Technical A couple of fan/radiator questions re: 50 Merc

Howdy.
I'm getting ready to re-***emble the Merc's plumbing, and I've been puzzling over a few things:

• Upper hose springs? Necessary or not? The upper hoses had (rusted out) springs in them when I took them off, which I thought was odd, since I've only ever seen springs in lower radiator hoses. The hoses are perfectly fine, and I don't want to buy a new upper hose set just for springs...but, as this is my first foray into flathead territory, I don't know what to think.
• Aftermarket fan shroud? I'm ***uming the car didn't come from the factory with a fan shroud, as it seems like the front valence panels and such provide a kind of "duct", but maybe it did. If it didn't, wouldn't a fan shroud improve cooling? And if so, where would I find such a thing?
• Fan hub...grease? The fan hub on my '50 isn't one of the ones that requires lubrication, according to the shop manual. The hub is just fine...right now...but is there really no way to lubricate that bearing? Shudder to think how hard it'll be to find one of those ****ers when it inevitably gives up the ghost.

Thanks, y'all.
CH

 

I'd be interested in a shroud too.

 

Springs might help keep the lower hoses from collapsing, but not needed in the upper hose for that reason.

shrouds can be helpful, but were not commonly used until the 1960s. There were a few earlier cars that needed them. but not many. If you get everything together and it wants to boil over in traffic, then making a shroud is one way to help it cool...although fixing whatever is wrong with it, might be a better way to go.

I'm not familiar with the lube on the hub. If it has sealed bearing that's decades old, see if you can pop the seal off and squirt some grease in it, or replace the bearing. If it has a bushing, figure out how to get some grease or oil in there.

 

There are aftermarket universal hoses called "vulcoflex" that have springs in the to allow you to bend them to whatever shape you need rather than find original hoses with the correct bends or make something up from joiners and tubes.

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