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Defender heater modifications


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Going on from a conversation started here, thought I'd dedicate this new thread to the developments of said heater modifications.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/84583-87-90-4c/?page=9

So for any fettlers out there, I found these on fleebay being spare heater fan rotors (no motor) I just bought a couple for some experimentation.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182417405154?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I'm presently modifying a Disco 1 fan to fit the Defender hole, will post some pictures up when I've completed it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've made a bit of progress on fitting the Denso fan from a MK1 Suzuki Swift. I had to cut all but one of the old studs off, drill and fit some M6 bolts from the inside with an nut to hold them into the casing. This seems to fit neatly into recesses in the rubber seal that came with the motor. I did have to trim off the double lip on the seal to get it to sit nicely in the housing.

For the air recirc / cooling thingy on the motor, I scavenged round the garage for something that fitted nicely in the rubber pipe - a piece of 15mm copper pipe did the job nicely. Using a screwdriver I put a swage on one end, which was then gently hammered over to a right angle. I drilled a 15mm hole in the snail casing at an appropriate point and after trimming the copper pipe down, inserted it from the inside and soldered into place. I also had to cut a small notch out of the new motor mounting plate at the position of the 1 original stud I left in place (as this is where the lower bracket mounts to).

I've also been working on a couple of other heater upgrades, but as they don't relate to fitting a different fan I'll save them for my build thread.

DSC_1761.thumb.JPG.d30881fbb2901fdf461a41cff19db33b.JPGDSC_1764.thumb.JPG.1c46586a36edf944bae0253dedd4e392.JPG

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  • 4 years later...

4 years later and I've finally got around to doing this - after the original Land Rover fan died! 

The Suzuki fan is great, fits perfectly into the housing, I used rivets to fix in place and a plug off an old discovery loom I have to wire it into the 110's loom. 

Maybe it's placebo effect, but it seems a fair bit more powerful than the old fan (when it was in working order!).

Thanks both for your suggestions for this modification.

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On 3/22/2021 at 11:46 AM, Sigi_H said:

My idea was (i did not do it yet) to use a stepup converter like this and provide the fan with slightly higher voltage. The fan can stand this easily. 

I'm not so sure that it would stand much over-volting - if we are talking about the Suzuki motor? It uses forced air cooling which would suggest to me that it runs rather hot if on full for any length of time. As we know: Heating is proportional to the square of the current, and current is directly proportional to voltage . . . . well, up the voltage even just a little and something that runs hot will run even hotter - OK so as the temperature increases then the current will fall . . . but line voltage of 13.6 is probably the most that this little motor could ever take IMHO

As an aside, I found a Mercedes (300 something I think) core that fitted with very little fettling, into the housing, and even with the same agricultural blower, the heat output was about 50% more - very pleased. All the best, Lady Smith

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In my eyes, there are two goals which are separate to view:

1. more air

2. better heating

Better heating (greater energy transfer) is achieved with a better core.
More air to vent the screens properly can only be achieved with a better fan. Slightly higher voltage provides more air. But of course it remains an experiment. However, it can be realised without much effort.

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