better fans so we stick with them.

Contact us directly for details on fabricating a custom shroud.