I think my core support might be bent. The car did not come with a fan shroud, so I bought a new one and a new mounting bracket. But I can't see how the shroud attaches to the bracket at this angle. Should I bend the core support? the bracket? What if I don't use the shroud altogether?

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3734/pict0056tng.jpg

Looking at the top of your core support, I would say that is the problem. The bracket should be horiz accross the radiator. I would see how much trouble it would be to fix the core support 1st before bending up the bracket. It looks like you don't have too much attached yet. I would not run the car without some kind of a shroud. You will most likely run into some kind of over-heating problem.

I would bend the bracket. Put both bolts that mount the bracket to the core so they go in from the top of the bracket and into the core support instead of coming out of core into the bracket. This way you can bend/adjust the bracket angle. It appears you have one bolt coming out into the bracket which will prevent you from bending the bracket.

Like Madmax stated the issue may be the core support. The cheapest fix may be to bend the bracket. But since yours is not installed into the car, maybe there will be other alignment issues once you do. So maybe if you can afford about a $100. It would be best to buy a new one off of ebay from Tamaraz and that would include shipping. That is where I bought mine, it is a nice peice. Yes, you do want some sort of shroud. Be it if you go elec. fans or mech. fans.