The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

S197 Fan Shroud & Oil Cooling

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hey TMO, my 2012 3.7 has pretty high oil temps while having what I would describe as fantastic coolant temps. I have a Tiger hood on order, but as a short term fix I will be changing the mounting location of the Setrab 920 a bit to get more of it exposed to clean airflow where it is down in the lower grille; I plan to lower it a bit since the bracket I made doesn't have it sitting low enough so not enough radiator is in the air stream.

I am considering getting the GT500 Ford Racing upgraded fan shroud with the little flaps in the lower section to allow more air to flow through at speed, but I am wondering.... is it really worth the 250 bucks, or is cutting out holes in the lower section of the stock fan shroud sufficient? Has anyone tried this? Does any one have before and after data?

Cooling Fan and shroud is M-8C607-MSVT, but do the flaps even make that much of a difference vs just cutting some slots/holes in the lower section directly behind where the oil cooler will sit?

For reference, I was seeing 280+ oil temps in high 80 ambient, with coolant temps at about 210 with the stock radiator, I assume (have not actually confirmed) its the same part # as a 5.0, and being a 3.7 its producing a good bit less heat. But oil temps are concerning, I really want to bring those down a considerable amount.
 
100
109
Utah
In for info
I think Racelouvers did a little study on the fan shroud affects air flow through the radiator. I modified my stock S197 Mustang fan shroud as noted in the pic which I prefer over the GT500 flaps. I also do very little street driving though. Since my fan is stock with just 6 wider blades rather than the GT500 thinner 7 blade fan, I have considered cutshroud rear.jpg ting off 3 of the fan blades but I think opening up the shroud did make a difference in air flow. Especially, since the lower part of the fan shroud was "blocking" air flow through my Supercharger heat exchanger.
 
303
251
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
25 min. to 1½ hrs. from Sonoma (ugh... traffic!)
I think Racelouvers did a little study on the fan shroud affects air flow through the radiator. I modified my stock S197 Mustang fan shroud as noted in the pic which I prefer over the GT500 flaps. I also do very little street driving though. Since my fan is stock with just 6 wider blades rather than the GT500 thinner 7 blade fan, I have considered cutView attachment 69442 ting off 3 of the fan blades but I think opening up the shroud did make a difference in air flow. Especially, since the lower part of the fan shroud was "blocking" air flow through my Supercharger heat exchanger.
Interesting info from Racelouvers and a great mod to the fan shroud!
My car still sees 50% street duty. I'm upgrading my supercharger H/E, adding an oil cooler, keeping the A/C condenser, and ducting everything. I need some shrouding to pull air through a 4 cooler stack while in traffic and running A/C, so I bought the GT500 unit. I am considering removing the flaps and enlarging the openings a little but want to see how effective it will be as is when my mods are completed.
 
Well, I didn’t end up cutting into the shroud or replacing it, but I did end up ducting my oil cooler and getting it fully exposed to the air stream of the lower grille. Ended up with 40f oil temp drop!!! Ambient was 5f cooler, and oil temp went from 290 to no higher then 250. I am blown away at how affective it was.

53220230-E5F7-470E-B2F6-C1D5B1F326A6.jpeg

F7362CC0-13FD-476C-AC1C-39B1A5B5D43B.jpeg

49FC8903-88EA-4658-A53A-910981C6B7C3.jpeg

FF4A6F75-0198-4AEB-B395-E2A0A420FA4F.jpeg

7C831B07-D35D-4AA2-BAED-55D8711E8F27.jpeg

703ED6F9-F94F-4A5E-8D6A-70CA8CAC55F2.jpeg

FE79CA0F-68BF-41F2-AD1D-0B635EAB4882.jpeg
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top