I'm putting in a new 383 and while I was at it I am trying to get in the fan shroud. What is the trick, does anyone have any step by step instructions. Do you have to remove the water pump also?

From your picture, it looks like your motor has the long water pump on it. If thats the one that came with your new motor, it won't work. You will have to use a short water pump, so your pullies all line up. Should give you room to clear shroud.

The water pump is the short one.

Jack,

VetteCountry's advice sounds like the right place to start.

When you do get to placing the shroud where it needs to be, start with securing the lower portion first. Then work with the top where there is more room to "tweak" it for final adjustments. HTH.

Kevin

It's easiest(for me) to install the shroud first, and then slip the radiator in after. It's a major pain to get the shroud down past the upper control arms, especially on the passenger side.
If your shroud comes apart into two(or more) pieces, put the lower part(s) in first, then the rad, and then the top parts.
I must be gettin old, cause the pic looks like the shroud is in place...

It looks very simlilar to my 74 that I just did 2 weeks ago. What i did was to install the lower bolt for each side in the radiator support. This allowed me to pivot the radiator back at the top then slide the shroud in. then move the support forward to install the remaining bolts. I put off doing my engine all winter because i didnt want to deal with putting the radiator and shroud back in. It ended up not being as bad as I thought it was going to be. Good luck with getting it back in.
Rodney

Ok, thanks for the tips; I got the rad and the fan shroud in.

1.  Remove hood
2. Remove bolt from hinge to rad support on driver and passenger side
3. Remove 2 bolts on pass & driver side in front wheelwell that hold rad support.
4. Pull rad support forward.
5. Put cardboard to prottect rad fins
6. Zip tie fan shroud to rad in a few places.
7. put passenger side in frist to clear lower rad outlet past A frame.
8. Lower driver side rad down

It took awilew, but it's finally in.

Good deal!
The cars were assembled differently than they are when we have to wrench on them! The raditater and all that stuff was already attached to the body, and then the body was dropped over the frame, which already had all the suspension attached....they cheated!!

On my 73 I have to remove the radiator support bolts in the wheel wells and pull it as far forward as it will go. Then I stick the radiator in, attach the lower hose, and then insert the shroud passenger side first and then twist in the driverside. Be careful not to hit the fins. I place a piece of cardboard across the fins which seems to help. Sounds like you did it the same way. Redwingvette2010-05-10 16:49:56

Mine's a '79 so I imagine the shroud is a bit different from yours'. However, it put up one heck of a fight, too!