GTV6 Radiator Coolin' Fans from IAP

["B.D. & Petei Zelazny" <UnltdLtd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I needed to replace one of the twin radiator fans on my high mileage GTV6 that had
recently died - unfortunately they never both fail simultaneously or I'd upgrade the
whole fan system, but that's another story.

I ordered one of the new GTV6 radiator fan assemblies from IAP. When it arrived I
examined the whole unit. I was not happy with the (IMHO cobbled) mounting system
required to adapt the non stock GTV6 fan frame to the car. I had a dead fan assembly
which I carefully compared to the new unit. However it was completely different and
would not work for a refurbishment usin' the motor from the new unit - specifically,
the back of the fan motor housing was incorporated into the fan housing frame! Ugh!!

Kinda bummed by this, I next took a gander at the units currently installed on the car.
Ah, ha! They both had newer frame assemblies in which the fan motor was a completely
separate unit like the new one from IAP!! The other old fan must've been a very early
unit and had subsequently been redesigned at some later date - good thing! Things were
lookin' more likely for a switch of the fan motor from the new assembly to the
not-so-old fan housing.

Before I started disassembling the new unit, I pulled the failed fan assembly and made
a careful comparison of the two. The new fan motor mounting holes aligned with the
existing fan frame as I'd hoped they would. For some reason the new fan assembly had
the fan motor riveted to the frame, while the older unit (thankfully) used nuts and
bolts to mount the fan motor.

After removing the fan blade from the dead unit it was very easy to access the bolts to
remove the dead fan motor. Once the dead motor was out of the old frame I made a final
comparison of the two frames fan motor mountings before I got down and dirty with
disassembling the new unit.

I then removed the fan blade on the new unit and drilled out the rivets that attached
the fan motor to the undesirable frame. Once the new motor was freed from the new frame
it was a breeze (pun intended) to mount the new motor into the old frame.

Once assembled, I quickly bolted the "refurbished" fan assembly up, plugged it in and
am set until the other fan fails. I think it took less time to switch the fan motor
than it would have taken to mess with the undesirable fan frame and the pieces of sheet
iron to adapt it to mount to the GTV6 radiator, and it still looks stock - not that it
matters, except that its a much cleaner installation than the other mounting assembly
would've provided.

Oh, and by the way, this motor fan was not wired backwards - I checked that before I
did any of the above. If it had been, it would've been very easy to reverse the wires
in the plug to correct it.

It might not be a bad idea for IAP to provide the fan motor with only the blade and the
mounting hardware (nuts/bolts) at a reduced price for those of us willing to make the
switch onto the assemblies that will accept them. This would reduce some of the waste I
ended up with - the new undesirable frame and the metal mounting pieces that were
provided (w/o the necessary mounting bolts/nuts/washers).

Just one Alfaholic's opinion!

Ciao,
'nardo
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided