So my blower flew apart again...

Yttermayn

My original Columbia blower flew apart a few months ago. I replaced it with a slightly shorter Harley blower which worked fine until a couple days ago. It flew apart also. I am loathe to pull the engine again to install another fan, so I started looking for alternatives.
I found a 12vdc marine bilge blower. It puts out 230 cfm. I built a duct system to connect it to the head and blower cowling. I wired the motor in parallel to my fuel pump mod so it comes on anytime you press the throttle.
Anybody got any thoughts? I ran the cart around for a bit today and it didn't seem too hot. It was doing much better than without a fan at all, anyways.

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raydhd

Are your crank bearings up to snuff with blowing up of all of those fans?

Yttermayn

Not sure what you mean exactly, but there doesn't appear to be any play. Both fans were original and the first one was cracked to begin with. I chalk it up to them being old and brittle.
I was thinking : This engine is no different than a motorcycle engine in terms of cooling, it's just under a cover and therefore needs an artificial breeze. All it needs is enough airflow around the head to keep the hot air from building up. Am I correct?

raydhd

Can't really answer that but when my brother in laws harley ate the fan we found the bearing on the fan side allowed some wobble.He replaced the crank bearings and the fan and its still running 7 years later.WE looked at using other fans or electric blowers but in the end paid the money for a good used fan.

Lochlin

That's a pretty good piece of engineering there. Really, those engines don't need a ton of air to keep them within a decent running range.

Those original fans are notorious. I don't know if they were made with cheap metal or what the deal is but they get brittle over time. It's doubtful that you have any issue causing your fan wear.

FYI: If your engineering doesn't work out you can find new replacement fans. They are a bit pricey though. Also, you can replace the fan without taking the motor out of the cart. You have to remove the blower housing though.

73eldo

One of my concerns is having the power to run that plus a fuel pump. The cart I had with the electric fans (and burnt rings) also had a burnt out generator. These were only designed to charge the battery so adding a couple amps to run a fuel pump and several to run a fan is quite an additional load.

Not sure what kind of CFM the originals moved, I have never really thought about it. I do have an airflow meter so maybe next time I am around my carts I can find out.

I too am thinking there has to be some issue to cause 2 fans to disintegrate.

Yttermayn

@Lochlin Unfortunately on this engine, half the motor mounts ARE the blower housing. Believe me, I tried to do it without pulling the whole thing. You just can't get the housing off otherwise.
Thanks for the compliment on the engineering, btw.
@73Eldo I'll charge and drop a deep cycle RV battery in this F-er before I tear the engine out a third time!

Lochlin

Ah, that's right. Original motor mounts are riveted in.

I replaced the motor mounts on all 3 of my HDs / Columbias and I used bolts for the new motor mounts and not rivets. When I replaced my fan I simply unbolted the front two motor mounts and that entire blower housing lifted right off without having to do anything with the engine itself.

Yttermayn

Update: so I have been using this cart with the 12 volt blower and such since last year and it appears to be working just fine heat and battery wise. I am running a blower, fuel pump, and occasionally head/tail lights and my generator and battery are just fine. My biggest problems now are just little annoying carb /vacuum issues.