I was makin some changes. I had the side fairing off to add a PCIII. Figured it was a good time to change out the fan. I had read about the Muzzy fans needing "adjustment" so as to not rub the radiator fins. I did the bend..rotate..bend..rotate..bend...until I could spin the fan and it did not rub on the radiator. When I was out on my test ride, it got hot enough for the fan to come on and man, what a racket! It seems that the motor spins the fan fast enough to get deflection on the aluminum blades. I readjusted the blades and started for home, and It happened again! So I bent the shit out of the blades till they were hitting the mounting bracket. Finally, in my shop, I checked the damage. There is a nice round wear pattern where the blades were rubbing the radiator fins. It doesn't seem to have done any serious damage because the cooling process seems to operate acceptably. I had to do some fine adjustment a couple of times more to get to the point where it wouldn't rub at high heat. And for a while it would do it whenever I turned right.
Needless to say I'm still in shock over this. No one ever mentioned how potentially damaging this little fan could be.
So I thought I wouild pass it along to be cautious when doing this Mod.
I taped it off and rattle canned the fan and damaged radiator so now they don't look so bad. The scraped up radiator was making me feel sick every time I thought about it, much less looked at it.
I hate mezzing my stuff up.

* Last updated by: Sharkey on 8/18/2009 @ 5:16 PM *

I hate it when that shit happens,I installed one on mine and had no problems. You just needed to trim back a little bit of the blades with sheet metal scissors for your application.(I think it was in the instructions with the fan)if you bend the blades you will change the airflow. The fan does help keep the temp. down, a must in phoenix!

* Last updated by: buck20 on 8/19/2009 @ 2:21 AM *

If the blade does not hit the fan guard, why not shim the the guard away from the radiator fins buy 3 washers is one thickness at a time.

And did you set the fan blade on a leveler? Tool looks like a pyramid but like steps reaching a point. So, you lay the hole of the fan over the pyramid; you can get I think from a lawnmower shop or they might have one you can copy or make special for the blades = Balance before installing. As in a layer of glue weight might do the trick is what I would do for bearing longevity.

I have no clue how well the stock one is balanced. If the other fan is light aluminum, I'd think you'd want to take out the harmonics. Ever place a ceiling fan in the room, assemble the last blade, turn it on and it's whipping around the room, the kids are screaming for a ride... Yeah, that out of balance.

Hub's posts are clearer and more entertaining than ever IMHO...

.(I think it was in the instructions with the fan)

New product alert.... One size fits all!!...Tools required for installation: crescent wrench, tin snips and cutting torch, plus misc. washers and spacers (not provided.)
Iwas mostly suprised by the amount of of deflection in the aluminum blades. It's a truly badly bade product!

I could understand needing to trim or adjust if I bought an item for a Suzuki or something. But this fan is sold for installation on a ZX14 for gods sake.
Muzzy sucks!

bend the blades back and make sure it spins true, mine did not spin true when I got it but bending the fins worked just fine and it's easier than trimming them

I'm going back over the instructions and it says to trim the blades, as per the templates, for clearance of certain aftermarlet headders.
I did bend the blades to get it to revolve cleanly, but when the motor started turning them they deflected foreward into the radiator. It just doesn't make sense. Then I bent them some more and it seemed to have clearance but started scxraping again after a couple minutes being spun by the fan motor.
I'm going to have to take it back apart. That's acting like thr mounting nut is backing off. Why else would I need to bend them more than once?
I'll be doing that some time this week. I'll post findings.

Thats the reason I opted for a second fan on my 14 instead of the muzzy blade...I read about the clearance issues. I'm extremely anal about things working right the first time, and reliably for the long haul. I absolutely HATE being stranded lol.

Muzzy sucks! Hold on now, Sharkey. I think Muz, which I do not know but of his racing with Kawi and his racing business is say it more like this. Say, he had instructions for cutting and clearances for many applications. So, the product I would assume is rough to start with and will need filing and all that polishing you do not cut yourself like if you built a NASCAR chassis from scratch, you grid down the welds so when you work on the car, you are not all torn and cut up leaning or just walking past it and catch some 100% cotton she rips.

Not only that, it cost some chinese is niece is some pieces she is not sold more often or can afford one child are the economics turning; you stop buying that crap is do not blame Muzzy if he is looking for something affordable and profitable at the same time.

I would have bought some cutting sheers, make a pattern, keep the bucks home... Start a cottage industry is blow it out chore... For entertainment only, is no offense, Sharkey.

Just entertaining the locals.

jus wunnerful. i never read anything, anywhere, about problems with the fan. mine should be at the house tomorrow

Yea Hub, wouldn't want to deny a Chineese child a daily bowl of rice, LOL.
Words said in anger often come back to byte. I jumped immediately into a conspiracy theory with money grubbing capatalists in cahoots with inferior metalurgy prcatitioners to acquire more heavy metal or paper and ink.
Once the mood passed I realized it could have been me who left the iron on.

Hyped,
follow the installation instruction and you should be OK. The Muzzy rep told me this is the first time he had heard of this happening. Apparently there is an out and inside. I'd also use some blue loctite on it just for in case. It calls for .125" clearance but I swear it deflected that much. Also remember the coolant has to get hot before you can get it to spin. In my case that was 6 miles down the road. I couldn't determine where the relay was to bypass for the initial test.

Anyone know where the relay is?

Heh eventually I'll get around to the Muzzy fan blade, and the second fan (will put the Muzzy blade on it too), but that is looking like a winter project now.

Blu/W is the wire coming out of the fan relay. If you break the loop, it might code the dash. Be careful.

* Last updated by: Hub on 8/19/2009 @ 11:10 PM *

I had to bend my fan to get it to clear....then I cut that damn plastic piece off above it.......

I only got it because of the turbo - didn't want to risk heat damage to a rotating piece of cheap plastic.

Guys, Muzzy cant make a fan for every application out there, you have to make a template, mark the blades and trim them evenly on part of the leading edge and top following the contour of each blade with tin snips. Balance will not be a factor it has no weight. Dont bend the crap out of it you will #### it up.

* Last updated by: buck20 on 8/20/2009 @ 3:45 AM *

After a little communication with a Muzzy rep he said he would send me a new fan. I think I put it on backwards but it wasn't marked like it should have been. It looked to me like it was pitched equally no matter which side was foreward. I'm goint to have to study it more closely when I get the new one.
I still have no explanation for why it would spin freely by hand but hit the radiator when propelled by the motor. The Muzzy rep had never heard of this before. I did get up on the left side of the bed that morning. That would explain it as well as anything, I guess.

* Last updated by: Sharkey on 8/21/2009 @ 1:52 PM *

I still have no explanation for why it would spin freely by hand but hit the radiator when propelled by the motor.

Blow on a piece of paper. Which direction did it move? Fan with a pitch and it is like a shovel you pull the air toward you and the fan is being pulled by the air on the flex. So the blades... We catch that theory? I think yeah, you may have had the blade going in the wrong direction, sucked the fins out it had nothing to suck so it pulled and wrinkled a few radiator fins.

I'm wondering if the blades need more pitch and maybe you did have it turning correctly if it pulled the blades toward the radiator to suck air. Now I do not know. But since you have the old one, lay it on the new one. Another way is to watch which direction the old fan turns. Then make the pitches somewhat deep if you can match that stock blade.

* Last updated by: Hub on 8/21/2009 @ 2:31 PM *

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter which way you turn the fan the blades pitch the same way....Visualize. It can't be put on backwards. As long as the motor turns it clockwise, (as you face it) it will pull aiur the correct direction. My quandry is why the motor was able to pull hard enough to create deflection. The blades should be stronger than that. You will change the pitch a little as you bend them away from the radiator but everyone does that without getting significant deflection. But they do designate a correct direction so perhaps the centerline of the median points on the blades is offset from the plane of the huband mounting keyhole. I will be inspecting it very closely when I get the new one.

I think the fan blows air thru the radiator and should not come on unless you are stopped and have no air flow thru the radiator.

The water temp sensor turns the fan on. You sit or run hard, the water is going to call the ball. You mess with the main fan = Good Luck you act like a water jacket switch.

The stock fan does pull air through the rad-yes?But it's got that little outside edge holding the blades in line.Muzzy's doesn't?The blades must be awfully flimsy if they're deflecting into the radiator.Don't know that I'd trust those!!BTW-how hot are your bikes getting that you need this other fan?Mine goes up to approx.3/4 of the way-then the fan comes on.In traffic,she'll climb to about one bar below top-but never stays there when I start moving again,and never goes above that.When I'm sitting in traffic,I stay off the throttle-no blips or anything like that.I've also got mine advanced 4 degrees-this may be helping to lower the operating temp somewhat.?

* Last updated by: blue07 on 8/22/2009 @ 10:13 AM *

Why would you want a muzzy fan anyway? I doesn't help cooling, it may out last the OEM one..dunno

Blue, how did you go about advancing the timing? I might try that too. When I'm pushing hard on back roads wwith lots of shifting and high RPMs, my bike gets hot enough to burn my leg, right through my pants, [u]while riding.[u] That's without contact. The bars are maxed out. I have to coast and go with low RPMs to get it to go down. I've heard others say the muzzy fan helps so I made it part of a multi part solution. I think most people are saying it helps at stop signs and stop and go. It operates solely on temperature sensor. In cars the fan freewheels over certain engine RPMs. It can actually impeed air flow when the vehicle is moving fast enough. It would require an additional relay driven by signal from the tach to freewheel but it would be better. Meanwhile though, you can see, by the size and pitch of the blades, the Muzzy will move a lot more air than the stock fan.
I find it hard to believe that the air was deflecting the blades. But every thing was tight. Mine seems to be a unique case. So far no one, including the Muzzy rep has heard of this problem before.
If I come up with an answer I'll share it.

Well Sharkey-I bought an adjustable "trigger"(advancer)from Muzzy's-$85.00The arrow shows the advance direction,the line right now in this pic is set at stock.You move the wheel ONE LINE in the direction of the arrow-that's 4 degrees.MUST BE SECURELY LOCTITED AND CENTER BOLT TORQUED CORRECTLY.Otherwise,yer gonna have the performance problems I posted about previously under the topic of timing,cam position sensor probs,and poor performance issues.But she definitely is worth getting.Install takes only a short while,very simple.Just have someone hold the rear brake when you loosen the center bolt,and when you retorque it back.(I just held it with my foot and bent over to tighten the bolt(so you can actually do it all yourself).(after putting it in first gear).You will notice a quicker spool up,and your operating temp will drop some(and your fuel mileage WILL increase as well).

* Last updated by: blue07 on 8/22/2009 @ 10:43 PM *

Yea, thanks Blue. Gas mileage is about my very last concern. Like I said before, my bike passes everything on the road easily....except a gas station!