Mounting a Radiator Shroud

[JonnyRock]

I just completed mounting the fiberglass radiator shroud that I recently purchased from MSA. Let me tell you, it was a kinda PITA. So I thought I'd share with everyone how it went.

1) First step, drain al the coolant. There's a spigot on the bottom of the radiator, simply spin it and watch the coolant drain. about 2 1/2 gallons are in there. There's also a drain bolt on the side of the block.

2) Second step, remove the radiator. This is very simple. It's attached by 4 bolts and two hoses. Unscrew the hose clamps, work the hoses off and them unbolt it. Be careful when you pull it out, there's still some coolant in there.

3) Next, I had the radiator flow tested and hot tanked to clean it out. It was pretty rusty.

4) Once I got it back, it was time to see how well the shroud fit. The fit was alright but not perfect. It wasn't quite square, needed the holes drilled, and a little bit of trimming because the edges interfered with the frame.

So first I drilled the holes. I marked the placement by heating up a small screwdriver and sticking it through from behind to melt a small mark. The drilled at those spots.

5) Fifth, I mounted it through those holes and marked with my niece's sidewalk chalk where the extra material on the shroud was.

6) Then I took a jigsaw and cut off some of the unnecessary excess fiberglass. Now I should have thought it out more, because I ended up cutting off the wrong part. It didn't mess things up, but it didn't help the interference issue. You should cut lower on the shroud than I did.

7) Lastly, it's time to mount it back on. This part was the biggest PITA. If you're gonna do this, listen to my instructions and save yourself some grief. First, put the shroud over the fan and spin it 90 degrees.

Then lower the radiator most of the way into it's position. At this point you can spin the shroud into place and lower everything down into position. Now bolt the radiator on, then the shroud on to it. Tighten everything down (not too tight on the fiberglass. And I used nice large washers to spread out the load as much as possible). Attach the hoses, refill the cooling system and enjoy not overheating in traffic!

BTW, I refilled it with water and drove it around for awhile to flush the system out before putting actual coolant in.

[Poindexter]

Thanks for taking the time to document this process. I'm planning on this *exact* project soon- after another rush-hour in local traffic. I'm so paranoid without a precisely calibrated temp gauge, having had 2 vehicles with blown head gaskets! (The early STS Northstar Cadillac doesn't count!)

My temp gauge normally reads a couple needle widths to the right of the bottom mark, and I was concerned, so my mechanic used his digital temp reader, as well as a contact thermometer, and took readings all over the engine and radiator- and I never exceeded 178 degrees on the hottest sections and it indicated around 35-40 degrees *less* at the radiator return fitting- which seems like a lot of cooling going on in such a short amount of space. In traffic it goes another 2 deflections towards the hotter, but hasn't gone any further. I have also added Water Wetter too...but unfortunately didn't take accurate measurements before and after- not enough to measure the effectiveness of anything I changed before.

What were your observations of your temperature gauge- before and after? I'd love to know roughly what to expect so I can make a decision on a shroud versus adding an electric fan. I bet there are quite a few others facing this choice this summer.

Thanks for any light you can shed.

[JonnyRock]

I've only driven it once since doing the install, because I got done rather late. However, the shroud only really helps when in traffic or idling. It shouldn't help at speed.

That being said, I don't know what effect it's had so far. My needle sits about 2/3rds of the way up the gauge, but it may just read high. I recently drove 260 miles of all freeway with no problem. The real test will be when I go to the Canby Datsun meet on Sunday. It's gonna be around 80+ degrees and I'm gonna see if I can recreate my last overheating experience.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Poindexter]

I just drove almost 500 miles up and through the mountains and back in 2 days- at very high speed on the highway, and on the twisty back roads too - and the temp barely moved. But idling in a parking lot for the amount of time it took to down a milkshake brought the needle up a couple of clicks.

Idling and slow-traffic seem to be the only things that have any bad effects.

[ozconnection]

[ATTACH]23773[/ATTACH]

I hope you didn't leave your top radiator hose looking like that!

[JonnyRock]

[ATTACH]23773[/ATTACH]

I hope you didn't leave your top radiator hose looking like that!

Because of the lighting and angle, it looks worse than it is. It's actually a good bend, not a kink.

[ozconnection]

cool

[kinfish]

What happened to the metal shroud on the top of the radiator?

My series I 240Z OEM radiator has a short shroud at top to prevent fingers and hands penetrating the plane of the rotating fan blade.

Is your radiator original or aftermarket replacement?

[280~Master]

From my radiator adventures life becomes alot easier if the hood is removed and the fan is unbolted from the clutch with a 10MM open end wrench. Now days you maybe able to one of those socket type wrenches for faster loosening. Once the hood and fan is off everything will slide in and out with the greatest of eaze.

Thats just my 2 cents. I do like the shroud from MSA but I now have the JTR radiator convertion and I can not say enough about how great it is.

[JonnyRock]

What happened to the metal shroud on the top of the radiator?

My series I 240Z OEM radiator has a short shroud at top to prevent fingers and hands penetrating the plane of the rotating fan blade.

Is your radiator original or aftermarket replacement?

I don't know if it's original. I assume that it is, but I'm still new to Z car ownership. When I get home I'll check my FSM. It does have the mounting brackets for the shroud, that line up with MSA's shroud so my thinking is that it's an original radiator.

280~Master:

I don't see any need in removing the hood, it didn't get in the way. Although I guess it couldn't make things any harder. I didn't remove the fan simply because I needed to get the shroud lined up and marked such that it didn't interfere with the fan's rotation.

[280~Master]

Johnny

I got ya on the fitting issues. Parts should come fitted and ready for installment.

[Poindexter]

Good point. I hope you reported the fitment issues to the vendor. Such a large outfit should want to know about that kind of thing and fix it. If I buy one of these shrouds in a few weeks and it doesn't fit I'm gonna be disappointed. I'm probably going to get one too- passive improvements first, then if I still need more cooling after a shroud, (1) I have more problems, and (2) I can always add a fan later I guess.

I have the stock upper fan protector installed, but it's only to protect fingers. Did they ever add a stock full shroud in the 240's?