Fan & Fan Housing polishing

[vizail]

Ok Now..!
There are many Posts about Air cool Fan & Fan Housing polishing here . It will be real nice to have someone that can baby step each and everyone of us the diferent steps on achieving a real nice poliched Fan and Housing. There is a lot of mention of the Mothers Mag and how nice it is.
I will like to know wish sand paper and foam pad can be used. I've noticed some pitting corrotion in my 911's Fan and Fan Housing . That is a real Indication that I'll need to sand blast before any attempt on polishing.

What I'll really want to know is how to get from this




To Something Like This




Cordially

Vic

[vizail]

A reply will be real nice

Vic

[David]

If you have air tools, I would start with 3M scotch brite disks or similar. Then I sand the piece in a bucket of water. If I used the disk I'd use wet sand paper starting with 400, then 600, then 1200, and then polish with Simichrome. A buffing wheel would work best with the polish but you could do it with a soft cotton rag. If I didn't use the disk I might start with a corser paper.

Many motorcycle shops and high end hardware stores carry Simichrome or you could get it online.

Of course it won't stay shinny for long and if you clearcoat you'd lose alot of the shine.

[vizail]

Like the 3M's Coarse Pads or Brush? On a power tool or rather Air Tool? Nice to see the tools in Action

Nice

Vic

[randywebb]

What did you find with searches?

One thing for sure - it has to be coated or it will turn ugly real fast.

[vizail]

Coated with.? Hi Temp Clear Spray Can will do ?

Vic

[David]

I've only tried clear coating once and it really took the shine off the polish. Anyone have a coating that doesn't?

[RickM]

It might be easiest to get the fan and housing glass beadblasted and powdercoat.

The first fan you show looks as if it were blasted to a nice satin finish and clearcoated. It's also similar to a silver powdercoat as well.

The second looks similar to a "chrome" colored powder coat and clear.

Keep in mind that many have an issue with paint or powder coat build-up on the blade tips. They can end up making contact with the inside surface of the housing.

Be prepared for quite a bit of work if buffing / polishing to a mirror finish. It will be very labor intensive and dirty work.

[randywebb]

regualr paint won't last long with all the grit flying aorund at high speed

If I was going to do mine over again (powdercoated red), I'd explore surface treatments for Mg...

[RickM]

Originally posted by 125shifter
I've only tried clear coating once and it really took the shine off the polish. Anyone have a coating that doesn't?

The ball park figure I've seen given is a 15% reduction in reflective appearance when clearing a highly polished finish.

The only "protectant" that may be better is Zoopseal. Don't know first hand though.

Must be reapplied to continue protection:

- Magnesium- 1970 and below/ ZoopSeal last about 6 months.

- Magnesium- 1970 and above/ Up to 1 year.

[RickM]

Originally posted by randywebb
regualr paint won't last long with all the grit flying aorund at high speed

If I was going to do mine over again (powdercoated red), I'd explore surface treatments for Mg...

FWIW, I used VHT clear after blasting my fan back around '95. It still looks very good. However, when I applied it the metal took on an uneven coloring.

[89911]

Since that is my fan you showed above, I feel obliged to reply. There is not great magic to finishing the fan. The first job is to get it off the alternator. Once out, you can polish both the fan and housing much better. I used some wet/dry paper and it went quickly. Start at 600 and go to 1000. The use some bare metal polish like mothers. It will tarnish quickly, but leave a much better appearance then it would if never polished. It polishes much easier the next time if you want to.

[RickM]

Originally posted by 89911


Since that is my fan you showed above

Kudos to you....the best polishing job I've seen.

[David]

Thanks for the tip Rick.

Awesome polish job 89911. I also prefer not to coat it. The surface starts to tarnish up after many months or a few years depending on material. Then when you can't stand it anymore, you polish it again.

89911, that finish looks flawless. Do you have any secrets to getting those last little marks out? I never seem to have the perseverance to get it to show car finish.

[randywebb]

It lasts that long?

A friend's CD box tarnished a whole lot just from sitting in his garage for a month or two...

[Fishcop]

Pull a search on other fan finishing results. Unless you just have to have a mirror finish, I think you'll get a more long term satisfaction from powdercoating.

[89911]

This was taken not too long ago after about a year of no polishing. It's dull, but it still has all the crap that was on it originally removed. Overall acceptable. I've seen plenty of fans that were painted that are chipping or the paint is being abraded off the leading edge of the fan. I didn't want to have to keep redoing it.

[wholberg]

Originally posted by randywebb
It lasts that long?

A friend's CD box tarnished a whole lot just from sitting in his garage for a month or two...

I polished my fan blades with mother's last year as an experiment. Roughly 1/3 of the fan I left untouched, 1/3 I sprayed with a canned clear coat, and 1/3 I sprayed with a high-heat aluminum automotive paint (a couple of blades also got a layer of clear over the aluminum).

One year later:

The untreated magnesium I needed to spend about 1 hour a month with Mother's to keep it looking good. I did that for the first few months but then lost interest.

The clear coat has dulled significantly. Some people have described it as becoming milky, in any case, it does not look great, and it cannot be re-polished without removing the clear coat.

The aluminum paint has held up pretty well. It still looks shiny and unchanged. It was never mirror-like to begin with, but has not changed in appearance. The only difference between the two is that the paint rubs off on the non-coated blades with a little finger pressure.

After considerable searching I found a couple of places on the web that will electroplate magnesium with chrome, silver, gold, and other metals, but it is ($$$$). I'm not going to pay more to electroplate my fan than it costs to replace it.

So, I plan to polish the pits and irregularities out of my fan and housing, then spray with the aluminum paint, followed by a couple of light clear-coat layers. The thin aluminum layer either does not react with the magnesium or hides any changes in the surface. I'll post a pic sometime this summer when I get it done.

[kach22i]

Nice pictures even if they were short moments in time.

[vizail]

Man...
Years of neglects forced me to use my angle grinder with a small soft pad. Initially I try the 600 Sandpaper(wet but no luck. The Initial pitting corrotion needed some grind.

Some Pix




Will Keep you Posted

Vic