painting fan and fan housing

Bullet Bob · 08-30-2007, 12:58 AM

I have my engine apart and I would like to have my fan and fan housing painted or powder coated. Anyone know of a good place to have this done? Also, ballpark cost and lead time?

Thanks,
Bob

Mo_Gearhead · 08-30-2007, 03:38 AM

Powdercoat will look great, but one word of caution; I have read from others that the clearances between the fan blade 'ends' and the housing are very close and you should be certain to tell the company doing the powder coating to be careful about getting too thick a coat on the blade ends. Some have had them touch/drag which is not good.

KFC911 · 08-30-2007, 04:07 AM

I sent mine to Al Reed several years ago. Fantastic results, but it took a couple of months as I recall (I was doing lots of stuff to my car & it was on jackstands during the winter months, so it wasn't that big of a deal). MoG is correct about the tight clearance between the fan tips and the housing, but from my experience, the issue was not with PC on the fan tips, but rather the layer of PC on the housing that seats the alternator that caused the clearance issue. I don't remember the price (don't have my records in front of me), but it was very reasonable.

Gratuitous pics of Carrera heater backdate...

Rot 911 · 08-30-2007, 05:02 AM

I did it myself with some paint from the auto parts store. This picture is when it was new, but four years later and thousands of miles it still looks good.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

a nice gray color will not show dirt as bad as my red one - yellow or white or silver will show the most dirt

Scott Clarke has posted pics of his & it looks great

I've never had clearance problems with paint on the ends (3.2L motor).

Al S · 08-30-2007, 11:53 AM

I've had good results with VHT "cast aluminum" paint, with no primer. Tried a zinc chromate primer once, and the paint did not adhere well at all.

tcar · 08-30-2007, 02:51 PM

I'm just trying to clean mine, gray- black smudges. Haven't found anything that cleans it. Maybe I should just paint it silver or gray.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

I had mine powdercoated gray, it's really holding up. Had the fan housing done and all of the engine tin, valve covers, air channels, brackets for the AC, crossmember, carrier and it was around $300 for all of that

scottb · 08-30-2007, 03:50 PM

+1 for Al Reed.

Lukesportsman · 08-30-2007, 04:45 PM

EuroEast did my work. He was quite helpful in providing advise and choices. He'll clean and powdercoat with options for the pulley too. He is a pelican also.

turbobrat930 · 08-30-2007, 05:30 PM

I have a powdercoat system here at my house. I have done numerous piecies for myself and friends who have p-cars. I have p-coated several fans including two that I own. The p-coat holds up very well. The bull you hear about p-coat putting the fan out of balance is Bull*****. I have also p-coated the fan housings as well. On the fan, I use high temperature fiberglass tape. which I use to tape the ends of the fan blades as well as where the outer pulley fits onto the fan. On the housing, I use the tape on the part of the housing that the ALT fits into. I have had ZERO problems, and it does last much, much longer than paint....my .02....

KFC911 · 08-31-2007, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott R

... Had the fan housing done and all of the engine tin, valve covers, air channels, brackets for the AC, crossmember, carrier and it was around $300 for all of that...

I don't remember exactly what Al Reed charged me for all that, but I think it was around $125 if you want to save a bit and are willing to wait. Al's work is in high demand for a reason...excellent quality at a VERY reasonable price, and you will not find someone nicer to talk to (when you can get ahold of him

).

targa todd · 08-31-2007, 06:40 AM

By no means trying to hijack the OPs thread, but a quick question...

What if I'm just interested in cleaning the fan and housing? It looks to be in very good shape, just grimy. Suggested safe and effective cleaning solutions?

scottb · 08-31-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by targa todd

What if I'm just interested in cleaning the fan and housing? It looks to be in very good shape, just grimy. Suggested safe and effective cleaning solutions?

Do a search here on the Board. Lots of people have cleaned and polished their fans and housings.

Scott

tcar · 08-31-2007, 07:33 AM

Here you go... go crazy:

Fan & Fan Housing polishing

KFC911 · 08-31-2007, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by targa todd

....What if I'm just interested in cleaning the fan and housing? ....

OK, I'm warning you... A "what if I'm just interested in cleaning..." left unchecked will cause your wife/girlfriend, neighbors, etc. to believe that you've totally lost your mind. In my case, it just confirmed what they already knew

.

delaneyd · delaneyd's Garage

Al Reed is the only way to go. He doesn't take too long--few weeks , but does incredible work---his prices are very good , although I doubt he's getting rich off us. He knows how to handle the parts , what clearances we need and the quality we expect. He even found that my housing was cracked , had it welded up for next to nothing and returned everything back to me looking better than expected!!!! Al Reed all the way !!!

Evans, Marv · 08-31-2007, 09:06 AM

I PCed Keith on this but I think I'll put it out for anybody to answer. I had my fan & housing powder coated by Al Reed quite some time ago. At that time he was charging $85 to do it. The thing I liked about them doing it was that they machined off a little of the end of the fan bladed so they could be coated and not scrape the housing. I tried to be specific about not coating the inner ring where the alternator base installs, but they coated it anyway and left another part uncoated. I'm thinking of trying to have a machine shop machine out the coating on the housing where the alternator nestles. Anybody have any ideas about this?

CarreraDan · 08-31-2007, 09:13 AM

My fan was very dirty from years of neglect by the PO of the car. I was at my buddy Cashflyer's shop and we decided to soda blast our fans to see how they would turn out. After he did his I took my fan off and spent about 20 minutes with the blast cabinet. I still need to take off the fan housing, intakes, and all valve covers to do them--see what happens when you fall on the slippery slope. I then coated the fan in Gibbs oil that was recommended by the board. The fan looked just like the housing in the picture--still looks great after 2 months.

Grady Clay · 08-31-2007, 09:55 AM

Well, MY preference is as original! I realize this is difficult to achieve.

When I see loudly painted engine components I think “pimpmobile”.

Sorry but that is my lame ol’ 2¢ worth.

Best,
Grady