Mine came with the electric fan, and even without a shroud and with AC condensor the Walker radiator cools great. If towing becomes a problem I'll put a shroud around it. Mine has the water jacket temp sensor. I took the humongous mount's off the PO had used and designed new mounts for it and the AC con. out of 1/2" sq tubing. See gallery. Be sure the hood to radiator seal is in place.

 

Ed, my electric puller fan works very well. It is from Sac Vintage Ford. It comes with the the thermost and the shroud. It also has rubber flappers built into the shroud so that when you are moving down the highway, the extra air won't be restricted by the shroud. Jag

 

Don't re,move the cross braces on the core support unless you put something like allthread across the top to hold the upper dimensions, It will sag apart and your fender to hood gaps will suffer.
Wayne

 

I use the radiator probe switch and I like it. The one I used isn't adjustable (which might be a great plan). I got it at Pep Boys (of course). It is a Hayden unit p/n 3652 and includes the relay. I used the same kit for my oil and tranny coolers as well.

As to shrouds, I made a shroud for the fan and ran it for a while. It worked great for the stop and go traffic stuff, but the engine ran hotter on the freeway. I realized that while the shroud allowed the fan to pull air thru all the radiator when it was on, the hole for the fan actually restricted the flow of air thru the radiator at higher speeds. I took the shroud off and mounted the fan directly on to the radiator. Everything has been swell ever since.

I have seen some shrouds with flappers that open under the ram air pressure around the fan periphery which would help that restriction problem.

 

I pulled the clutch fan off my Vette 3 years ago and installed a dual fan setup like is on my Accord. I hooked one fan up to run with the engine off a temp switch, and the other to run with the A/C compressor. I had to bump the Alternator up to 105 amp but it works great and I have had no problems. On our hottest day here the engine fan runs for about 45 seconds when the motor is turned off. I tend to gauge how good a fan is working by how long it runs after the engine is heated up to 200 degrees and shut off. The only other thing I would like to do is; I would like to install one of those Dakota Digital electronic fan controllers and get rid of the relays.

 

I'm not sure what rods you are referring to. The only rods I know of are the fender alignment rods that go from the firewall to the radiator support, or therebouts. I just had to make a bracket to fit it in front of the tranny cooler on front of the radiator...

 

53, there should be cross supports on the front of your radiator support. These are important to stop the support from flexing under the stress of the fenders, etc. If you don't have them, they may have been removed by a previous owner. Jag

 

I removed the X bracing rods to clear my AC condensor, then welded tabs on the ends to bolt them back in to the front flange of the support. Since the entire front clip "hangs" on the radiator support they keep the support from going out of square from the weight kinda like a diagonal brace rod on a gate or screen door. Otherwise you are using the radiator to support the weight, not a good idea! I was surprised how much the U sprung open when I took the rods out.

 

Anything is possible. I've never seen these rods in any pictures either.

 

I have a front end exploded view that looks like it came from a factory parts manual. It shows two additional support rods that look like they might go from the bottom of the radiator support or the frame to the fender edge under the bracket for the rods that go to the firewall. Does anyone have these rods on their truck?

 

for a pic of the top 1/2 of the X rods before I changed them see my "making changes" gallery, second last pic.

 

I have the "X" rods accross my radiator support also. It is clear that they are important structure. The upper radiator valance does a lot to stiffen the whole front end and ties the upper ends of the radiator support ot the inner/outer fender corners, but the X-rods keep the whloe thing square.

When I add AC, I'll be putting them back in like AX did.

 

I've seen some companies make the fan and shroud together. It's a nice setup and looks clean (I think it's stainless steel too). I've looked at a few pictures of setups on the internet and noticed quite a few people stick that probe sensor in the radiator fins or core? I don't think this give you a true temp reading. I would think using a T or something on the manifold where the temp gauge sending unit goes in would be better, but then where to mount the wire without it looking in the way or hitting anything? Is there a way of adjusting when the fan comes on and turns off? Sorry about about the questions, I'm just curious before installing this thing and have no knowledge of how these fans operate. I like the fact of getting rid of the fan on the motor.

As to the X rods, the PO removed them because they aren't there. I have a transmission cooler mounted in place of the X rods. I've seen them on junk yard trucks and they look like they are welded into place. At least, I couldn't see anyplace to unbolt them. I have two arms that connect to the radiator support and go down to the frame. I don't seem to have any problems with movement or alignment.

 

Ed -

The "other Ed" (edsf100) has an adjustable probe sensor in his 56. He can tell you how well they work. Mine was not adjustable and it was supposed to come on at 200 and go off at 170 (according to the literature). My gage says it's a little different than that but it could be the gage or where it is located in the radiator core. It works fine anyway.

The all-in-one fan and shroud deals do look cool. I opted out of that option because I didn't have the bucks and it would overshadow everything else in the engine bay.

You know, once you start that "bling thing", you're down a flashy road to an empty wallet.

 

The reason I asked about the "X" braces is that I was considering putting a electric fan in front of the radiator and keeping the fan on the motor, kind of like a double shot. I have a 460 built in my 56 and it runs a liitle hot in the summer. Any body running this kind of setup. I have half a shroud (upper) and I've been told this is useless and I'm starting to agree.

John F.