Alloy Radiator Version 1.2

Although I didn't report any problems with the DHC during the 10CR, there certainly was something that needed rectifying. While heading towards Watou on the day before the start I noticed that, when driving over bad road surfaces for which Belgium is rather well known, the viscous fan would hit the fan's shroud. This problem was caused by the fact that the mounting holes for the shroud were positioned incorrectly. I had tried to temporarily fix this by putting a spacer under one side but that clearly wasn't enough. So just after entering Belgium I stopped to take the spanners out. As a temporary fix I just removed the shroud and put it in the boot.

And after returning home from the run I contacted the manufacturer of the radiator to see how this problem could best be solved. Easiest way would have been to reposition the mounting nuts on top of the radiator. But this picture clearly shows that the original shroud does fit rather poorly and is not very efficient in anything. It doesn't funnel any air and it doesn't act as guard against insect being thrown all across the engine bay ...

Some improvements could be made here. At H&S they suggested to fabricate a new shroud that would envelop the fan completely. It should make the fan more efficient and keep the engine bay a bit cleaner. So they first gave me some homework to do, namely to take all necessary measurements so they could fabricate the new shroud. Which I did and the sketches plus the radiator were dropped of about a month ago. Because they are rather busy it took a few weeks longer for them to fabricate the shroud, but this week it was ready. Needless to say I picked it up immediately so I could fit it at last. I Have to admit that I was a bit anxious if it would fit properly, but I needn't have worried. Ones the mounting holes were drilled it fitted perfectly ...

According to my measurements the top of the shroud should sit at least 5 mm lower compared to the original shroud. But it looked like it was sitting considerably higher ...

I presumed this was a trick of light, but as I didn't fancy a dent in the bonnet I decided to be a little careful. So I taped  a small scrap of 5 mm thick foam on top of the shroud, smeared some grease on  and carefully closed the bonnet. I needn't have worried there was no trace of grease on the inside of the bonnet so more than enough clearance. Remains a little test drive to see how it all works.