Nissan micro heater fan conversion

[haggis]

Hi guys, seeing if anyone has done the micra fan conversion on a Gt6 mk1? , I thought there was a very thorough article in the courier sometime back with a herald/vitesse heater but can’t find the issue. 
 

thanks

hag 

[Colin Lindsay]

I think I've found some - had to dash as was burning toast... but think these are the threads? I've fitted a Smart blower but the vanes are too big and require replacing.

 

[haggis]

Thanks Colin, a little beyond me I think, but might have ho if I can get one cheap. 
 

hag 

[Colin Lindsay]

https://triumphherald1360.blogspot.com/2016/01/heater-fanblower.html

Sorry about earlier; I was watching the smoke curling up from the grill, typing as fast as I could, and waiting for the smoke alarm to go off. The link above is to Darren Grove's modification on his blog.

I bought the smart car blower for £7 off eBay; it's an almost straight fit to the Herald heater body with no cutting required. The only difference is that the vanes are huge and won't fit, so if you want to avoid cutting the Herald heater box you very carefully remove the original vanes from the Lucas blower motor and replace them on the Smart / Nissan motor. If you do it correctly they'll stay on, and will spin with no vibration. The problem is that they're usually fitted with a one-way press fitting, so it goes on easily but is a pig to remove without permanent damage. You'll find the Smart motor spins far faster than the Lucas original, so you can fit an in-line rheostat to give you infinite variable control; that's also covered on one of the other threads on here.

  

 

 

[DVD3500]

This looks interesting...  does it pull more amps / watts than the standard motor?

[thescrapman]

11 hours ago, DVD3500 said:

This looks interesting...  does it pull more amps / watts than the standard motor?

Not really apparently. I have one ready to fit to my Mk3 Spitfire. Much better motor design.

[DVD3500]

Thanks!

Any tips on getting the vanes off the older motor?

 

[Colin Lindsay]

Be careful! You're not really worried about the Nissan vanes - I broke the mount getting them off, but I think they're too big to fit inside the Herald case anyway.

The original metal Herald vanes and some of the earlier plastic versions are held on with a spring clip which is quite hard to access; the later plastic versions have a four-pronged fixing that expands to let the spindle through then clamps onto it again. You need to ease each leg off and around but of course once you get one, the others spring back into place. Bend them too far and they'll either not grip the new spindle or else they'll snap off. Possibly heat in the form of boiling water may soften them. They're just very hard to access being down in the middle of the blower vanes.

[haggis]

I decided mine was too rusty to try and get off, it works, more like fart than a fan but better than nothing. 
 

hag 

[Colin Lindsay]

These are the guys - right photo, below - you need to prise apart if you're swapping vanes and want to keep the new plastic ones. You need at least four hands, and very careful ones too. The rusty metal clip on the originals - left photo - can be very carefully cut off; the old vanes will push onto the new motor spindle with care, keep them straight and balanced to avoid vibration, and a little bit of good adhesive should keep them in place. They spin much more quickly on the new motor, and as you can hear from the video, much more quietly.

 

[DVD3500]

Thanks!
Smart motors are about 10-15€ here so I am thinking of "upgrading". Maybe I can find a vane from a Spitfire lying around... and can save me the fiddling. :-)