I got a mechanical engineering friend of mine to ponder the fan
placement theories and this is what he came up with:
My thoughts as an engineer who believes in technology:
1. Fans work on volumes of air and heat transfer is based on mass
of
air (number of molecules).
2. A volume of air will contain more mass at a lower temperature.
--> fan on front
3. A volume of air will contain more mass at a higher pressure.
-->
fan on front
4. More room in engine compartment would be nice. --> fan in
front
5. Front or back, you need a shroud because the path of least
resistance (lowest pressure drop) is around the radiator, not
through
it.
My thought as the technophobe that I really am:
Shrouding the front of the radiator means you're relying on the fan
to
cool the engine. I think you would get more air through the
radiator
with the shroud on the back if the fan fails.
Realistically:
It probably wouldn't make enough difference to an old engine to
even
matter. Especially if the hole in the front of the shroud is big.
I
recommend performing lots of on-the-road tests to determine if one
configuration is better than the other. :)
Anyway, conclusion: Inconclusive
adrian
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J. Adrian Barnes
http://user.icx.net/~adrian/midget
http://www.ravineware.com
"When there was no meat, we ate
fowl. When there was no fowl we
ate crawdads. When there were no
crawdads we ate sand."
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