General Upgrading the interior fan?

[Didge3]

Anyone ever thought of upgrading the interior fan/making it better.
Unless its just mine I find the interior fan pretty wheezy at best, it makes an awful lot of noise but I don't get much air...
Is it a cage fan type thing (I've come across these on quite a few cars), I assume it's somewhere up in/near the heater airbox because its much louder outside the car than it is in...

Any thoughts?

 

[Dragon Man]

it actually uses a propeller type fan!

sadly with the panda not having a cabin fan air filter, the heater matrix gets really clogged up over time.
it gets full of like dandilion seeds, catkins, and other small stuff. you can clean it out but you have to take the whole thing out to do it.

take the dash off and undo the 4 screws holding the control levers in place, then take the engine bay sound proofing off and look up beside the fan box. you will see a 10mm nut each side of the fan box. undo those and you should be able to move the whole box. you will have to disconnect the heater matrix pipes though. undo the top one first, then try to undo the bottom one and catch as much as you can.

when you get the whole box out all you have are funny little clips on the side holding the thing together. these things do spring around everywhere so make sure you can catch them before taking them off. once you have done that, you will be able to open the whole thing and get the matrix out for cleaning. i did this with Talon and Fallouts and it makes a big improvement to the air flow. i got half a pint glass worth of "plant matter" out of mine before it was clean enough to see through it!

worth doing... great improvements.

if you want a fan that you can vary the speed on more better, consider installing a thing called a PWM speed controller to the fans negative and full speed wires.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Never any issues with ours.

What are you actually trying to obtain? More airflow or more heat in the winter?

 

[Didge3]

Thanks Dragonman, sounds like quite a faff but I'll have a look, not overly keen on having to disconnect the heater matrix...

Never any issues with ours.

What are you actually trying to obtain? More airflow or more heat in the winter?

More airflow is the desired objective, heater works fine and produces plenty of heat. Its more a summer issue, on 99% of other cars you turn the interior fan onto setting 1 or 2 out of a maximum of 4 (normally) and they already overpower what the Panda fan can achieve, I'm able to deal with a lack of aircon but when I'm sat stationary in a traffic jam on a hot day where the windscreen vents are useless I turn the fan onto full speed and the breeze created barely blows beyond the rim of the steering wheel

 

[kolza]

is the foot/windscreen stream selector flap opperating?

 

[Didge3]

is the foot/windscreen stream selector flap opperating?

Yes I think it works, when I select foot or windscreen it appears to redirect the air accordingly, if anything I get slightly more airflow to the foot vent (I'm not entirely sure where this is, I haven't looked) than the face vent.

 

[kestrel4x4]

.
Yes, if you have some time for reading, this is the right discussion

http://www.panda4x4.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2426

p.s. it's a good chance to learn italian :yum:

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Thanks Dragonman, sounds like quite a faff but I'll have a look, not overly keen on having to disconnect the heater matrix...


More airflow is the desired objective, heater works fine and produces plenty of heat. Its more a summer issue, on 99% of other cars you turn the interior fan onto setting 1 or 2 out of a maximum of 4 (normally) and they already overpower what the Panda fan can achieve, I'm able to deal with a lack of aircon but when I'm sat stationary in a traffic jam on a hot day where the windscreen vents are useless I turn the fan onto full speed and the breeze created barely blows beyond the rim of the steering wheel

TBH its typical of any car of this era, its a ventilation system not a cooling system imo, if you're stuck in traffic you just open all the windows

 

[Bartpanda]

I corked the middle ventilation duct in trekking, because it didn't work as it should.. This greatly improved the airflow for the front window.And for ventilation purposes I bought a nice car fan, on the picture it is upside down, but when in right position it covers all cabin with cool blow, even demist the rear window faster than original heating

 

[Didge3]

TBH its typical of any car of this era, its a ventilation system not a cooling system imo, if you're stuck in traffic you just open all the windows

I only have 2 windows that are openable and when I'm stationary they don't create much of a draft

However I appreciate that the system wasn't designed to be like a modern cars cooling system which I why I didn't post saying that my cooling system doesn't work properly, I've asked if there's a way to upgrade it to bring it up to a more modern standard.

 

[kolza]

Buy one imported from Japan

https://www.tradecarview.com/fr/used_car/japan%20car/fiat/panda/15640231/

All have A/C as std.

 

[Dragon Man]

if i could get the in cab AC part, i so would have AC in talon by now.

 

[panda panda]

Who wants a cold knee though?

 

[Didge3]

Buy one imported from Japan

https://www.tradecarview.com/fr/used_car/japan%20car/fiat/panda/15640231/

All have A/C as std.

I don't have £5,000 to spend on a Panda And I've read the Japanese models aren't rust protected like ours from factory (although you can hardly call ours rust protected ) so once imported and they see a few winters they'll be well and truly holey negating the need for that A/C

if i could get the in cab AC part, i so would have AC in talon by now.

As would I, I did look into it but its impossible to source the parts needed. If you ever find a way, I'd drive up to Derby and pay you to fit it though

 

[Dragon Man]

the hardest part is finding an interior "radiator" (condenser) with blower. you would like to fit it into the original panda cabin fan/heater matrix box somewhere.. it "could" be done by modding the box a bit.
anything outside is easy. you just need the front AC radiator(Evaporator), AC compressor, mounting plate, alternator, multi V belt crank pulley and belt from an 8v 1.2 mk1 or mk2 punto

all the piping you can make yourself using copper pipe and solder joints

i have all the bits here to do it, i am just working on how to fit in the interior radiator (condenser) into a spare cabin fan box..

 

[Bartpanda]

I do not want to open new thread, so I'll ask here:

Is the fan{ the whole propeller/electric engine/ plastic frame setup} interchangeable between mk1 and mk2..... ? My fan in bella is giving its last breath and I have spare, in good nick, but from 92 trekking. Is it "good to go" under bellas bonet?

 

[Dragon Man]

as far as i have seen, both fans look to be identical..

while you are in the air box, give the heater matrix a clean. they get so clogged up..

i got so much dirt, leaves and tree seeds out of talons it was unbelievable. the fan blows really powerful now