Nasty fans?

[Nick Triesch]

I have noticed that on many classic Porsche sites where high end low mile cars are for sale and in near perfect condition. Except for the fans. I just do not get it. Many of these cars have very clean even polished motors but the fans on many are nasty, peeling , corroded fans with alodine only in spots. Some very yellow and dirty. Why? It only takes about an hour to clean these fans up. Why would they make a car so pretty and leave a crusty fan? Nick

[rattlsnak]

I take pride in my nasty, peeling , corroded fan.. Who the heck cleans fans???

[tuchan]

haha don't look at the fan on mine then! For me it is called ummmmmm can't be stuffed cleaning that

It would look much better though

[Starless]

If I had time to clean my fan, I'd have time to fix other more visible flaws. But yeah, they do look much better. Especially considering how large they are. It's the first thing you see when you look at the engine.

[combatic]

laziness? They are fussy suckers to detail. On the flip side...and what cracks me up are the range of gaudy fans...but that is just my opinion.

[80-911SC]

I just don't wash the rest of it .. that way the fan doesn't look as dirty ....

These cars got designed with the purpose to drive them .. not meant to be polished and admired ...

clean enough is good enough for me .. I much more prefer to drive it and enjoy it then wash and polish ...

[Hydrocket]

Cleaning fan = OCD

[Racerbvd]

LOL, I found some corrosion on my fan, so I hunted down another one, but it had been paited, so I had my Powder Coater, PowderTech Plus in Orange Park, FL.
PowderTech Plus Inc.
coat it bact to a stock finish Does that make me OCD??

[Evans, Marv]

Do a search. There are lots of threads on beautified fans. They do look better than cruddy ones though.

[James Brown]

i put that gibbs stuff on it, looked great, then got dirty.

[Hydrocket]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

LOL, I found some corrosion on my fan, so I hunted down another one, but it had been paited, so I had my Powder Coater, PowderTech Plus in Orange Park, FL.
PowderTech Plus Inc.
coat it bact to a stock finish Does that make me OCD??

Tough to say, really.

Doesn't mean we think any less of you!

[Schrup]

I've cleaned mine up, but it still looks like ass. I don't care. I'm not taking any chances of fooking it up with sandblasting & powder coating. I would love to have a bronze colored fan, but not taking any chances.

[pegasus9]

These magnesium fans don't take kindly to polishing and if they do it doesn't last.

As most have stated, Who has time to polish?
I'd rather drive and make sure the correct tension is on the belt.

[S2GART]

This applies to more than just engine fans, but I believe it was Ferry Porsche who upon seeing everyone wiping/polishing/pampering their cars at a concours, looked dismayed and was heard saying with some diappointment that "this isn't what we intended for our cars for...." , or some variation of that.

My owner's manual, rather the maintenance schedule book says to do oil changes every 15,000 miles!!! or at least once a year. This was in 1983, and they figured/expected people their cars ALOT, to the point that they put the word "every" in front of 15,000. Here in the states, alot of people probably spend 15,000 hours polishing their cars.

[Nick Triesch]

You guys can say all you want but I've seen many of your cars and they are nice and clean and waxed and cared for. Why not the fan? It is easy with a little scotchbrite and about one hours time. After that just a few wipes every few weeks or so. Then, the motor looks as great as the rest of the car. I listen to my radio and use my cup holder and my A/C on trips also.

[Hugh R]

When I rebuilt my alternator, I decided to just Scotchbrite the fan. The painted/powdered coated ones are nice, but with all the air/bugs/dirt I can't imagine they look very good for a prolonged period of time.

[ryan911]

Originally Posted by Nick Triesch

You guys can say all you want but I've seen many of your cars and they are nice and clean and waxed and cared for. Why not the fan? It is easy with a little scotchbrite and about one hours time.

I'm with you on that one, cleaning up the fan seemed like an obvious thing to do while I was cleaning up the rest of the motor.

Before


After


Actually that's not even the "After" photo, more of a "Work in Progress" shot. So far less than an hour with scotch brite and then some 1000 grit. I'll probably finish it off with some wax or maybe clear if I decide to take the fan off to polish it a bit better.

[bigel]

I'm wondering if, once again, plastidip might be an option?

Has anyone out there in Pelican land ever 'blacked out' their fan and alternator housing????

Ok you've convinced me, I'm doing it!

[Biff]

Owners don't clean the fan/housing because they don't want to discover their cracked housings supports. They all seem to have some degree of failure.

[fastfredracing]

Here is one, that I cleaned up real good when I built the motor. It has been about 5 years, and 7k miles, and this is just what they end up looking like on a driver.
Here is the fan on my 930. beadblasted, and lightly coated with alumablast paint. Super easy to keep clean, and quick and easy to touch up when it gets chips. I plan on driving this car.