Alex's comment about the Canadian snail-shaped blower reminded me of my first Mini (1968 MK1 wagon), which had one. When its electric motor got feeble, I re[placed it with a bigger one out of a Dodge or something. The motor diameter and fastening points were the same - the motor was longer, giving more power. Didn't help much in a cold Canadian winter though - the 850cc engine (later a 1100) just did not produce enough heat to supply the heater core at highway speeds. We had to occasionally slow down to let the engine build heat.

Sorry tvander, my comment about sucking in other people's exhaust was not intended to reflect on your solution, which I do think is clever. I was referring to the original Mini design which draws air in from the grille, right at tailpipe level. Almost all cars of the era (and most current ones) draw air in from in front of the windshield, well above and away from tailpipe level. I have edited my other post to remove the unintended slight.

I do like your solution. You mentioned it is a bit noisy - is it much louder then the stock fan on high speed? I imagine in my Mini I wouldn't notice it much over the engine intake and exhaust sounds. Alex's suggestion about adding speed control might help.

In my 1981 Mini I had contemplated adding small computer-type muffin fans to the eyeball vent ducts, but your solution looks much more do-able.

It's way cooler air than recirculating around inside the hot car. I previously had a plug in fan in there and it just moved hot air around. The previous comment about it sucking in other cars exhaust, we are more than happy to look at your ideas..... Not just negative comments.

It's such a good idea, I've been Googling 3" and 4" bilge fans - it's basically replicating the snail-shell 'export' heater fans fitted all the way up to 1980 on the Canadian cars.

With a speed controller, I reckon this would be a great addition to the cabin ventilation.

Neat way to get some air inside while stopped, which is really needed then. Good job.

Early Minis (e.g. MK1) had a duct from the grille to the firewall. Later Minis moves the duct to the fender with an elbow from the grille through the inner wing. In the photo attached, you can make out the black round-ish thing in the right (passenger)enf of the grille opening.
This location sucks air from just behind the grille - perfect for inhaling exhaust from other cars!

Interesting, but wouldn't it be XX *C/*F warmer coming from the engine bay?

Not knocking your design at all.  Looks like great work.  Just wondering out loud why you didn't take it right from the wheel well itself.

I could be totally off-base here ;-)

Cheers

I wanted to share this project I did to maybe help someone out. In my spi car, I took a 4" boat blower fan and installed it with 4" dryer ducting to help more air to keep me a bit cooler. It's a little loud, but really helps at stop lights. Pretty cheap overall too. Fan is a 4" Attwood brand.