6 replies to this topic

[minidesire]

I have a ‘94 Sprite SPI, and the bonnet catch hits the fan – which isn’t ideal when opening the bonnet with the engine running. I’ve not had this happen on previous minis (as far as I can recall. It's been a while), so have started to wonder if my fan is positioned correctly relative to the radiator cowl?

 

I know it had a gearbox replacement in the past, so an engine-out job, so maybe something wasn’t put back correctly. I've attached some photos showing the positioning of everything, does this look correct?

 

Attached Files

•  20250325_134053.jpg   65.96K   1 downloads
•  20250325_134347.jpg   57.85K   3 downloads
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•  20250325_134232.jpg   57.38K   3 downloads

[bpirie1000]

You do get different sizes 17mm or 12mm down to 4mm spacer on waterpump to push the fan out.

Hope that helps..

[Cooperman]

The fan is designed to be a ‘ducted fan’.
Thus the fan blades need to sit inside the shroud, not stick out of one side.
Use a spacer to correctly position the fan.

[minidesire]

MiniSpares sell a 12mm spacer that I was planning on using to shift the fan closer to the radiator - there's plenty of room for it. It looks like there's a four or five mill on there at the moment.

I guess I just wanted to check to see if I was missing something daft, as it seems strange that the catch hits the fan with what I assume is the standard size spacer.

[Cooperman]

If the centre line of the fan blades is not on the exact same plane as the centre line of the lip on the shroud there will be some loss of cooling.
Also the distance between fan blade tips and shroud must be equal for all blades.
I learned this many years ago when working on the design of a huge wind tunnel. It was 3 metres diameter and the blade tip to tunnel wall clearance was 2 cm

[NLinPEN]

It is not my intention to distract from the main topic of discussion. On the last photo you posted, is this a bolt without a nut?

Attached Files

•  Screenshot from 2025-03-30 21-20-15.png   62.06K   0 downloads

[colinf1]

It is not my intention to distract from the main topic of discussion. On the last photo you posted, is this a bolt without a nut?

On older alternators this is a tapped hole, but on both of the new alternators from Mini spares it's just a hole so needs a bit.