Corvair Heater Fan Blower Motor Replacement: Save 50% with Local Parts!

[@firemanruss]

I love how you can think outside the box. Not everything need to be original or OEM to be a quality improvement. Keep up the good work dude.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@vayabroder729]

You got so lucky in getting that motor to fit perfectly and get it easily for reasonable. Great job on adapting the fan.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thanks 👍

[@malcolmmarsh2710]

You like keeping busy. You are fixing this to keep!

[@AutoAnatomy]

I don't sit still very well, and this car keeps me busy

[@tommontague5721]

Good one!

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thanks!

[@volktales7005]

Neat. When I get to this job on my semi-derelect '65, I will probably have to evict some vermin from the fan...

[@JohnnieHobbs-k1j]

I was experiencing the same racket from my 65 and needed to repair it bought the part today. I enjoy your channel and love the practical approach. Keep up the great work

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you so much, and it made a big improvement on my little car.

[@servicetechnician3264]

Hello Sean. Funny you are doing this. Joernone just did his 66 Thunderbird, and I just did my 66 Thunderbird! Yours was so much easier than mine. Good job and now you won't freeze when you drive in the winter. George B

[@AutoAnatomy]

I guess the cold weather brings on the blower motor stress. This one was super easy and I know the '66 Thunderbird motor is NOT easy. Spent way too much time behind the dash of my dad's car.

[@SpeedyG289]

nice video. I appreciate the money saving tips and admire your attention to detail.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@robertlacob8831]

Nice simple job using what's available. Works for me!

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@garycorbin2789]

You bloody Beauty, another Episode!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@dgordon130]

Love the Corvair content! And wow! Looking forward to the next!

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@chrismedeiros3201]

Thank God GM used that same blower motor assembly for many models and years!

[@AutoAnatomy]

It was a shock to find one at a local parts store!

[@jimbo5728]

This was helpful! I didn't have to research the part, just ordered for pickup at my local parts store.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Glad it worked for you!

[@shin-pad1052]

Great job Sean 👍🏼

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@donaldross1077]

My brother had a 1960, 1963, 1965, what can I say he was hard on them. I believe the 1963 was the one that had a "gas" heater in it. In the trunk, {front of car} there was a heater that had its own muffler and burned gasoline. In the winter you had instant heat. As crazy as it sounds the GM windshield washer fluid said on the bottle, {do not use on gas fired heaters} the Corvair was the only car GM ever made with a gas heater! Good video.

[@springertube]

If I recall, the gas heaters were pretty rare as of the late earlys--past year one or two. Our family's 62 and 64 did not have it. They have their own complexities and of course use gas. Before everybody rushes out to get the gas heater, they're not just around sitting on shelves pristine, there is a lot to it (the system diagram alone is enough to ward most people off) not just a quick install. Very few people I've known have found it worthwhile to do any kind of retrofit.

[@AutoAnatomy]

I can see that a gasoline heater probably makes some sense but given the nature and complexity I'm not surprised that it only lasted a short while. One day when looking for accessories for our 1952 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe, I found a "coal powered foot heater" that you lit coal and slid it into a little drawer and then rested your feet upon it. I'm sure it worked a treat but can't imagine how hot that little thing got!

[@sirmister4411]

Awsome. Always glad to see your videos you do a great job on them

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!!

[@matthewcalifana488]

Thanks Sean love the content & your channel , Best Wishes !

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thanks!

[@MrWaalkman]

Nice find!

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you!

[@corsaracercorvair3320]

Again another awesome video, keep up the good work . Love your videos .

[@AutoAnatomy]

Thank you so much! It's little things like this that make such a big difference in the enjoyment of a car. Much like the next few videos coming out!

[@zappatx]

I'm in South Dakota and the late model Corvair heater can work very well when everything is set up properly. In the tech-guide there is the procedure to run a relay for the high speed setting so you don't ruin the switch. Also Clarks (and Walls) have sole the higher speed motor for decades. The reason that first aftermarket motor failed and this one will too - is the Corvair version had that motor vent covered up. By adding that opened hose on the motor it will also fill up with road debris and be ruined in a year or two. That hose is for the Cadillac use where it pulls the motor cooling air from the vent system.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Good info, thanks!

[@andrewreece3861]

You should consider installing a relay between the heater High switch and the blower. They’re known to melt, and the relay will take the load off the switch.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Good thought, I’ll have to check that out

[@cheaptricked]

I was hoping you would video the shroud setup and demonstrate how heat is collected off of an air cooled engine. Seems like a lot of Corvairs are missing this ductwork and I’m sure you resealed yours when you did the engine rebuild.

[@AutoAnatomy]

That's a good suggestion, thank you. If/when the engine comes back out I'll make sure to show this.

[@BFSilenceDogood]

The blower puts out a lot more air, but how much heat will the engine make during cold days?

[@springertube]

In ultra cold, it will never be a furnace, and I make more extensive comments above in my own post, but for at least "acceptable" heat you need to make sure that your thermostat bellows down below in the lower engine shrouds that actuate the air "exhaust" doors are operating properly (a good fall maintenance check), ...and on late models at least there is an engine warm up slot below and behind the oil cooler in the engine compartment, whose cover is often missing--or people don't know to slide it open for winter operation (and usually should be pushed closed in the warmer season(s)).... to aid in engine warm up. That brings warm air up from the above-mentioned lower shroud into the engine compartment.

[@BFSilenceDogood]

@@springertube Thanks! I was thinking about getting a 65-66 Corsa and I live in Michigan.

[@springertube]

@@BFSilenceDogood don't get me wrong, it will never be like a modern water cooled car, but it will be a lot worse with some of those things unattended to!

[@springertube]

@@BFSilenceDogood A lot of people run either with the thermostat bellows / doors wired open in a "fail-safe" position, or the thermostat missing entirely, at least for summer operation, back in the day, yours truly included in the Arizona desert...or even the lower engine shrouds absent entirely (see below), because they don't want to risk the doors failing in the closed position or the engine otherwise overheating. They're not supposed to do that but it can happen. But, the main reason is people just don't want to mess with the added complexity of a sometimes problematic thermostat apparatus. This is all understandable, but in winter operation in many parts of the country leaving those doors propped open (even with the slot I described open) doesn't permit enough of the above circulation of air -- that has been warmed passing over the cylinders -- to be redirected up into the engine compartment to facilitate proper warm up to and maintain operating temperature. The result: the engine doesn't get warmed up properly, and much of that warm air lost exiting out the back (a good thing in extreme summer heat) that at least aided heater operation. Even in the Phoenix area, we re-rigged (enabled) the thermostat bellows (and if any signs of aging/damage, replaced) come late Fall, as even here a properly operating heater was appreciated in the winter and we traveled in higher elevations / snow country a fair amount as well. Regarding the lower shrouds, they were specifically engineered for the proper flow and circulation of cooling / warming air, and removing them entirely messes with that formula. Fine for a sand rail, where that configuration is popular, but my opinion not generally for passenger car purposes. At the very least, removal definitely not recommended for "cold country."

[@AutoAnatomy]

It puts out decent heat, enough to feel comfortable during the winters here in South Carolina.

[@dalemettee1147]

Sean, I'm more like you. You already have the unit out of the car, why not clean it up and re assemble it in better condition than when first looked at.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Yeah, it's almost a compulsion. I really can't put dirty parts back in the car.

[@Friedbrain11]

There is a gasket for it too. You didn't replace it though.

[@AutoAnatomy]

Oh, there wasn't one on the old motor...guess I need to order one. Thanks!

[@springertube]

I'm not speaking for Fairbanks or Duluth type cold, not having been to either but I can only imagine, but in my experience (one early model (64) and three late models (65, 66) and ~ 275,000 mi), in "normal cold" most of the criticisms of the Corvair's famous reported heat or lack of, as well as overly smelly (beyond the normal signature air-cooled "scent") output, can often be traced to cracked and leaky (or missing!) hoses and ducts, and poor performance out of old, defunct blower units like you had to deal with. And of course engine leaks often traced to the push rod tube O rings (long since solved or at least minimized with Viton rings) - or poor install/quality of other gaskets, seals. Proper engine warm up can help too .... a lot of people ignoring or not aware of what I call the "two seasons slot" (on the late models, I forget the earlys) below and behind the oil cooler, often missing its cover...if so, in a pinch you can fashion a cheap one with sheet metal/aluminum and a screw... which you slide open for winter operation - which lets cooling (warming) air be diverted up into the engine compartment from the shrouds below to aid warm up. Properly operating air door thermostats below (in the shrouds) also very important for the winter as well, if faulty - not letting critical warming air do the above engine warm-up duty.

[@danr1920]

Corvair's would not be restorable if we didn't have Clarks Corvair parts. They have over 10,000 part numbers. Lots are available anywhere, but countless parts they reproduced. I've bought parts form two different places in town because I needed them today, but both were wrong. Just another viewpoint.

[@AutoAnatomy]

I’ve spent my fair share at Clark’s but still like finding parts at my local stores as well

[@cheaptricked]

I wish mine was this simple; on my ‘69 Caprice, the blower motor is only accessible by removing the right fender liner.😒

[@AutoAnatomy]

This was one of the easiest I've ever done. Sadly most of my cars aren't this easy.