big-phil Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 pretty striaght foward. Cut a bigger hole. mount the motor. drill tap new holes. the low, med, high speeds even work. just plugged it up, and turned it on! I have not drivin it yet, but it is blowing harder sitting in the drive way. 104 deg. yesterday, I had to do something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Thats a great idea! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 You are the evil genious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbhead Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 I've been meaning to do a search on this topic as my blower doesn't do anything until it's on #3. And it blows like most cars do on #1. Excellent job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 i GOT THE MOTOR FOR $10!!!!! the 240sx motor looked the same but it was an 89, I went with the newer 95 maxima. I drove it and it works alot better!! More cold air!! The real test is tomorrow after work on the way home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 thanks for the post-need to do that to my factory a/c.it blows cold but i need more volume of air flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flames_187 Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 wow.. great idea...let us know how it turns out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 the 240sx motor looked the same but it was an 89' date=' I went with the newer 95 maxima.[/quote'] It looks identical to the '94 Altima fan aswell. Bet most of the nissans in that range have the same fan motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Phil - how did you attach the blower to the housing? It looks like the bolt holes are outside the housing outer diameter except on the discharge area. Please keep us posted on results. If it works well in your car it ought to work maybe even better in mine with all the insulation I have. Good find! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Phil - how did you attach the blower to the housing? It looks like the bolt holes are outside the housing outer diameter except on the discharge area. Bill Bill, In this pic it appears he offset drilled the holes to get them in the housing. http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3214083 When I did the Altima fan I clocked the fan and offset it to get the holes in the housing. If the fan bearings/bushings start going out in mine I'm sure I'll hear it. Phil, if you can score another fan for $10 snatch it for me. I'll buy you acouple beers for your effort. The yards around me are high dollar. $75 for a Taurus fan, come on. I'm about to finally get my a/c fixed in my daily driver '77(or buy a vehicle with a/c!) and I want to do this mod on it aswell. PS: You stated that you hooked this fan up to the original wiring and resistor and it worked. Did you upgrade any of the wiring? Have you noticed the original wiring getting hot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zcarnut Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I hate to piss on your parade, but as an electrical design engineer who works with power electronics every day I would like to point out several issues one should consider when you are upgrading the fan motor: A larger rated CFM fan motor will always draw more current than the stock fan motor. My guess is the Maxima fan motor is rated at 240W (or more). The motor rating may be printed on the side of the motor (common Nissan/Hitachi practice). Look at the size of the wires coming out of the Maxima motor. You should use equally sized wires in the wiring harness (good for at least 20 amps) and appropriately rated connectors where needed. The fuse size should be increased to 20A as well. Unless you upgrade the wiring, you are creating a potential safely issue. In addition, unless you use larger diameter wires, the voltage drop across the existing wires and connectors will be such that you will not have the full voltage (12.5V to 13.5V) available for the motor. Why upgrade the motor and then “strangle†it with small diameter supply (dc link) wires? You should connect the cooling duct for the Maxima motor. Like most high rated electric motors, the Maxima one has an opening for an air duct on one end of it. This allows some of the pressured air (from the outlet vent) to flow through the motor, thus cooling it. Dissipating 240W in such a small volume with out cooling will cause a large temperature rise in the motor windings again causing a potential safely issue as well as reducing the life of the fan. The “speed control†resistors for Maxima motor will also have to be upgraded as well. The stock Z resistors are only rated for the 160W (or about) stock fan motor. Better to use the Maxima resistors or better yet use a PWM fan controller circuit (much more efficient). This already may be what the Maxima uses to control the fan speed. Finally, the added current draw of the new motor may require an upgraded (higher current output) alternator. I’m all for increasing the anemic performance of the stock Z fan motor (I use the 200W 280ZX fan motor in my 260Z), but let’s do it correctly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Steve, All good points. You've certainly identified one of the problems we get into on any upgrade - the domino effect - which need sto be carefuylly considered before starting any upgrade. Kind of like playing chess and thinking ahead several moves. However - if the "strangled" unit provides satisfactorily improved cooling then maybe some of that extra work isn't necessary. The worst case that can happen by not upgrading the wiring circuit is that the fuse that protects the original circuit will blow more often if it actually does get overloaded. If that does happen routinely then, by all means, do the upgrades. Squirrel cage fans are notorious for the low pressure they can generate so it's probable that the OEM ducting, dampeners, etc. will put enough back pressure on the system that the fan won't be able to develop full flow and therefore full amp draw. Spot - while I'm on a thread I know you're following - I've got a bunch of brown carpet I bought for my Z when it had a brown interior and I never installed it. Do you want it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted August 18, 2006 Author Share Posted August 18, 2006 I hate to piss on your parade' date=' but as an electrical design engineer who works with power electronics every day I would like to point out several issues one should consider when you are upgrading the fan motor: A larger rated CFM fan motor will always draw more current than the stock fan motor. My guess is the Maxima fan motor is rated at 240W (or more). The motor rating may be printed on the side of the motor (common Nissan/Hitachi practice). Look at the size of the wires coming out of the Maxima motor. You should use equally sized wires in the wiring harness (good for at least 20 amps) and appropriately rated connectors where needed. The fuse size should be increased to 20A as well. Unless you upgrade the wiring, you are creating a potential safely issue. In addition, unless you use larger diameter wires, the voltage drop across the existing wires and connectors will be such that you will not have the full voltage (12.5V to 13.5V) available for the motor. Why upgrade the motor and then “strangle†it with small diameter supply (dc link) wires? You should connect the cooling duct for the Maxima motor. Like most high rated electric motors, the Maxima one has an opening for an air duct on one end of it. This allows some of the pressured air (from the outlet vent) to flow through the motor, thus cooling it. Dissipating 240W in such a small volume with out cooling will cause a large temperature rise in the motor windings again causing a potential safely issue as well as reducing the life of the fan. The “speed control†resistors for Maxima motor will also have to be upgraded as well. The stock Z resistors are only rated for the 160W (or about) stock fan motor. Better to use the Maxima resistors or better yet use a PWM fan controller circuit (much more efficient). This already may be what the Maxima uses to control the fan speed. Finally, the added current draw of the new motor may require an upgraded (higher current output) alternator. I’m all for increasing the anemic performance of the stock Z fan motor (I use the 200W 280ZX fan motor in my 260Z), but let’s do it correctly![/quote'] I'm on the same page. I thought the same thing. The fan felt better, but I could tell that it might not be getting the current flow it needs. I took the resistors from the Maxima, and the 240sx, with thoughts of having to use them. So now I'm thinking I will run some thicker gage wires possible from the batt.?? to the switch, or resistors first, then the motor. I'm not sure how it all works, so I'll have to look at how the power comes to the fan. At 106deg. today, and this is my daily driver I HAVE to get this done right. If I can not get air to blow out hard.....I might have to let the old girl go, for a newer turbo 240sx, or 300zx???? The heat is killing me. I can't afford to drive my Hemi truck 10-12 mpg:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 I want one of those resistors!!! Thats what I've been looking for lately, without looking. Then I can finish my wiring! Phil, this is what I was discussing with you about the resistors. Thats why I haven't finished my install. With the resistors you have you should have no problem upgrading the wiring. I've got wire and more time then money. Get with me...You supply the beer this time. LOL Steve, you explained it better then I could. I don't know you personally, but have always enjoyed your posts and knowledge of Zcars. Your a good contributor to HybridZ among other Z related web sites. kudos Bill, sent you a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted August 19, 2006 Author Share Posted August 19, 2006 I want one of those resistors!!! Thats what I've been looking for lately' date=' without looking. Then I can finish my wiring! Phil, this is what I was discussing with you about the resistors. Thats why I haven't finished my install. With the resistors you have you should have no problem upgrading the wiring. I've got wire and more time then money. Get with me...You supply the beer this time. LOL Steve, you explained it better then I could. I don't know you personally, but have always enjoyed your posts and knowledge of Zcars. Your a good contributor to HybridZ among other Z related web sites. kudos Bill, sent you a PM.[/quote'] I'll let you have the resistor I got from the Maxima. I'll just get another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted August 20, 2006 Author Share Posted August 20, 2006 I took the air vent apart a bit. cut out some of the plastic deverters for air to go more to the round side vents. Added some new foam so that it will seal better, and bing! I'm happy. It blows much harder now. I also hooked jumpercables from the batt. to the fan motor itself, and felt no difference in power out put. SO I'm going to leave it hooked up the way it is and see if I blow any fueses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flames_187 Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 hey phil do u have a time est. on the conversion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted August 21, 2006 Author Share Posted August 21, 2006 The motor went in in about an hour? The vent thing I had to let the glue set up. I did it all in a weekend. worked on it on, and off Sat. and Sun. very easy to do. I cut the blower housing with a grinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaZed Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 In regards to cutting out the deflectors out of the plastic air vent, I did that also and sealed the two side outputs so all the air flows through the center vent. Even when everything was well sealed the air flow from the side vents was marginal at best so I decided they had to go. All the weather stripping from the top of the blower motor housing all the way to the actual vent needs to be sealed. I pulled the motor and housing out and did a direct hook up to the battery. I was expecting an anemic little motor instead it almost became airborn. Wonder if I could use a few of those things for a hovercraft? Anyway, airflow is very good all the way around. Two other culprets in this system are: 1. The two mechanically activated flaps on either side of the heater core. I took out both flaps and rebent the loop on the wire connectors so they would not slip off everytime I hit a bump. 2. The Air Intake Door Actuator must be doing it job and a cracked vacuum line either on that end or on the vacuum selector end can really cripple the system. My problem is finding a squirrel-cage...guess it's time for a junk yard trip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Are you going to the meet next month? I would like to see how much diffrence it made. It sounds like its better than the honda motor swap that I was thinking about on my zx. Tommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.