Aluminum fan shroud bolt hole on engine?

[tjm]

I stripped off the bolt to the fan shroud bracket on my 2005. I'm thinking of welding the bracket to the engine. Does that look like an aluminum front bracket in front of the engine block? If it is I'm screwed as the bracket is steel. Does anyone know?

And worst case, whats the harm in not using a fan shroud?

 

[tjm]

Well I think i have a solution. The bolt hole is not ferrous. Mr magnet told me so.
I'll place a filler rod between the bracket and the ac compressor mounting flange and weld across. It can be cut with a torch in the future if needed.

And the reason I have to do all of this is I stripped the tie down bolt for the fan clutch wiring harness on the bracket. I just used my plasma torch to blast the bolt out and cut the backed nut off. I'll use a stainless bolt, washer and lock nut to fix.

 

[petersonj]

I stripped off the bolt to the fan shroud bracket on my 2005. I'm thinking of welding the bracket to the engine.

If there is enough space and you have access to a MIG welder, I recommend welding a nut to the remaining part of the bolt. The heat will free the seized threads and a wrench can be used to remove the remains.

And worst case, whats the harm in not using a fan shroud?

You definitely need to keep the fan shroud. The fan blades and shroud are engineered together to produce a laminar air flow through over 90% of the area of the radiator, intercooler, AC condenser, etc. Remove the fan shroud and you will have overheating issues when working the engine and you will probably have exceptionally high AC pressures and poor cooling while driving around town on hot days.

- John

 

[tjm]

Hey John

There’s nothing to weld to on the remaining bolt. It’s flush. Thanks for the idea though.

 

[SnoKing]

Hey John

There’s nothing to weld to on the remaining bolt. It’s flush. Thanks for the idea though.

You weld inside the nut to the bolt end, grind a bevel on the nut if needed to get it into a recessed area.

 

[petersonj]

You weld inside the nut to the bolt end, grind a bevel on the nut if needed to get it into a recessed area.

Just what I was going to say. I have done about half a dozen of these over the years with 100% success.

- John

 

[Ozymandias]

That's how it works, turn it out hot as the aluminum expand three times more then steel.

 

[tjm]

Thanks for all the information guys. My Mig gun cannot fit in that space without removing the radiator. So I made a bracket and welded it on to the fan shroud bracket and used the bolt hole directly below the sheared off bolt hole to secure the fan shroud bracket in place. I used some anti-seize on both bolts as well.

First pic shows the bolt hole below the sheared off one. This hole/bolt is used to secure the aluminum front cover to the block. second pic shows the final product.