Fan Shroud Removal

[wastintime]

Hey Everyone,
It's not that fun when the gland nut comes off of your fan at 2am allowing metal spacers to be sucked into it and the blades to start coming apart... thankfully it didn't hurt anything too major. I replaced the fan and replaced some incorrect parts (namely the nut that came off!) with correct ones. The vibrations from the fan not being attached properly threw off the linkage a good bit, and the crossbar is unable to be securely attached to the car.

My mechanic and I both think the fan shroud needs to come off becuase the metal itself is starting to show signs of fatigue, and we really can't see why crossbar isn't attaching properly. It could be the points on the shroud, the bellcrank at the back, etc...

Anyway, my question is: Has anyone ever removed the fan shroud on their engine? How easy of a process is it and what is involved? If anyone has the general steps that would be great.

Also, I'm not totally sure if I need to replace the shroud or not, I guess I'll figure that out once I get it off. Does anyone know of a good source for fan shrouds?

Thanks,
Andrew

[C. Clark]

Andrew,
The only time I have had my fan shroud off was when th engine was out. That said it seems I read some ones story about removing it with the engine in. If you haven't already, do a search at this site and see. Regardless much easier with the engine out. 45 minutes to remove my engine, a little longer to re-install.
Happy motoring,
Chas.

[Green 912]

I talked to a person that removed the doghouse with the motor in the car and he likened it to doing brain surgery thought your butt. (He was stuck on the side of the road and did not have a way to pull the motor out)

You will need to remove or at least lower the motor. Jack the back end up and put it on stands. You don’t need to pull the motor off the trans and out just disconnect the shift linkage, loosen the trans mounting bolts and with a floor jack under the motor unbolt and lower the motor 4 or 5 inches or so. (see old post for more on pulling motor) This will give you enough room to pop the shroud off. All things considered, I would pull the motor off the trans and out completely. As Mr. Clark says, it is easy to pull the motor and with all the other problems you are having with your ride I suspect you might find more work to do.

[craign]

Check this thread at Bay 912, sounds like it can be done with the engine in place but will suffer major headaches and frustrations.

But you might be an expert on that by now huh?





http://www.hillmanimages.com/mailman/sc912.pl?read=253

[wastintime]

Craig,
Lol, I am definitely and expert in headaches and frustration at this point. Which would explain why I'm shopping for a much younger 911. I love the 912, and I'm still keeping it, but it'd be nice to have a much more reliable car as well. Hell, I can't sell the 912, I'd never even get a third of the money I've put into it back.

Anyway, I was planning to take off the fan shroud (and still may later on), but I took the carbs off and it looks like that was all I needed to do. With the carbs off I could see what was wrong with my fan shroud. I'm glad I didn't have to decide whether or not to do it with the engine in or out of the car.

Thankfully the shroud itself isn't in terrible shape. The problem is that the left ball joint for the crossbar (the one that is attached to the shroud) had been broken at some point in time before I owned the car, and it had been repaired by someone who didn't really know what they were doing.... much like what caused the fan to disintegrate in the first place. It looks like it was just glued back into place.

I'm going to try to weld it back into place with the engine still in the car. Yes I'm planning on being very careful. If all goes well it should be back on the road this weekend.