[Titan151]

I think the only thing about a shroud is it eliminates the dead zone. I would also say that there is no benifit to having the fan closer to the radiator vs. being further away. Either way the air it "sucks" will have to go through the radiator. Assuming the shroud is somehwat sealled. I could see that a fan closer to the rad may create more turbulance and or noise, but I doubt that it would make much of a difference.

Here is what you can do to take a look at the air flow. Get your rad and build yourself a plexglass shroud. Then smoke up a cigar and use the smoke to inspect the airflow using multiple configurations. Don't like cigars? Then try using something else.