[Tes]

Hello everyone, I thought I share my experience removing the fan on the F87 OG M2 since I couldn't find much information on it. The jobs you probably need to remove the fan are for the crank hub to give you more space (crank hub seal guard install, crank hub bolt capture, or crank hub upgrade).

To remove it was pretty easy, only access from the top is required (don't need to jack up the car or drop the undertray/belly pan).

1. Remove the intake (don't need to remove the turbo inlet pipe of course).
2. Remove the 2 stamped metal side braces by removing the 4 hex bolts on each side. (where it goes to the front of the car it cuts slightly into the space where the fan comes out of, this will give more clearance and it is easy to remove anyway).
3. To release the fan, on the passenger side there is a small torx (I believe T25) screw at the top of the fan assembly, unscrew this. Right underneath the Torx you will see the fan power cable, this is a press style release, I jammed my hand past the turbo inlet pipe and pressed on both side of the clip and pulled up. It didn't require too much force. The fan cable will be zip tied to the fan assemly, cut this zip tie as well and then bend the cable towards to back of the car so its out of the way. The final point is on the driver side right under the coolant hose, it is very obvious how the clip works. As soon as that driver side clip is released the fan can be pulled up.
4. From here on out it is all just wiggling and manuvering the fan out of there. The biggest interference points are the turbo inlet pipe with the fan; and the coolant connections on both the passenger and driver side with the tabs on the fan. Be mindful of where it is catching and work around it by shifting the fan left and right. Also be relatively gentle with the fan assembly, it does bend but I can also see it snapping if you monkey force it.

As a final recommendation, before you install the fan back, I'd recommend you use a dremel and grind down the tabs a bit on both the left and right side (you'll know which tabs from the removal step that are interfering). This way it is easier to install and remove next time, they definitely don't need to be that big for their purpose.

Also please note I have the MST turbo inlet so it is a silicon tube. I'm not sure if the OEM plastic turbo inlet will make it easier or harder (Or if you end up permanently deforming it). Just be especially mindful if you have the OEM turbo inlet, just because it worked for MST doesn't mean it is possible for the OEM one. I don't want anyone wrecking their inlet cause it worked for the MST turbo inlet.

Overall pretty easy took me about 5 minutes to wiggle it out and 5 minutes to jam it back in.