My solution to under hood heat and headlight delete.

Posted this in the powder section but I thought I'd post it here as well.

So I added a marine bilge blower to my 12' RMK last year. Cut a hole in the clutch and had the fan blowing right down on the primary. Around 900 miles of hard mountain riding, I had warranty work that needed to be done so it got removed and put back to stock. We ride hard and my buddies would blow belts every 250-300 miles. During the 900 miles I changed belts a few times but didn't blow a single belt.

This year I decided to try something a little different......evacuate rather than try to bring cold air in. I have 1 vent on my clutch panel and a headlight delete kit, the rest is stock. I added a 4" bilge blower right below my secondary blowing OUT my footwell. I ran it the last 3 days in Revy in very deep snow on a belt that was old. I can tell you 3 things...

1. My left footwell didn't have any snow in it all day. I would stop after carving hard or sidehilling for 15-20 minutes and it would be completely clean while my right footwell was 1/2 full.

2. My clutches were hot but not nuclear and I tried my best to kill the belt.

3. My left foot was warm

So, for this next trip to the great northland, I went ahead and added a blower in the same spot on the right footwell. The 4" blowers flow 240cfm each vs 120cfm for a 3". They say they draw around 4 amps each which is perfect since I removed my headlight which draws 9 amps (55x2/12v). I have a 12w LED helmet light that draws 1 amp so I am electrically neutral!

A few things I will share....I did wire the blowers to a fused circuit with a 7.5A fuse and on the trailer it is fine. Also, the screws that hold the motor in the housing are not lock-tighted so you have to pull the fan and glue those puppies in there or they will rattle out and get stuck between the fan and the housing. Finally, I had to trim the one side of the housing for the left footwell so I had enough clearance with the secondary.

Cost for the Blowers at West Marine is around $30 each. Made the headlight delete myself.

If anyone tries it and it blows up there ECU, it's not my fault. I wouldn't recommend making any changes to your sled

Good luck and be safe!

Rt

I did not go with a switch...can't see the need. I ended up wiring them into my headlight power (ac with a Radio Shack rectifier $4.29) which basically replaces the draw I had from my headlights. Put a new belt on and will run her till she dies and see if it makes a difference this next week in Revy


Sorry no pix, it really isn't worth taking a pix as it's just a fan zip tied to the plastic belly pan bumped back against the footwells.

Rt

Ok, here are the two fans. Like I said, your headlights draw 55/12=4.58 amps on low beam. These fans each draw 4-4.5amps and pump 240cfm which is a LOT. I wired into my headlights using a 50v rectifier from Radioshack. Hope it helps someone.

Rt