Carl Fausett

The reason the belt driven fan had such a sloppy fitting shroud is that it was mounted to a rubber-mounted motor that torques in the engine bay on accel and decel, whereas the fan shroud is mounted to the radiator which does not move. So the gaps between the old fan blades and the shroud had to be wide.

Yes - when you mount an electric fan right to the rad, the shroud can (and should be) much closer to the fan blades, greatly increasing the effectiveness of the fan. Making a modern electric fan w/shroud inherently more efficient and effective (assuming the right size/match is used).