Following up on my earlier post about winterizing the 544: since it was -2 in Boston today, the blower motor jumped to the top of the list. Recalling the GM blower Jim mentioned putting in his 444, I stepped down to the local parts joint and asked for a '73 Blazer blower motor (Heavy Duty motor, for 4wd/AC equipped truck), mostly because I had a Blazer in a previous life and remembered the blower box being similar to the PV's...turns out to be a different shape, but basically the same size as the PV blower box cover. The shaft is bigger, so the old squirrel cage had to be drilled out; the motor sticks down below the cover so the whold thing had to be spaced up with a ring cut from 3/4" MDF. Sounds lots worse-looking than it is, especially once I paint the MDF black. Unit is still lower overall than the tall-boy it replaces. Best of all, the motor moves lots more air than the original, and cost $15. Good enough.

Since the 122 and the old PVs have similar heaters I wonder if this might
be a good change for the Amazon. Any thoughts on this?

Also pardon my ignorance but what is MDF?
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

George--I've noticed from some of your posts that you're not afraid to make tools, jigs, etc. out of wood...I feel the same way, it's usually the fastest way to get something the right shape. MDF is nice because it has no grain or layers as plywood does, and comes in increments of 1/8" thickness--so it's good for odd, round shapes and the like. But as Ron ponts out it's porous, will fall apart when exposed to water unless it's sealed. I plan to put a nice coat of rustoleum on it and expect it to hold up fine.

Nathan;

If you put a good coat of Rustoleum on it, that would sure seal it (I don't expect it subjected to too much water anyway)...or you could even mix up some polyester resin and use that to lock up the fibre, and make a pretty permanent, true "composite" structure! The nice thing about the MDF is that you can easily cut and work it with simple hand tools.

Cheers

George;

I don't see the need...aren't there plenty of used Amazon blowers around... I've yet to have one fail at all, and I've got a couple spares stored (they're so easy to remove, they are one of the first things I grab when I'm in the one-man-chop-shop-mode).

"MDF" I believe refers to medium density fibre board...an easilly worked material with which you could quickly make a spacer...I'd probably prefer a (nonporous and more permanent) Phenolic material, also available in various thicknesses...but requiring a bandsaw to work.

Cheers

I did the exact same thing with a blower motor from a 1987 Chevy s10. Drilled the 544 squirrel cage to fit the new shaft size and made a spacer. Used the s10 wire resistor and now have a 3 speed fan. Wish I could figure out how to make my 240 station wagon rear window wiper motor run at 2 speeds.
Rayj

Ray--for your rear wiper: from the crash course in motor wiring I took while doing this speed-installation, I'd say you could run a three-position switch (off, one, two) to a pair of relays, with one relay feeding into a dropping resistor. This is how the Jeep guys make the Blazer motor have two speeds...I also bought a Blazer blower relay but can't interpret GM terminalese; might work as two relays in one?