83 CJ7 Heater Blower Motor

[hemrides]

I have a friend that has a 83 CJ7 and needs to put a new heater blower motor in it. He said the ones he has purchased are larger then the original and don't fit the hole in the firewall. Does anyone know where he can get one to fit. I have looked online and the ones I found say the same thing. I'm assuming that over the years the hole had to be enlarged due to spec changes from the OEMs. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

[Renegade II]

I can check a few of the heater boxes I have out in the barn. One of them may still have the OE size motor on it. Back in the day the trick was to swap it out for a FS GM truck one because the Jeep motor sucks. Unless he's got a museum piece Jeep and wants to keep it that way I'd open the wall hole and get better blower performance

[hemrides]

Thanks for the info. I will let him know.

Dave

[shawn]

Yeah I upgraded mine with a Chevy one. Best descision. Just need to open up the firewall hole a bit.

[OldSailor]

As already posted, unless you're doing an OEM restore, switching to a Chevy blower motor is a great upgrade to the heater system. A die grinder with a stone bit can open up the hole in the firewall enough to fit the new motor.

However, be careful which blower motor you get. There are about three blower motors with the same mounting flange that will appear to work, and the diameters of the motors themselves are the same. The difference is in the length of the shaft of the blower motor that the squirrel cage fan slips onto. In order for the new blower motor to fit into the heater box correctly, the distance from the flange of the blower motor to the end of the squirrel-cage fan is critical. Some of the Chevy blower motors that would otherwise fit will place the squirrel cage out from the flange too far, so the squirrel cage will bottom out in the heater box before the flange touches the side of the heater box where the mounting screws go in.

The best-fitting motors come from a full-size Blazer, but I forget which year worked for mine (I have a 1981 heater box in a 1977 CJ-7 with a 2006 fiberglass body). The best thing would be for your friend to take the old blower motor down to the auto parts store with the squirrel-cage slid onto the blower shaft (don't tighten it up). When he is presented with a choice of blower motor, have him measure from the end of the squirrel cage (the end near the end of the shaft) to the mounting flange on the old blower motor assembly. Then slide the squirrel-cage off and slide it onto the new blower motor shaft and measure the distance on it. It MUST be the same distance or a little shorter, or he won't be able to install it into the heater box. I had to take mine back the first time because the mounting shaft was about 1/4 inch too long. When I was presented with another one, I did the measure trick above, and it also wouldn't work. The third motor we tried was the correct one.

BTW, tell your friend to be careful and don't screw up the plastic squirrel cage fan. They're a lot harder to find than a blower motor (ask me how I know!). If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Hope this helps.

[hemrides]

Based on your input he installed the Chevy heater and is now a happy, warm rider...thanks again for the feedback.

Dave

[OldSailor]

Ain't it great when a plan works!?!