Sierra Fan Motor In Mini Heater Unit

[enforcer]

Following on from yesterday's 'mini bitz' thread I thought I would pass on how easy and successful it is to install the powerful sierra fan blower inside the mini unit.

 

To prepare the sierra fan motor the first thing to do is cut off the fan unit at the base of the motor and discard. The remaining fan will remain inside its full cowling which is a perfect fit inside the mini 'can' once you have cut off the plastic lugs on either side which joined the two cowling halves together. All you need is some duck tape to seal the halves together. The resister unit needs to be removed from the clip holding the motor to the housing, which is then replaced, holding the motor firmly to its original mounting. Finally the 'lip' at the bottom of the air outlet nozzle needs trimming flush to the cowling. You will need to extend the short, positive wire from the motor as it now needs to run considerably further than the resister unit.

 

Remove the side of the heater unit with the matrix pipes on it, and the three self-tappers holding the mini fan motor in place. This will then come out, and hey presto the modified sierra fan just slides into place (almost an interference fit), secured by three self tapping screws. Even the holes are already there for you! All you need to do now is route the two motor wires through a grommetted hole outside the can, and replace the heater side with some silicone sealant. Job done, and the difference in performance is amazing! The resister unit now needs to be mounted externally, but you will retain use of the sierra loom's multi-plug and three position motor switch.

 

I have some photos of this, but can't work out how to upload them yet. However it really is simple, common sense stuff.

[Guest paul thompson]

I did the same thing but slightly different. I hacked the Sierra cowling so that I ended up with the base of it only where the motor fixed to, cut off one of the fans, refixed the motor and the resistor jobby to it and fixed that inside the mini can where the mini fan used to be with self tappers into the plastic bit from the bottom. Poke the wires through the grommet thingy and reconnected the plug! and as enforcer says, what a difference!

[enforcer]

Here is a photo thanks to Matt's cheeky photo resizing programme