(2) 12" fans versus (1) 16" fan
I know I've posted it before but I'll post it here to make it easy. It depends on where you measure, but right in the middle in front of the water pump pulley the shroud is just over 3" thick. It's about 3.5" thick at the back of the fan motors, but they don't line up with any of my pulleys so it's less of an issue. That's the thickest part of the assembly, to the backs of the motors. On mine the tightest clearance is to the front of the water pump pulley, I had to leave the cosmetic cover on my March water pump pulley off and I used button head allen bolts to increase the clearance there. I have a little more than a 1/2" of clearance to that pulley, although the aluminum pulleys are a little thicker than the stock steel ones there.
For those without a radiator or all the stuff yet, the back of the fans are about 6" from the radiator support where the radiator flange bolts on.
To the back of the shroud in the center
To the back of the fan motor
To the back of the fan motors from the radiator mount on the radiator support
See to me that says you're losing efficiency. You shouldn't need that much CFM. The 4 fans on the radiator leave a large portion of the core uncovered, so when the fans are running they're only pulling air through the portions of the core they directly cover. Based on your picture you're probably not pulling air through almost 25% of your core when the car is stationary and the fans are running.
Typically more is better when it comes to airflow, but you do have to supply power for all of those fans. The more amps you pull the greater the HP loss.
I know I've posted it before but I'll post it here to make it easy. It depends on where you measure, but right in the middle in front of the water pump pulley the shroud is just over 3" thick. It's about 3.5" thick at the back of the fan motors, but they don't line up with any of my pulleys so it's less of an issue. That's the thickest part of the assembly, to the backs of the motors. On mine the tightest clearance is to the front of the water pump pulley, I had to leave the cosmetic cover on my March water pump pulley off and I used button head allen bolts to increase the clearance there. I have a little more than a 1/2" of clearance to that pulley, although the aluminum pulleys are a little thicker than the stock steel ones there.
For those without a radiator or all the stuff yet, the back of the fans are about 6" from the radiator support where the radiator flange bolts on.
To the back of the shroud in the center
To the back of the fan motor
To the back of the fan motors from the radiator mount on the radiator support
See to me that says you're losing efficiency. You shouldn't need that much CFM. The 4 fans on the radiator leave a large portion of the core uncovered, so when the fans are running they're only pulling air through the portions of the core they directly cover. Based on your picture you're probably not pulling air through almost 25% of your core when the car is stationary and the fans are running.
Typically more is better when it comes to airflow, but you do have to supply power for all of those fans. The more amps you pull the greater the HP loss.
