JonLow Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Anybody out there upgraded their Spitfire HEATER MOTOR? I am wishing to put in another more powerful blower motor, as the Spitfire ones do take a bit of time to clear the windscreen, or heat the cockpit with a 40+ year old fan and rad assembly. I have read that a Nissan Micra unit could be used. But I messaged a Ebay seller offering a used Micra blower and the fan is larger diameter and a bit too deep. But maybe the fan could be swapped over. Anybody had any experience of revamping their heater unit? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Faulds Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 do a search on here its been done on a gt6 pics everything , ive bought one myself to upgrade mine, ill have a look see if I can find the pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Faulds Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 (edited) found these might help blue/white positive blue /red negative Edited March 27, 2019 by Ian Faulds word addition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 This is the link for the Nissan Micra heater blower upgrade Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonLow Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Thanks for the comments so far, but not sure we are talking about the same sort of heater unit. Is that a Herald/Vitesse unit shown? This is a Spitfire unit that I am trying to improve on a bit: This shows the sort of crudded up/deteriorating rad vanes within. So thought a faster blower might recover some of the heating ability of the original unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Yes, the one shown in Ian's post, and described in Paul's link, is a Herald / Vitesse unit. It's very different from the Spitfire one and much deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 In either case it looks to me as if one of the critical factors for any replacement fan is that ends up running as close as possible to the air intake hole to ensure a good 'seal' and minimise wasted air circulation inside the heater box. This of course depends on any replacement fan having the same depth as the original and Im not sure how or if this was achieved on that original Herald/Vitesse modification..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky_Spit Posted March 30, 2019 Report Share Posted March 30, 2019 I upgraded my Mk3 Spitfire fan using the motor from a Smart Two/Four, which I suspect is the same as a normal Smart Car one. The fan that comes with it is far too big but you can use your existing fan by re-drilling the centre hole to fit the new motor's spindle (1/4" I think, but measure it to be sure). You need to make 3 spacer tubes to attach the motor to the heater case with bolts to get the right spacing for the spindle length. This sounds tricky but is obvious once you have the parts in your hand. There's plenty of space behind the dash for it to fit. The new motor is much more powerful than the original Smiths one and if you add a 12v speed controller (very cheap from China via ebay) you get an infinitely variable output. It is very effective and quickly warms up the interior and screen in winter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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