Cooling Issue

mopowers said

What would be the point of this? If the clutch is operating correctly, won't this mess up the fan?

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No the steel fan will be fine. The point is to see how much the clutch is slipping, and it is a whole bunch kinder than to stick your fingers in there. I'm not a fan of that idea, but the point is made. I have tried other less violent methods, with non-thermostatic viscous couplings.You said yours was a thermostatic, so the little spring on the front has to be connected at both ends and then it has to get up to it's set point, and then it has to rotate the little valve to go from a viscous coupling to a direct drive. And Whoosh. roar, it comes to life. The roar is a sure sign that air is moving.
Another method to see how much air is moving thru the rad is simply to hang a piece of paper in front of the rad, and "measure" how hard the paper is being "sucked" onto the rad. This does not tell anything usefull if you have a condenser mounted in front.