stewie
NAXJA Forum User
I have already installed a Ford Taurus two-speed electric fan in place of my stock mech fan. So I dont need to do this mod, but I wanted to see if it could be done. And yes, with a little work you can install the motor from the Taurus electric fan into our stock electric fan. My camera sucks so sorry that some of the pics are blurry.
From L to R: Taurus fan, 96 XJ stock e fan, Late Model stock e fan
The motors removed - Taurus, Late Model, 96:
Big difference in size. Yes, size does matter...
Ok, down to business. First thing to do is to remove the clip and plate on the stock xj e fan. Use a screwdriver and push the c clip off the front of the blade assembly. Remove the keyed plate.
Remove the blade assembly. A hammer and punch may make it easier to get the blades off.
Once the blades are off you can remove the motor from the shroud/mount assembly. Both of my test fans and the Taurus fan took an 8mm or 5/16" socket to get the three bolts out. Once the motor is removed you have this with the 96 fan on the left and the broken center piece of the late model fan on the right.
Notice the difference in the area where the motor sits. The late model one only has that small lip with minimal cross braces compared to how much more material there is in the 96.
Repeat with the Taurus fan. I was unable to disassemble the Taurus fan without destroying blades. No big deal as you wont be using the Taurus blades.
There are a couple options at this point. you can mount the Taurus motor in the same orientation. With the Taurus motor being taller this would put the blades out of the shroud. Yes, I tried it:
For me it was way too tall. and there was a ton of trimming that was needed that weakened the bracket too much for my liking.
So I went back to the drawing board- well workbench anyways. I decided to hollow out the bracket enlarging the inner diameter of the bracket to fit the outer diameter of the Taurus fan. For this I used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum. It was way easier to take the material out of the late model shroud than it was with the 96. You can use a file, die grinder with rasp, or a Dremel. Be sure to wear eye protection. The Dremel heats up the plastic as it sands some of it a way and throws some molten material out from the drum. Hot semi-solid plastic in the eyes is not a good thing. Once i had most of the material removed I cleaned it up with a half round bastard cut file. Trim to where the rear lip is removed and only a ring remains. It doesnt have to be perfect, there is a little room between the motor and the bracket. Once done this is what you should have:
The ID of the bracket is a little larger than the OD of the motor. Test fit
Next obstacle is to mount the Taurus fan motor. The mounting holes in the bracket do not match with the ones on the motor. Again, there is more than one option. You could drill a new set of mounting holes on the bracket and reattach with original hardware. This puts the screw out of the thicker part of the bracket and I dont think it would be strong enough.
So instead I put the motor on the bracket and used it as a template. I pre-drilled small holes through the plastic and into the motors mounting ears. be sure to use a bit that is smaller than the hole in the plastic because you dont want to remove any of the plastic (then your screws wouldnt have anything to bite into). Once the three pilot holes are drilled in the tabs on the motor, separate the motor and bracket. Then drill the mounting bracket to a hole sufficient for the screws to turn freely and not bind.
Mount the motor to the bracket for a test fit. Here it is with the stock motor next to it and a little higher. In this pic it looks like they may be the same size but there is a huge difference.
And now for the blades. Remove the motor from the bracket/shroud.
The Taurus fan uses a roll pin on the motors stud and a keyed notch on the blades to keep them tight. The XJ fan uses a keyed retainer plate and c clip. In order for the XJ blades to fit, you need to remove the roll pin. You can take it out with a punch. I chose to cut it off with the Dremel. Make the cuts flush with the stud and smooth out with a file. The offending pin:
Test fit the blades to see how much material has to be removed to make it fit.
The material to remove is the bracing that is on the back side of the blade assembly. The late model blades have larger pieces back there than the 96 did and thus I needed to remove more material. I took a good chunk of the corners off.
The 96 blades didnt have as much bracing on the inside and thus had less to remove
From L to R: Taurus fan, 96 XJ stock e fan, Late Model stock e fan
The motors removed - Taurus, Late Model, 96:
Big difference in size. Yes, size does matter...
Ok, down to business. First thing to do is to remove the clip and plate on the stock xj e fan. Use a screwdriver and push the c clip off the front of the blade assembly. Remove the keyed plate.
Remove the blade assembly. A hammer and punch may make it easier to get the blades off.
Once the blades are off you can remove the motor from the shroud/mount assembly. Both of my test fans and the Taurus fan took an 8mm or 5/16" socket to get the three bolts out. Once the motor is removed you have this with the 96 fan on the left and the broken center piece of the late model fan on the right.
Notice the difference in the area where the motor sits. The late model one only has that small lip with minimal cross braces compared to how much more material there is in the 96.
Repeat with the Taurus fan. I was unable to disassemble the Taurus fan without destroying blades. No big deal as you wont be using the Taurus blades.
There are a couple options at this point. you can mount the Taurus motor in the same orientation. With the Taurus motor being taller this would put the blades out of the shroud. Yes, I tried it:
For me it was way too tall. and there was a ton of trimming that was needed that weakened the bracket too much for my liking.
So I went back to the drawing board- well workbench anyways. I decided to hollow out the bracket enlarging the inner diameter of the bracket to fit the outer diameter of the Taurus fan. For this I used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum. It was way easier to take the material out of the late model shroud than it was with the 96. You can use a file, die grinder with rasp, or a Dremel. Be sure to wear eye protection. The Dremel heats up the plastic as it sands some of it a way and throws some molten material out from the drum. Hot semi-solid plastic in the eyes is not a good thing. Once i had most of the material removed I cleaned it up with a half round bastard cut file. Trim to where the rear lip is removed and only a ring remains. It doesnt have to be perfect, there is a little room between the motor and the bracket. Once done this is what you should have:
The ID of the bracket is a little larger than the OD of the motor. Test fit
Next obstacle is to mount the Taurus fan motor. The mounting holes in the bracket do not match with the ones on the motor. Again, there is more than one option. You could drill a new set of mounting holes on the bracket and reattach with original hardware. This puts the screw out of the thicker part of the bracket and I dont think it would be strong enough.
So instead I put the motor on the bracket and used it as a template. I pre-drilled small holes through the plastic and into the motors mounting ears. be sure to use a bit that is smaller than the hole in the plastic because you dont want to remove any of the plastic (then your screws wouldnt have anything to bite into). Once the three pilot holes are drilled in the tabs on the motor, separate the motor and bracket. Then drill the mounting bracket to a hole sufficient for the screws to turn freely and not bind.
Mount the motor to the bracket for a test fit. Here it is with the stock motor next to it and a little higher. In this pic it looks like they may be the same size but there is a huge difference.
And now for the blades. Remove the motor from the bracket/shroud.
The Taurus fan uses a roll pin on the motors stud and a keyed notch on the blades to keep them tight. The XJ fan uses a keyed retainer plate and c clip. In order for the XJ blades to fit, you need to remove the roll pin. You can take it out with a punch. I chose to cut it off with the Dremel. Make the cuts flush with the stud and smooth out with a file. The offending pin:
Test fit the blades to see how much material has to be removed to make it fit.
The material to remove is the bracing that is on the back side of the blade assembly. The late model blades have larger pieces back there than the 96 did and thus I needed to remove more material. I took a good chunk of the corners off.
The 96 blades didnt have as much bracing on the inside and thus had less to remove
