| Let's set aside the entire safety side of the discussion and focus on cooling performance. The purpose/intent of the shroud is to create a venturi effect at the fan so that all air is accelerated through the radiator equally. All air moving through the radiator is routed to the fan, thus ensuring maximum airflow across the radiator. Without the shroud, air still moves through the radiator, but the fan efficiency is reduced because it is now pulling air from different sources (above and below the radiator for instance). So you will have areas closest to the fan getting the maximum airflow while areas farthest from the fan (such as the corners and outer edges) will not experience the same airflow and - in theory - the overall cooling effect on the radiator is reduced. This all presumes the car is at a point where the fan is most efficient which is primarily in stop and go traffic. There's another element of the ram-air effect when the car is moving at highway speeds. This could introduce another angle of the discussion about the shroud actually being a detriment. Which may or may not be a valid point - I'm not sure. Dave
Little did Bob realize that Harold discovered the elusive "brown note" and was about to put the theory to test
 Sig Quotes: "Your sausage scares me!" - TT-XTZ 6/13/05 "Or he's having a rough week like the rest of us and decided to take out his agressions of not being breast fed on me." BigTDogg 15:45, 09/25/03 "Pick her up from day care and take her to Dairy Queen for a snow cone." YugoBernie 1/7/04 of course those are canadian bannings and beatings, which after the conversion rate is really only a "hey! stop that!" Chris(NJ) 1/14/04 see the green "n" next to my name? what's COZ? (n/m) - 300zx88 8/11/04 |
