OK. I have the car back together. I left the spacer off as someone said. The repo fan sits about 3/4s of the way into the shroud and has about 2 1/4" clearance between the fan and rad. I drove the car and I can barely here the howl. I'm 70 in May and my hearing is going. The last L78 Nova I owned was over 20 years ago and my hearing was much better
Thanks to all who posted.
Ziggy