Re: The dreaded cooling fan

["David Ross" <ross@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu>]

Hal Taylor <taylor@CritPath.Org> wrote:


>I admit it.  I sat, smuggly reading the "exploding cooling fan" thread
>(six or eight months ago, was it?), never imagining that I too could be
>a victim.


Ha - that was me, last fall.  Believe it or not, my Spider hasn't run since!
Mainly my fault, of course - after *lots* of man hours
installing/uninstalling/reinstalling the replacement,  I wasn't able to solve
a 'sticking' shaft problem I had, and then I had to downqueue the whole job
(probably back to it in a couple of weeks) for lack of time.

>What am I in for with the swap, which I'll be doing
>myself?

Extremely easy, though I seem to be evidence that it is possible to screw
things up.  Some remarks:  (1) It *is* possible (with a quality socket
wrench) to put the new fan on (and off) without removing the radiator, though
if you can, do it while the radiator is off (seems to be necessary in your
case, anyway.  (2) It makes a difference (for spacing) which way the fan is
facing.  If you do it wrong, you might hit something with the fan.  Which way
is right?  Seems to depend on the car!  [People with whom I corresponded on
this had a 50-50 mixture of orientations, all with similar-vintage Spiders.]
(3) Don't forget the spacer disk.  (4) Even *with* the spacer disk (and extra
washers), it seems to be possible to tighten the bolts down enough to rub on
something - at least, *mine* are still rubbing on something:-(  (5) If you
don't put a new shroud on, then later decide to add it in, you can do that
too with the radiator in place, though it requires some clearance work
(unbolting/shifting  of the air filter assembly and of the radiator overflow
bottle).

This might be the right time to upgrade to an electric fan.  I wish I'd done
this - the car was fine (if fanless) right after I removed the broken blade,
and I only encountered mysterious sticky shaft problems when I added the new
fan.

- David R. (*also* an '86 Spider)