The Series 1 E-Type’s fan is notoriously and ludicrously ineffective. It is a pathetic two bladed affair which flails the air driven by a windscreen wiper motor. This upgrade will gladden the heart of the afflicted.
Go to a wrecker and purchase a VN Commodore fan. You’ll pay $65 or $70 for a fan and shroud assembly. Discard the plastic shroud. This will leave you with a made-in-Japan fan motor to which is mounted a 15 inch multi-bladed plastic fan.
Remove the fan which is secured to the motor shaft by a single screw. Drill out the spot welds securing the pressed steel mounting flange to the cylindrical motor body, and remove the flange. The remaining cylindrical body has a steel sleeve around its front end and measures 75 mm diameter over this sleeve and 71 mm diameter over the unsleeved rear part.
The new motor will be mounted to the same bracket on the front of the “picture frame” as was the original, and the fan will be correctly placed in the original shroud. (Unfortunately this necessitates the removal of the bonnet, header tank, radiator and shroud.) The mounting is accomplished by means of two 75 mm exhaust pipe clamps. Only the saddle part of the clamps is used.
Cut off each side of the saddles so that they will fit inside the picture frame bracket. Now drill each saddle with two 3/16” holes corresponding to the holes in the picture frame bracket. Into each of these saddle holes is welded a 3/16” screw. The saddles will later be attached to the picture frame bracket by these screws.
Now a metal strip is welded into each saddle where the motor will sit. Make the strips from 1.6 - 2.0 mm thick metal. One strip sits on the saddle. This will be the mounting for the smaller diameter rear of the motor. The other strip is recessed into the saddle. This will be the mounting for the larger diameter front of the motor. The motor will be held into both saddles by hose clamps passing over these welded-in strips.
The saddles are attached to the picture frame. The motor is offered up to the saddles and the hose clamps, which are opened out, are passed around the motor and secured. Position the motor so that the rear clamp is flush with the rear of the motor. This will correctly place the fan in the fan shroud when it is re-fitted.
If you do this upgrade, and your E-Type doesn’t have a radiator fan relay, you should instal one. (The Jaguar workshop manual circuit diagrams show that 3.8 litre E-Types have a relay, early 4.2’s don’t and In Series 2 E-Types the relay has been reinstated.) Without a relay the Otter thermostatic switch carries full load current which is excessive when using a modern fan.