Yea, my heater/turbo cooling lines are a conglomeration of copper 1/2" tubing and short pieces of hoses with a BUNCH of hose clamps.
Regarding the shroud I've heard that you want a portion of the fan sticking out sticking out. I think about a third of the blade. So, it MIGHT be helpful to trim it if needed. I don't get it, some cars have a small radiator, two blade fan, minimal shroud (Hummm..., sounds like a 2.0 Pinto) and cooling is not a problem. Other cars you do EVERYTHING and it barely seems to help.
On my 318 Valiant I went from a factory 7 blade fan to a 2" smaller, 5 blade fan and I was shocked at how fast the car overheated. Now I have a HUGE multi blade fan, a shroud and an oversized radiator. Overheat is NOT in that cars vocabulary. As far as the Pinto goes maybe I'm just fortunate. The 350 SBC in my '64 Studebaker Daytona also runs a pusher only (no engine) fan and as long as I'm moving it is fine. But get stopped too long, too often and it is a struggle to cool even with a 16" electric fan.