A neighbor and I recently built a new fan shroud for his Mustang drag racer.
Given the fact he’s now running the car in Phoenix instead of on the east coast, he wanted to run a pair of 10” electric fans.
Neither of us have a lot of sheet metal experience but figured “what the heck”
We started with a piece of 16g, 5052 aluminum. The bends were done on my 30” HF bending brake.
The longest bend was 22” and the brake struggled a bit given that 16g is over the recommended capacity of the brake but we got it done.
The modifications I made to the brake were essential IMO.
Mods detailed here:
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The (2) 10” openings were cut out using a plunge router with 1/4” carbide bit.
We used this circle cutting jig.
www.milescraft.com
WD40 was needed to keep the bit from gummming up but I think it contributed to the scratches you can see after the circles were cut.
Not to worry, the car owner did an excellent job of metal finishing the surface.
If we were doing this again we would cover the aluminum with tape.
Lower brackets and top Mount also shown in this pic.
Fans mounted
Installed in the car
The fans cool the car very well even on a 95* plus evening at the strip.
Given the fact he’s now running the car in Phoenix instead of on the east coast, he wanted to run a pair of 10” electric fans.
Neither of us have a lot of sheet metal experience but figured “what the heck”
We started with a piece of 16g, 5052 aluminum. The bends were done on my 30” HF bending brake.
The longest bend was 22” and the brake struggled a bit given that 16g is over the recommended capacity of the brake but we got it done.
The modifications I made to the brake were essential IMO.
Mods detailed here:
Modifications to the 30” Harbor Freight Sheet Metal Brake
This may be old news to some of the crowd here but after a question in a recent thread I posted I thought I’d share some modifications I made to this brake. https://www.harborfreight.com/30-inch-bending-brake-67240.html This is the brake mounted to my bench. It‘s a five minute job to grab it...
www.garagejournal.com
The (2) 10” openings were cut out using a plunge router with 1/4” carbide bit.
We used this circle cutting jig.
SmallCircleCompass™
With the Milescraft SmallCircleCompass™ and your router, you can cut circles from 1.5” to 12″ in diameter. With the included TurnLock™ base plate, this product is compatible with most routers.
www.milescraft.com
WD40 was needed to keep the bit from gummming up but I think it contributed to the scratches you can see after the circles were cut.
Not to worry, the car owner did an excellent job of metal finishing the surface.
If we were doing this again we would cover the aluminum with tape.
Lower brackets and top Mount also shown in this pic.
Fans mounted
Installed in the car
The fans cool the car very well even on a 95* plus evening at the strip.