18hp Opposed twin cooling and flywheel q

On this Craftsman II GT 18hp Briggs, the way im orienting it, i need it to be skinnier on the inlet fan side. Stock, the fan faced the center console and had a pulley in front of it. So airflow was limited, which is why im guessing the extra fan was added. The fan itself is also kinda heavy, not iron heavy, but its a little weight.

Stock, without the drive pulley.



Im wondering if i can run it like this with no ill effects. Il make a mesh guard that mounts either to the frame or to the shroud to protect that inlet, but it will be on the left side of the tractor with ample airflow, il also put a grill on that side of the sheetmetal for cooling intake as well. Do you think it would be ok to run like this? It would make my life much easier if i could.

If it was my mower i would just run it the way it is. if it makes it easier. im sure its not the best thing to do but i would do it.

go ahead and leave it off, my opposed twin just has the fan in the last picture.

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Should work better than stock too because you're feeding it fresh, cool air now.   

I normally wouldnt recommend it but the way you got your engine setup go for it i see no harm if anything i see it being able to pull more air in

jay_rod is the expert on opposed twins..... he has a thread on here somewhere

It will be fine, as pictured.

Ive ran engines like that for a few years and they still run just fine so I wouldn't worry about it

Awesome, exactly what i wanted to hear, thanks guys. Saves me from new hood mounts or deformed sheetmetal on that side. That fan just sticks out too far. Now it can be almost flush with the sheetmetal on that side.