The Honda heater blower

[jaltman]

I installed the Honda heater blower motor today. For those of you who have not done this, WOW! What a difference.

[Ben's Z]

I installed the Honda heater blower motor today. For those of you who have not done this, WOW! What a difference.

Totally. The lowest speed on the Honda was better than the highest on the OE Datsun.

[Wade Nelson]

Umm, can you provide more information, like WHICH Honda blower, out of WHAT model? Is it available from RockAuto?

Is it three screws, two wires, and you're done, or is modification of the base necessary?

Or point us towards a post which provides this info? Thanks.

[jaltman]

I just bought from this guy on ebay. Not sure which Honda, but he put a lil plug adapter together for it that makes it absolutely plug and play. Yes, all the holes line right up. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-240Z-Honda-Fan-Blower-Motor I had to unscrew the glovebox, but not actually remove it, a lil stubby got the top screw out from the old fan. BTW, be sure to reach inside and pull out any leaves and such you can find inside the inards.

Three screws, two wires and done.

[hr369]

From what i've read on this subject, the 240 blower motor is weak compared to the later years blower motor.

I just put one in my 78 280z last weekend. Mine is from a 90 civic. I had to use a grinder to make the heater blower housing bigger because

the fan squirrel cage is bigger than the datsun cage. Sounds like your 240z swap didn't need the grinder?

Anyways, my fan motor was making an occasional squealing noise so i pulled the cover off the motor and found 34 years of copper dust inside.

The brushes must be made of rock because they looked like new but the armature had a deep divot where the brushes rode. All the copper dust

was from the armature wear. That can't be good for current draw. I bet this thing was drawing a ton of amps to run.

For my 280 swap i noticed a more smooth souding fan and a noticable increase in air coming out.

i'm not sure what to do about the little hose hole that used to feed air to cool the motor. should that be closed up to prevent crap from

getting into the motor? i've ran across other threads on this motor swap but don't recall this issue.

[jaltman]

It might be the 88-92 Honda Civic, from what I can find the 280 has a smaller opening and the Honda squirrel cage is too big and the opening needs some grinding, its fine on the 240. I wouldn't say the new low is equal to the old high, mine is less than that, its low, but medium is well over the old high and high is hurricane force winds.

Not sure what to do with the lil hose either. Mine came with a lil hose to attach to it, but it just hangs there and adds nothing. My guess is that if its sucking some cooling air onto the motor it should not be sealed up, but left to draw a bit of cabin air into the motor. Its definitely a slight suction through the hose. I am going to leave it be.

[Captain Obvious]

So the Honda blower moves more air. I get that. But I'm curious as to why...

a) Does it move more air because it's a newer better more efficient design? (Thinking maybe better motor or impeller technology?) Or,

Does it move more air simply because it and spins faster than the original and draws more current accordingly?

The question is... Is the increased air movement "free" due to technological advances, or do you have to pay for the additional air with more current to the motor?

[jaltman]

Here is a bit more information. Poking around it appears to be a 1990 Honda Civic. Other years either side are probably the same. The lil hose appears to attach back into the system on the output side of the fan, forcing air back through the motor, so I certainly would not plug the hole.

I can't speak to the current draw, as I have already installed and pretty much buried the wiring.

I was out last night and driving about and might revise my earlier statement, low might be almost as much air as high was on the old fan. It looks like new fans run around $50 without the squirell cage another $30-40 for the cage. The stock wiring is 2 spades, so some modification of the OE wiring would be required to replace one spade with a round connector.

All in all the ebay guy selling with prewired connectors (nicely done i will point out) with free shipping looks competitely priced (or slightly above by only a few dollars) which made the convenience of plug and play worth any extra $$.

Mi dos pesos.

Edited September 9, 2012 by jaltman

[Wade Nelson]

For anyone following this thread, NOTE that this upgrade is reportedly for 240's only. The later z-vehicles supposedly have a bigger or better fan.

From the discussion I see that the upgraded (Honda) fan has an air channel that blows cool air onto the brushes. That will make them last a LOT longer, both by staying cooler, and getting rid of any carbon / copper dust. That's a feature on many Toyota blower motors that is NOT on the 280ZX blower motor. It can be a channel or a little hose, but it needs to transport air from a high pressure area to the brush area. What I"m saying is: Don't leave it disconnected!