Rebuild Replace '84 308 QV heater fan?

I opened up the valence to find my heater fan bouncing around in there. Disconnected it and tested 12v. directly across the two motor terminals. With some coaxing, got it to spin, but starts to smell "electrical burn" funny, like I was overloading it. Opened up the halves, found a ceramic resistor inside the body that crumbled out. On the resistor it says RYK11 IR5 TP. The fan itself is a Spal unit, Tipo: 001-A07--1S 12v.

Does anyone know a distributor for these (I'd like to avoid the ripoff Ferrari dealer chain and I think this blower was installed on a lot of different cars, some cheaper than F's).

How about rebuilding this? Anyone with experience? It is possible to replace the resistor (if that's what it was)? Anyone know the specs of the resistor and how to replace? Okay to run without it?

Thanks for the help!

 

Spal USA, representatives of the original fan motor's manufacturer recommends a replacement, no. 001-A53-A03D (clockwise) and 001-A53-03S (counterclockwise, I assume for the left side blower). The price, plus shipping, is 119.95. On problem, however, is that there is no mounting holes or brackets on this unit, and the buyer would, presumably, have to make something. Many of the older original units had two, plastic tangs with holes for mounting, which often broke, being replaced by hand-made metal tangs that were riveted to the fan body.

Incidentally, the new model has three speeds. These are provided by way of resistors that are mounted within the fan body and wired to three contact points. The speeds in 308's is achieved by the interior switch having different positions that correpsond to sending power to the various contacts/resistors within the fan.

Spal says that the new fans are much more efficient than the old ones and would be a significant upgrade.

 

Another problem I'm having with this motor is that it's just not spinning much. I think it has a lot of dead spots on the commutator. I've tried dissasembling it, but the screws are so rusty they are breaking off or simply not coming off. I think for $119, I'm going to buy the new one and adapt it to fit. Your cable tie idea is good. I was thinking about making metal brackets and cushioning these with some rubber grommets. I'll report with more news when I have the new motor.

BTW: Does anyone know of a US equivalent, such as a Mopar motor. That might save even more money.

 

Dennis has them new for $260. I'm curious. His list has black and white fan bodies, with the right always being the right side. My right side motor body is black. How about you guys? Could it be that mine was replaced with a left side fan?

 

Got one used,and it still has the plastic mounting holes intact. Many of these break off from the mounts and have to be remounted using crappy looking metal tabs that are pop-riveted (and hardlyOEM) onto the fan body.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to modify the original mounts so they don'tbreak off so easily?

I'm thinking of using rubber grommets or a few layers of tire tube rubber between the bolt, plastic and mounting. Any oppinions?

 

I ended up cutting two small 1" squares off a roll of foam rubber that was sold for gasketing the bottom of my garage door. Then I cut a hole in the center of each and positioned these like washers between the car's mounting and the plastic fan body. By tightening the screws (and I really tightened them) I could adjust the amount of "wiggle" I would allow in the motor. As it is now, it has just a tiny bit of flex, what I feel would be just enough to avoid snapping the plastic mounts in a hard stop (read front ender). In that circumstance, I think I will need more than fan motors. Otherwise, I hope it doesn't facture, that is wear to a break by bending back and forth.

I'll up a pix soon if I can get at it tonight.

 

308GTS asked where he could buy the heater blower fan new from Spal, the original Italian mfgr. Find Spal USA at www.spal-usa.com or call 800-345-0327. They are a division of Iowa Import-Export. Give them your model number and they will find you the closest equivalent, which is not a perfect match (no mounting tangs - otherwise the same) but I believe it blows. (that is, it doesn't suck). I think they also have the radiator fans for most Ferraris as well. At $119 (I paid $150 for a used one from a parting-out guy) it's not a bad deal.