Supplier advice for replacement radiator fan?
Discussion
Am in the market for a new electric cooling fan for my 1996 Griff 500 as O/S one has seized (see my other post for the ensuing electrickery side of the problems).
A quick search of the WWW from work found The TVR Shop, who sell two types of fan, a small motor one at ~£60, and a big motor one at ~£120. From what others have said, the latter (unfortunately) sounds like the right one?
Anyone know of other sources of supply. I am keen to get one that is a direct replacement, as do not want to be into remaking or drilling brackets.
Has been suggested that it might be possible to dismantle the seized one and source new bearings. Am going to remove it tonight and look inside, but has anyone managed to successfully overhaul one? I know mine is not burnt out, just VERY tight and noisy.
Any advice from those of you who have already been down this road?
Neil
A quick search of the WWW from work found The TVR Shop, who sell two types of fan, a small motor one at ~£60, and a big motor one at ~£120. From what others have said, the latter (unfortunately) sounds like the right one?
Anyone know of other sources of supply. I am keen to get one that is a direct replacement, as do not want to be into remaking or drilling brackets.
Has been suggested that it might be possible to dismantle the seized one and source new bearings. Am going to remove it tonight and look inside, but has anyone managed to successfully overhaul one? I know mine is not burnt out, just VERY tight and noisy.
Any advice from those of you who have already been down this road?
Neil
just bought 2 myself , they are about £120-130 each. they are not really repairable, i looked inside my seized one, and the steel springs which hold the magnets in place rust and literally disapear they are so thin, so unless you can find new ones your buggerd. its just rust inside that siezes the motors.if your spring clips are ok then you should be able to unseize it,clean it and all should be ok, if not then there is another problem. there is a spal main agent in taunton, search for spal on here and you will find the address. i imagine they will be the cheapest, if not try radtec, they quoted me £110 +vat. or thirdly i have a 2nd hand one in gwo.
i replaced both as the newer model is more water tight.you cant buy them without the casing, but they fit the standard cowling. hope this helps.
i replaced both as the newer model is more water tight.you cant buy them without the casing, but they fit the standard cowling. hope this helps.
unclemark123 said:
just bought 2 myself , they are about £120-130 each. they are not really repairable, i looked inside my seized one, and the steel springs which hold the magnets in place rust and literally disapear they are so thin, so unless you can find new ones your buggerd. its just rust inside that siezes the motors.if your spring clips are ok then you should be able to unseize it,clean it and all should be ok, if not then there is another problem. there is a spal main agent in taunton, search for spal on here and you will find the address. i imagine they will be the cheapest, if not try radtec, they quoted me £110 +vat. or thirdly i have a 2nd hand one in gwo.
i replaced both as the newer model is more water tight.you cant buy them without the casing, but they fit the standard cowling. hope this helps.
i replaced both as the newer model is more water tight.you cant buy them without the casing, but they fit the standard cowling. hope this helps.
Mark,
I seem to have jumped ahead of myself here - have just spend a cold and frustrating hour and a half trying to get the old fan off the car! I thought (wishfully, it seems) that the four bolts around the circumference of the fan could be removed, and the fan lifted off the cowl. But it seems there is a nut on the bolt, and there is no way of holding that tight whilst undoing the bolt.
Moved on to try and remove the cowl. The bolts at the top front came out easily (and managed to retrieve the dropped washers from behind the grill!), but clear that it is also attached at the bottom of the radiator. Could just about feel the head of a bolt a few inches in from the outer edge, but cannot for the life of me see how I could get a spanner to it to remove it.
As you have clearly been here already, have I missed anything? SH's book talks about removing the fans prior to radiator removal, and says it is a "little tricky" (??!) but gives no further information.
Having thought I was nearly there after diagnosing the wiring problem, I am now realising that the job is far from over - well pissed off tonight!
tricky being the word mate! when i took mine out i undid the four bots that held the fan to its plastic spiders web(posi),then undid the two bolts on the cowling on top of the rad,pushed the fan through the spiders web,bent the plastic cowling up and out that way, it bent ok without damaging it. the two bolts on the bottom are a b'stard to get out, i didnt manage it. i changed my rad last week and only managed to get then out when i could lift the rad.nothing seems to be easy on the griff!!!!
unclemark123 said:
tricky being the word mate! when i took mine out i undid the four bots that held the fan to its plastic spiders web(posi),then undid the two bolts on the cowling on top of the rad,pushed the fan through the spiders web,bent the plastic cowling up and out that way, it bent ok without damaging it. the two bolts on the bottom are a b'stard to get out, i didnt manage it. i changed my rad last week and only managed to get then out when i could lift the rad.nothing seems to be easy on the griff!!!!
Hmm, am starting to think that once I have sorted the wiring out I might get a specialist to change the radiator (which has a leak down in one corner)and replace the fans whilst at it. Won't be cheap but not sure if I want the agro.
These constructional details are so frustrating - it must be possible to design these things better in the first place.
unclemark123 said:
yeah ! just changed my rad to alloy one, from act/radtec. its very well made, and the fans are a piece of cake to put on/take off ! the cowling is alloy, and has captive nuts riveted into it.fan can be removed in a couple of mins.
Have you got any more details of these upmarket aftermarket bits? Are the fan/cowlings available separately, or only as part of the radiator. Alloy cowlings - nice for polishing up too (ref recent posts)!
And how much are we talking about, cost wise? I suspect getting the std bits (rad & both fans) replaced by a specialist or dealer will be £800+, so might be worth the extra work myself. Assume ally rad is lighter to lift in too.
But a big worry of DIY-ing it is damaging the bodywork. I suffer from a silly small garage, so lifting out might prove difficult, and damaging to the back (or even worse the Griff)!
when i changed my rad for an alloy one, i also replaced both fans,fitted a silicon hose kit, stainless steel coolant pipes, and an act induction pipe with k&n filter (its easier to fit with the rad out).
total cost was approx £850,plus antifreeze. i did it in my very small garage, its not hard just fiddly. the alloy cowling on the alloy rad is welded on solid. for itting instructions go to the griffith pages :-) the rad on its own is £380 approx.
total cost was approx £850,plus antifreeze. i did it in my very small garage, its not hard just fiddly. the alloy cowling on the alloy rad is welded on solid. for itting instructions go to the griffith pages :-) the rad on its own is £380 approx.
unclemark123 said:
when i changed my rad for an alloy one, i also replaced both fans,fitted a silicon hose kit, stainless steel coolant pipes, and an act induction pipe with k&n filter (its easier to fit with the rad out).
total cost was approx £850,plus antifreeze. i did it in my very small garage, its not hard just fiddly. the alloy cowling on the alloy rad is welded on solid. for itting instructions go to the griffith pages :-) the rad on its own is £380 approx.
total cost was approx £850,plus antifreeze. i did it in my very small garage, its not hard just fiddly. the alloy cowling on the alloy rad is welded on solid. for itting instructions go to the griffith pages :-) the rad on its own is £380 approx.
Looked at the radtech website today - rad looks very sexy! Good idea about the induction kit - the TVR front airbox is very Heath Robinson, and access not clever with radiator in.
Did you get it all from ACT, or the rad & fans from Radtech? Price for radiator seems about the same from both, but note Radtech are Spal agents.
Neil
unclemark123 said:
the 850 was excluding fans neil :-(, got it all from act, but the rad was deliverd direct from radtec.
Where did you get the fans from? And did you have to pay the usual £120 each? I found an old PH post referring to getting them from Europa Motorsport for about £70 a throw, which is a good saving (esp if buying two).
But whats £50 when you're spending a grand, eh!
neil, i got my fans from feredaycars.co.uk, he did me a deal £230 for both deliverd inc vat. you may be able to bend his arm ! i would be surprised,and miffed! if you could get them for less than £80 each! i think the part number is VA-AP70-LL, that will fit ,its just a superseeded part number from the old one. p.s LL stands for long life-lets hope so!
unclemark123 said:
neil, i got my fans from feredaycars.co.uk, he did me a deal £230 for both deliverd inc vat. you may be able to bend his arm ! i would be surprised,and miffed! if you could get them for less than £80 each! i think the part number is VA-AP70-LL, that will fit ,its just a superseeded part number from the old one. p.s LL stands for long life-lets hope so!
The post was 2001/2, so might be unlucky. Europa will have wised up by now!
FFG,
Cheers, will give 'em a bell and see what they can do for me.
Need to get dead'un out too - I have been told it is poss to undo the rad brackets and lift the rad up & forward enough to get the bottom cowl-to-rad bolts out, without disconnecting any hoses. Will try this first before pulling out the rad I think, as the leak is very minor and I could do without the aggro & expense of recore/replacement right now.
Cheers, will give 'em a bell and see what they can do for me.
Need to get dead'un out too - I have been told it is poss to undo the rad brackets and lift the rad up & forward enough to get the bottom cowl-to-rad bolts out, without disconnecting any hoses. Will try this first before pulling out the rad I think, as the leak is very minor and I could do without the aggro & expense of recore/replacement right now.
FlipFlopGriff said:
Can you not take the fan out without taking the cowl off (can't remember the set up with the cowls now - alley rad).
FFG
FFG
Sadly, the GRP cowls have no captive nuts, so cowls need to come off first! I think if I end up taking out the old rad I will go the alloy rad route too.
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