OK, I went out to the garage and snapped some pictures:
As you can see the fan blade is really close to the A/C compressor pulley even when cool. The fan blade does spin freely when the engine is off though.
Do you think the fan so far from the radiator shroud may also lead to my car running a bit hot?
I have also attached a picture of a later model M110 where the fan seems to sit MUCH further into the radiator shroud than mine:
Note the picture directly below is not my engine
Thanks for any further advice...and if there is someone local that knows these motors, feel free to contact me to see if something looks wrong on my car.
Nathan