Has anyone purchased the ducting kit for the little cooling fan for the PS unit? Just curious if you found it well made, a good fit, worth the money and last, if possible, do you think it is effective at protecting the fan and supplying more cool air?

This is the link to the unit I'm talking about.

http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...79&SortOrder=1

Thanks YD

 

Don't worry about it. Spend your money on Real Performance mods.

 

Mine is an 06 MCSa and it came with the OEM PS fan shroud. I think it's a pretty neat design, especially the screws and metal clips used. It only takes about 3/4 turn for the long screw to engage because of the special designed metal clip used. The screws all have plastic retaining clip to hold them in place if they ever come loose during driving.

I am not sure of the aftermarket installation procedure of the OEM PS shroud. Because it mentions drilling is required. I guess both the OE plastic undercarriage cover and the metal PS fan plate don't have any pre-drilled holes from the factory.

Make sure you confirm that first. I personally would not feel safe to drill any holes on the PS fan.

 

Thanks for the comments. Drilling and fitment and even fabrication is not an issue with me. I have just read that the fan's health is the key to the electric PS pump's health, which is my main concern.

I check my fan every 5K when I change my oil, and so far it runs very fast and quiet. Hopefully, it will continue to do so. i was just looking for any feedback from someone who may have add this duct to get their impressions. I realize it would be hard to tell without a lot of specific data to determine if it is really effective or not.

thanks for your input.

YD

 

I have this (from the factory) on my late 2006 Cabrio. I doubt that it provides more cool air - if anything, the design seems that it would reduce airflow from the open fan on the earlier cars. I think the primary reason for the redesign was to prevent incursion of debris into the fan, and to possibly reduce the amount of grit that got sucked into the mechanism.

It seems to me that if these were significant causes of the PS fan failures, BMW wouldn't have bothered to do the redesign...

 

I bought the plastic skid shield and ductwork for my '04 MCS. I have yet to install the ductwork itself. It seems like I either need to drill into the fan bracket, or I'm missing some hardware to attach the end to the fan.

 

I think you might be correct. Coopers that don't come with the OE fan shroud need to have the fan bracket drilled. I read it on one vendor's site, "drilling is required".

 

Someone should do some air pressure/volume tests with and without the duct to find out if this will actually do anything.

 

I have an 06 MCS with a stick - no shroud/duct. My wife has an 06 MCS with an automatic transmission. She has the shroud/duct on her car, from the factory.

 

I concur. With the shroud on, the only opening is from an area in the center right behind the front bumper chin. It is very hidden and no way to see it unless using a mirror or having the car on ramp. I think MINI just want to address the debris getting snarl issue, not for efficient cooling in mind.

 

Yes, the ducting greatly reduces exposure to road debris / elements. If this were a free flowing inlet, I might worry about air flow - but in this case, it is a 'fan' sucking the air in...

 

I also added this to my 06 MSC; the two holes up front are simple to drill. And as others said, I was more interested in keeping junk from jamming the fan vs anything else; just not having snow (plus sand plus crud) forced in there during the nasty Mass winters .... no problems, but it's a young (19k miles) car still.

 

How about deep water? It would only about 6" of water to put the open end of the shroud under water. Starving the fan for air, all together.

I just use one of the S.S. fan shouds available from several suppliers and a skid plate from Cobalt. 42,000 smiles and no problems so far.

 

wouldn't the fan then also be in water? ok, maybe it would take 7" of water not sure but I'm not thinking to take long drives in deep water..