Blower Motor Upgrade - Not a Honda

[jfa.series1]

A good buddy @chaseincats put me onto this upgrade last year, he originally found it over on HybridZ.  The replacement motor and fan comes from one of our favorite donor cars - a '99 Kia Sportage.  He pulled one from a salvage car and installed it into his 280Z. Yes, the housing needs a 1/16th trim all around the opening but that is the only mod.  His electrical plug was a direct fit.  For my 240Z, the OE motor is hardwired  with a spade and bullet fitting.  Another buddy recently did the same upgrade for his '72 resto project and he put together a jumper for me with the correct plug for the motor and the spade and bullet for my harness.  Grinding out the housing with everything still in the car is a bit of a PITA (I'm getting too old for this crawling around!), but everything came together well.  The new fan puts out lots of air and is super quiet.  A new motor with fan is available at Rockauto for $35 if you not inclined to hit a salvage yard, as in my case. 

[chaseincats]

2 minutes ago, jfa.series1 said:

A good buddy @chaseincats put me onto this upgrade last year, he originally found it over on HybridZ.  The replacement motor and fan comes from one of our favorite donor cars - a '99 Kia Sportage.  He pulled one from a salvage car and installed it into his 280Z. Yes, the housing needs a 1/16th trim all around the opening but that is the only mod.  His electrical plug was a direct fit.  For my 240Z, the OE motor is hardwired  with a spade and bullet fitting.  Another buddy recently did the same upgrade for his '72 resto project and he put together a jumper for me with the correct plug for the motor and the spade and bullet for my harness.  Grinding out the housing with everything still in the car is a bit of a PITA (I'm getting too old for this crawling around!), but everything came together well.  The new fan puts out lots of air and is super quiet.  A new motor with fan is available at Rockauto for $35 if you not inclined to hit a salvage yard, as in my case. 

Glad to hear it worked out!!

[Dave WM]

so is this an upgrade to a 280z or a 240z? I realize a lot of folks complain about the 240z motor but I assumed most of the mods were on par with the 280z setup.

[chaseincats]

3 minutes ago, Dave WM said:

so is this an upgrade to a 280z or a 240z? I realize a lot of folks complain about the 240z motor but I assumed most of the mods were on par with the 280z setup.

The blower works/fits all s30s.  If you have a 280z, the power connector is plug and play (but with series 1 240s, the connector to the blower motor needs the adapter @jfa.series1 fabricated).

While the 280z's blower motor is beefier than the 240's, the sportage motor handily eclipses both.  In my '78 280 for example, the level 5 fan speed setting with the original motor is roughly equivalent to level 3 using the sportage motor.  These things move A LOT more air and are way quieter like Jim was saying.

[Dave WM]

wow, will have to look for one in the JY!

[chaseincats]

4 minutes ago, Dave WM said:

wow, will have to look for one in the JY!

As an FYI, some Sportage blowers have the proper plug/play T connector but some actually have ones that look like a standard wall outlet.  Not sure what year made the change over, but ya just keep your eyes out for the one with the right connector.

[jfa.series1]

48 minutes ago, chaseincats said:

As an FYI, some Sportage blowers have the proper plug/play T connector but some actually have ones that look like a standard wall outlet.  Not sure what year made the change over, but ya just keep your eyes out for the one with the right connector.

The unit I spotted at Rockauto for $35 has pics, it shows the correct T connector.

[240260280]

Thanks Jim et al. Great news for the Z world!

[SoCalJim]

I did this mod to my ‘75 280Z.  I hope to test this out once I get the new dash cover and reassemble/reinstall my dash!

[cgsheen1]

Oh my, I thought everyone already knew of this upgrade!

One of the best things I ever did to my Z (Especially here in AZ when you need the A/C!!!) - how many years ago was that...

edit: Wow... 2011... https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/49583-rebuilding-the-heater-and-vent-mechanicals/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-938998

I'm glad people keep bringing this back, the Kia blower really does move a lot of air.  The ducting design is so poor in the S30 that the blower really has to use brute force to overcome the design problems. You also need to make sure all of your seals are tight on the boxes and ductwork or you'll lose most of the increase behind the dash.

Edited May 7, 2019 by cgsheen1

[grannyknot]

The Honda blower yes, but never heard of the Kia blower, Thanks.  A new excuse to hit the wreckers.

[chaseincats]

Another benefit of the Kia motor over the Honda one is that the Kia one requires no soldering.

I believe the Honda motor requires a resistor or something to be soldered in as the Honda motor blows backwards when plugged into an S30 without that modification which isn't necessary with the Kia one.

Edited May 8, 2019 by chaseincats

[240260280]

which throws most air?

[chaseincats]

Just now, 240260280 said:

which throws most air?

The Kia motor does by far

[cgsheen1]

9 minutes ago, chaseincats said:

The Kia motor does by far

By far.

 

[Mike]

Nice mod!   Unless you like walking around wrecking yards and wrenching on broken cars, just go buy a new one.  ?

 

[2377kN]

I got my Kia motor from RockAuto and installed it last fall. Used a metal nibler to make it fit.  Got it all hooked up with the factory connector and turned it on.  The new motor made some noise but didn't make much difference in air flow.  Did some testing and determined it was spinning the wrong direction.  Swapped the pins in the connector and tried it again.  Tons of air blowing after that.  If anyone does the upgrade and doesn't notice a difference try swapping the pos / neg that feed the motor.

[SoCalJim]

Thanks for the heads up on the motor direction, 2377kN!

[Captain Obvious]

7 hours ago, Mike said:

Unless you like walking around wrecking yards and wrenching on broken cars

I sure do and I bet I'm not the only one!   

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

I sure do and I bet I'm not the only one!   

Quality time.

[kully 560]

I just did the upgrade several days ago with the kia  blower motor very nice works much better. I used a drill with  a grinding stone and ground down about 1/8" all the way around the opening. I removed the glove box also before grinding . I also changed all the vent hoses / heater hoses at the same time . took about 1 -1/2 hours . great upgrade thanks

[arcdef]

On 6/3/2019 at 11:41 PM, kully 560 said:

I just did the upgrade several days ago with the kia  blower motor very nice works much better. I used a drill with  a grinding stone and ground down about 1/8" all the way around the opening. I removed the glove box also before grinding . I also changed all the vent hoses / heater hoses at the same time . took about 1 -1/2 hours . great upgrade thanks

Did you buy OEM replacement hoses or an alternative?

[arcdef]

Hi All,

 

Can you confirm if this is the right motor? We didnt get the 1999 model in the UK and this looks the same except it has some kind of hose coming off the back also?

Ebay

Thanks!

[jfa.series1]

5 hours ago, arcdef said:

Hi All,

 

Can you confirm if this is the right motor? We didnt get the 1999 model in the UK and this looks the same except it has some kind of hose coming off the back also?

Ebay

Thanks!

Difficult to confirm it is the same - it is similar as you suggest.  In the seller's 3rd pic you can spot the electrical plug location at about 12 o'clock.  Go back to my pics and you can see a raised shape/cover about the same location as the tube that may have been to provide air circulation around the body of the motor.  The OE motor has air vents at the back of the metal housing, none visible in the plastic housing of the Kia item.

[arcdef]

Fair enough, actually off to the states in Feb so will try order one to my hotel. Thanks for looking