11 BLADE FAN... Chroming it... good or bad for cooling?
 

Will be doing a little bit of dress up on my engine rebuild soon and was wondering if Chroming the fan housing and 11 blade fan is a bad idea for cooling or would hurt the fan or generator.... balance problems... or does it not affect anything? Any other ideas for engine dress up would be appreciated. 3.0L SC with CIS.

Or photos of what you did to yours would be great. ALSO... what's the best way to repaint the shroud. Mine is red.... can you powder coat fiberglass? R. :cool::cool:

Chrome plating will have no effect on the fans ability to move the air to cool the motor.

The main problem with chroming fan housing and fan, however, is clearance. The clearance is very small and the chrome might put you over the limit. If you decide to proceed you should probably remove a little material from the edges of the fan. If you remove some material try to make it equal amounts to keep the fan in balance.

Chrome plating has one other side effect. It can make the housing more brittle from the process and therefore more prone to cracking. The housings tend to develop stress cracks from the constant vibrations and load of the fan belt.

If you want a shiny fan you could always just have it polished and then clear coated. It would look nicer IMO and not make the aluminum more brittle. Also if down the road you wanted to go back to stock look it would be easier.

For the shroud you can re-dye it or what I like to do is wet sand the shroud to flatten the surface and provide a good surface for clearcoat to adhere to. When sanded it'll look foggy initially but when the clearcoat is applied the color comes back with nice depth.

if you do chrome it, paint it, or powder coat it, make sure not to cover the tips. The build up of material plus the build up on the housing may make the fan blades touch the housing... by by nice finish :( Additionally, don't over tighten the strap as you may cause the housing to go out of round, again... by by nice finish as blades hit housing.

Enjoy!

Michael

PS My fan and housing are magnesium I believe... not AL. Not sure if that matters re: chroming