[QUOTE=Dougal;1461150]With no shroud you only get a fraction of the air through your radiator. Shrouds are needed with pulling fans. Since pushing fasn tend to be terrible performers pulling fans with shrouds are indeed the way to move the most air. snip
I agree with this comment when it refers to low speed or stationary applications with heavy loads. However, fans are one way of moving air, not an end in themselves. Much of the time in automotive applications movement of the vehicle provides a quite adequate airflow for cooling even if the motor is working hard. When moving slowly or stationary, usually the motor is not working very hard or creating a large amount of heat and electric fans are adequate for this. They are normally only running a small proportion of operating time.
Think more air would be going through the intercooler of ny 300Tdi Defender at road speeds than the fan would pull through it. Ok for the radiator, but with the shroud for the intercooler considerably offset, looks like the ends of the fan blades would be blowing air back into it at the same time it was drawing some out. ie Not very efficient. For this radiator and intercooler the best way to get high air flow through both would be to have two fans side by side, also with two shrouds. Air from the left one would be pushed past the left side of the motor. With the standard setup, it practically all has to go to the right side or underneath and past many obstructions. Obviously the big fan is partly necessary just to push air through these confined spaces. I have found that with some modifications allowing air to get through and out of the engine compartment easier, there is much less need for a fan.

