[hornhospital]

Have you ever had to take out and then reassemble the blower in your E30? If you have, you know what a PITA getting the upper half of the "clamshell" housing clipped in can be. The two rear spring clips are stuck behind the housing, and getting them snapped back on is near impossible with bare fingers. If the upper clamshell isn't aligned with the lower half, the clips will not clip on, and if it isn't clipped on, the fan will hit the housing.

After fighting with the housing clips for more time that I care to admit, I finally decided to make a tool to leverage the clips back over the upper housing. It's made of a 12" piece of cold rolled bar stock 3/4" wide and 1/8" thick, and one 1/4"-20 x 2" long machine screw. Bend the bar stock about 100° so that you have about 3" beyond the curve. Drill and tap the bar 1/4"- 20 two inches from the end. Screw the machine screw in leaving about 1" exposed, and put the tool in the left end of the housing (driver's side) so that the tip of the tool is on the curved part of the rear spring clip and the screw head is resting on the firewall below the wiper linkage. Now lift up on the long end of the tool until the clip snaps in place. You may need to adjust the leverage screw to get the right distance so the handle end doesn't hit the underside of the cowl when you lift it. Once the left side is done, move to the right side, which is much more restricted in access. Readjust the leverage screw outward (the firewall angles away on this side) place the tool tip on the curved part of the clip (there's just room enough to get your fingers back there to position the tool) and lift the handle. You should hear a satisfying pop when the clip latches.

See pictures for detail of the super simple construction.

 

[X3-terrestrial]

Thank you! This will be very helpful because I have to replace one of the fans, where did you get the piece of metal?

 

[hornhospital]

Scrap I had (I have a small machine shop). You can get material like that at Lowe's or Home Depot.

 

[X3-terrestrial]

Scrap I had (I have a small machine shop). You can get material like that at Lowe's or Home Depot.

So, question. Does the whole thing need to come out to replace one of the fans only? Or can I do that with the motor fan in place.

The previous owner was going to replace it, he said only one was good so it's blowing less air than it should.

 

[hornhospital]

There's no way to get the fan(s) off without removing the motor. And the fans themselves are pretty delicate. It's just about impossible to remove a fan from the motor shaft without breaking it.