What year Ts had a radiator shroud? I picked up a radiator with a shroud on it and don,t know if I should leave it on or take it off. I will be putting the rad. on a 1921.

the lower shroud came with the high radiators on the 1924 model year, so your new radiator may be too high to fit on a 1921?

If you mean the shroud on the inside of the radiator, it was only used in early 17. Apparently they did not provide any benifit so they were discontinued. Nice item to have. My 17 has the mounting tabs on the rad. but missing the shroud.

Jim or Bill, is there a way that you can get me a picture or description of the lower mounting tab ( if there is one ) on your radiator? I have a radiator with the two mounting tabs on the upper tank. The fan shroud that I have fits these tabs perfectly. The fan shroud also has one hole in the center, near the bottom (mounting hole?),but the radiator has no tab in that location. Any help?

I sent an e-mail to Dave who has an early 1917 that still has the fan shroud on the back of the radiator. He may be able to help with some of the questions.

Below is a picture of his radiator which has a unique upper tank inlet area where the hose from the cylinder head water outlet connects to the radiator. Has anyone seen other tanks with a similar upper tank? Note the black radiator shell was painted a brass color by a previous owner quite a while ago. We believe it would have originally been black.



Jim -- to avoid hi-jacking the thread, I started another one asking folks to share information about the late 1916 and early 1917 bodies. See: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/71127.html?1225418217 for information about that subject. If you would take a moment to look at that and let us know how your car body is - that would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and 1907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.

I'd love to know if anyone has one of these 1917 radiator fan shrouds they would part with. I'd like one.
Michael

I have a 1928 Model A with a fan shroud. Did air suddenly change in 1928 & make fan shrouds effective?? ;^)

Jem,
Air must have changed back by 1931 because my Murray bodied Fordor didn't come with a shroud. However there is one on my 1996 Tracer Wagon.

The fan stays in place on the A, but moves depending on how long the fan belt is on a 1917 model T.
The opening in the fan shroud can be closer to the fan = more effective on a model A, (but I don't know if that's what they did?)

Good point Roger!

Good picture Hap, it does look to have some type of fastener (maybe a tab) at the bottom of the fan shroud. This is the same spot that mine has a small hole in it. The top tank and inlet looks just like mine.

I’m the door guy for the candy tonight so I will break this into smaller replies.

For Jem –

Thank you for the reminder. Just as Ford introduced a new radiator with a fan shroud with the new 1917 style radiator, Ford also introduced a fan shroud with the new style 1928 Model A radiator. And just as the 1917 fan shroud was short lived, so to in the USA, the fan shroud on the 1928s was short lived (ref Snyder’s catalog where you can purchase fan shrouds for any year Model A but they say “originally only supplied on the early 28’s.” part number A-8050-dash 289 (for 1928-1929) or 301 for 1930-31.)

I don’t know if either the 1917 or the 1928 fan shroud continued longer in the UK or not, perhaps you will have some additional information to share on that?

I suspect in both cases the shroud actually helped cooling as demonstrated in pre-testing etc. But it probably did not help enough to be considered worth the extra cost for the part and assembly. But that is just a guess on my part with no reference to support it.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford Touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and 1907 Model S Runabout. Sumer SC.

For Michael, Jeff, Bill, Jim, and others that are interested,

Below are some illustrations from what appears to be a 1917 Ford Price list of Parts. They are from page 12 of the Jul – Aug 1979 “Vintage Ford” used by permission also same illustration is on page 264 of Bruce McCalley’s book “Model T Ford.”



Above is shown as originally printed in the price list of parts.



Above is the same illustration with the colors inverted.




Above is the information from Bruce’s “Price List of Parts CD” [available at: http://mtfca.com/encyclo/mccalley.htm as well as many of the Model T Vendors]. From Bruce’s information we find that it was only listed in the Nov and Dec 1917 Price List of Parts and was not listed after that. These are USA price lists – so it may have been listed in the Canadian, England, etc. price list of parts at the same or different times. Note the part number is T-3969 and the Factory Number is T-8716. There is a good chance that if someone wanted the original parts drawing for the radiator shroud that they could contact the Benson Ford Archives and obtain a copy. Many but not all drawings are still available. There is one large range of numbers that is missing, but I don't remember what those were. Yes, the archives charge for providing copies and doing research for you, if you cannont visit the archives. But it helps pay for the heating, cooling, lighting, etc. so others in the future may also have access to the information. And if someone stops by the archives, they may ask the nice folks there to look up factory number (drawing) T-8716 and there is no charge for looking at the drawings while you are at the archives.

If someone can let us know how the shroud was attached (i.e. how many screws – where located and how many tabs – etc.) that would be great.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford Touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and 1907 Model S Runabout. Sumer SC.

This is only my 2 bit's worth (inflation) but a fan is basically dead weight above 5 MPH, always has been with any car, I've driven a T with a busted fan belt for 20 miles & didn't get close to boiling. I think the reason the shrowd was discarded was because it didn't allow enough airflow at normal driving speeds & therefore not allowing the thermospyphon system to work as designed.

Alex

Hi Hap I have an early 17 made around Aug. 18, 1916. it has a shroud, but, I don't use as it causes the engine to run hotter and you cannot get to the timer very easy. I think it runs hotter because it concentrates a small stream of hot air directly on the engine, all the air passing thru the radiator is captured by the shroud, thus cannot flow away from the engine.

The radiator is quite different as it dosen't have side braces. The shroud brackets were soldered and riveted to the tanks(2 at the top and 1 on the bottom). It was full of leaks and couln't be repaired, so I put the brackets on another radiator to use the shroud and found out the above info. I think I still have that original radiator around here some where. I know I still have the shroud. I had another, but sold it to Steve Hubert a long time ago and don't know if he ever used it or not. Maybe he had better luck than I did. Bud

I think RD has been running without a fan for about 10 years, but he does run a water pump.