Anyone got rid of the mechanical fan?
Turbo Mini Forums

bonjour

after changing my timing chain cover today, i decided to try running my car without the mechanical fan and just an electric one.

it appears to almost work, but does run a little on the hot side. Im using the metro 4blade fan at the moment, if i changed for a aftermarket (say 8 blade) fan would it make a great difference?

or some ducting to direct air into the radiator??

any top tips would be greatly appriciated as the car is alot quieter without it

apoligies about my poor speeling tonight

ive tried a few times but never really made it work. although i didnt try that hard!

im sure effceint ducting would help no end though.

if you get a good close fitting fan that must pull air thru the rad theres no reason why it can't work , all too often the fan is mounted too far away and can pull air from the gap around its mountings also good idea to duct it out into the inner wing so hot air isn't allowed back into the engine bay

Some clubmans had a rubber seal that went between the radiator and the cowling on the inner wing. Something like this would help by ensuring that the fan directed all the air out of the engine bay. Obviously not that relevant as you have a flip front......

Have electric fan on mine no probs using thermo swich soldered into rad at the bottom have ducted the rad a bit cutting the original fan duct away to let in more air.
Not sure how many blades the fan has it is from a metro front mount rad.

Edited by AllanMcD on 4th Apr, 2005.

http://www.rabdunn.co.uk/

ah ha, thanks

ill have a fiddle this weekend

would have 2 smaller (say motorbike) fans on it be beneficial in any way?

I was going to use motorbike fans as I have a few but the metro one fitted far better than any thing I had as it is near the full size of the side mount rad.

http://www.rabdunn.co.uk/

thats what ive got on there at the mo.
expect some pm's at the weekend with cries of help

update

the mechanical fan is gone, and the metro one is flat on the radiator, it seems to be cooling ok, slightly hotter than it was with both fans, prob just over half...

...that was until the earth fell off, but all is well again now

i havent cut the shroud yet either

I use the fan as found on some renaults and pugs. The blade itself is around 15mm thick, and the same (approx) width as the side-mount rad. It is a REALLY efficient fan unit, and pulls lots and lots of air through it.
As the oracle told, these need to be as close as possible to the rad. Also, bear in mind that at full whack, the outer edges of the bladed will pull in the opposite direction to the flow. Also, any end-float in the motor shaft will be taken up. My fan has around 3/4mm clearance with the end-float taken out.

These fans are well worth a look IMO - much more efficient than the metro one...

i'm going to be using a metro front mounted rad with the elctric fan that came as standard on the inner wing of my 91 cooper, it's nice and slim, just hope its up to the job though, anyone had any experience with it?

I used a Metro Turbo radiator with a small fan from a MPI mini and it was fine. Are you using a radiator from a standard Metro, or from the Turbo ? the Turbo has a higher capacity.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

i have absolutely no idea dude, i think ti may be a turbo one as it was bought with a complete turbo engine, no big deal if it isn't up to the job as i can always just drop me side rad back on as i know that works fine. i just wanted the extra room at the side for an easier intercooler piping install.

I also didn't know the turbo's had a larger capacity. I know the radiators changed in the Metro's lifetime from having both hoses on the same size to having one hose at either end. At the same time the radiator got thinner.

I'm sure the standard Metro one will be fine, i just noticed ages ago when looking around the scrappies that the Turbo rad i had was thicker than the ones i saw....
Maybe it's just when the changed the hose connections like Tom said ?

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Phil has your one got both hose outlets at the same end? if so its an earlier rad that is thicker and not quite as large area? The later ones are MUCH thinner and have a hose at either end

No it's got a hose at each end and it's thick, so i guess it sounds like the Turbo one is higher capacity ? it's from a C reg Turbo.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

the one i've got is nice and thin and has a connection at either end, 90% sure its from a metro turbo though.

I use the same fan as TD on my mini . its out a base model 106, 1.0 and 1.1's were fitted with it. r5's came with a similar fan. keeps my 1.6k cool :)

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Hose at each end and thick? Not seen one like that before!!! I broke a B reg Turbo, that had a thick rad with the connections at the same end, and also an F reg one, that had a thin rad with connections at either end!!

Damn you BL!!

i would like to get rid of the mechanicle fan does anyone rate the 'kits' you can buy there about 120 quid tho and i dont have money to throw away, does anyone know the simpleest 'DIY' effort that works best?

cheers, Dan

what are these overly expensive kits?

its easy, remove radiator, unbolt plastic fan, reinstall bolts making sure they dont touch on the water pump, refit radiator, wire up electric fan to the outside of the radiator making sure it is fitted close to it, wire it up so its pulling air through the radiator

your not talking about electric water pumps are you?

no not leccy water pumps,
is it kenloe that do kits and theres another one as well, think about 120quid, so i fit it in the engine bay side of the inner wing, making sure it puling the air through the rad and not blowing through it
engine is out atm so if i need to modify inner wing etc i can do pretty easily:)

cheers Dan

the kenlow is just a posh fan, maybe more effiecent than a standard 4 blade thing.

Out of interest does anyone know how many cubic feet of air kenlows/pacests can move per min?