How has Powder Cotaing on Fan Held Up?

vesnyder · vesnyder's Garage

I have seen a number of threads where people discussed painting or polising their fan. How about you guys that have painted - how has it held up. I had mine painted on my '67 and it seemed to last until a tree in the backyard leveled it. I love the look of the red painted ones, but do not want it to start chipping after 10,000 miles! I found a guy that will powder coat the fan and strap for $100. What do you guys recommend?

island911 · 03-22-2002, 05:10 PM

"it seemed to last until a tree in the backyard leveled it."

Well of course, no matter how slow you feed them, those fans are just NOT designed to be chippers. . .

APKhaos · 03-22-2002, 05:11 PM

Check around before spending $100 on fan & housing. A fairly large local shop did fan, housing, upper valve covers, intake manifolds, and six sections of engine tin for $250. Picked it up this week - it all goes together starting this weekend.

FWIW, I used clear on the manifolds [great] and the housing [lots of outgassing, discoloration, some lumps in the finish]. The magnesium alloy in the housing really is a problem. Better to use a solid color that hides this behavior, and be prepared for a few lumps in the finish.

pwd72s · 03-22-2002, 05:17 PM

Hate to say it, but I don't know of any fan refinishing process that works well. Air contains dust particles. The fan moves a huge volume of air. Those particles sandblast the fan.... How can you stop that? Oh! Maybe water cooling the 911 engine? Naw, that'll never happen...

Doug Zielke · 03-22-2002, 05:36 PM

A word of powdercoating advice from a guy who has had a lot of it done, although *not* on my 911 motor's fan......

If you visit your local PC shop and see a bunch of iron railings and patio furniture in process....run away as quickly as possible!

Ask questions around your area, and try to find a shop that specializes in custom car and m/c parts. These guys will know how to give you the most durable finish available.

The patio furniture guys may be cheaper, but it's not what you want if quality and durability is what you're after.

APKhaos · 03-22-2002, 07:11 PM

Doug is right. Most PC shops do outdoor iron work, but many also do lots of custom auto and mc work. My guy had another Pcar set, a bunch of headers/wheels/assorted detroit castings in the finished work area when I dropped mine off, and the guys knew exactly what issues might arise with the magnesium alloy.

Check your local PCA for references - the shops that do good work are known to the noble brotherhood of Pcar engine detailers.

Oldporsche · 03-22-2002, 07:53 PM

Probably about $25 would be right. I believe that the standard paint is about $10 per bottle. I don't know how much it would take because I haven't started my PC service up yet.

I have located a plater nearby that can do the zinc chromate stuff for the sheet metal and aluminum parts. I don't know about the Mag stuff though.

Good luck,
David Duffield

89911 · 03-23-2002, 03:51 AM

Here is a fan that was just removed from my car after 100k! Actually, it was originally painted red and the edges were all blasted. Looked terrible. I guess thats may point. At least with a polished fan, the worst that can happen is it will lose its luster and optain a matte finish that can be polished on the car.

kepperly · kepperly's Garage

since we are on the subject of fans, will the new 12 blade fan from a 90 c-2 work on an 87-3.2??
thanks keith

Tinker · 03-23-2002, 11:46 AM

I had mine lightly bead blasted at a local shop to clean it up. I think it looks good O` natural with no color.

Tinker

jbailey930 · jbailey930's Garage

I just dropped my tin, shroud and valve covers off Friday. Tony: did you use ASCO in Manassas? For all that, shroud is blasted and painted (not heated

) the quote was $175. I've not made up my mind on the fan. I've seen peeled paint that looks like crap. Polishing is an idea. Timely topic.
Best

masraum · 03-23-2002, 12:34 PM

Just a thought, I recently went to a small local PCA tech meeting. The guy had us all go to his house to see his example of powder coating. He said that for about $350 you could pick up a kit to do powder coating. He did an Alfa valve cover in black wrinkle finish while we were there. I can't imagine paying $100 for having that done to a fan and strap although you may not want to spend $350 either

The only caveat is that you'll probably want a spare electric oven that you can use outside to bake the stuff. The smell is pretty bad. Baking only took 20 min.

APKhaos · 03-23-2002, 08:50 PM

John,
Yep - ASCO in Manassas Park. John's quote for your stuff sounds decent. There are quite a few posts like Brian K's in the archives - great durability on PCoated fans. Those that have failed may have been done by the patio furniture guys, or wet painted. Magnesium alloys react very badly to ferrous contamination. Cleaning up a fan with a wire brush is a disaster - the iron will bond with the mag, and instant corrosion is the result. Tricky. If you decide to polish it, keep away from emery and ferrous abrasives.

Superman · 03-23-2002, 11:23 PM

I just started my engine today after a two month rebuild. The powder coated fan seems to be holding up nicely, but it's only been working an hour. I had the PC guy do the fan housing in black low-gloss and the fan, chain housings and covers, and valve covers are all red. Looks awesome. Cost $100. Should have done the engine sheet metal also.

APKhaos · 03-24-2002, 04:54 AM

Super,
Congrats on the rebuild - must be nice to see it running after all the hard work. Those heads of yours are works of art.
Mine is a [solid] week away. Gearbox went together yesterday - beautimous!

WydRyd · 04-07-2002, 09:28 PM

Hey 89911! Your fan looks awesome all polished up. How much did that cost? What was the process in doing this?

I'm thinking of getting mine done too down the track.

Looks great!