Anodizing Fan and Fan housing

[khamul02]

Has anyone anodized a fan or fan housing with a thick/deep type of anodizing process?

http://www.alphametal.com/HardCoatAnodizing.aspx

[AUS911SC]

Have had many parts Std anodzed and hard anodised. Found that the hard ano. process resulted in a green hue, quite ugly. The Porsche factory anodize was always a standard anodize.

[Mysterytrain]

I was go have my fan and housing plated by these guys:
http://www.magplate.com/index.htm

Unfortunately, the timing didn't workout for me and I ended up having the hub and pulley CAD plated and polishing the fan and housing.

Someday, I may remove the hub again and have the fan and housing plated. The picture below is from their website and shows electroless nickel plating before and after on Magnesium..looks pretty good.

[ChrisBennet]

I thought about doing this at one time. I talked to a local anodizer about anodizing the fan and he said that cast aluminum (like the fan) comes out blotchy when anodized.
-Chris

[Mysterytrain]

The magplating guy I spoke to said that they had plated a few porsche fans..unfortunately, he didn't have pictures. Anodizing, magnesium is a different ballgame.

[911pcars]

Fan = aluminum?

When did they change from mg?

I didn't realize mg can also be anodized. Apparently so:
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/MetalCoatings/Inorganic.htm

"Anodizing treatments are also available for magnesium and titanium alloys. The treatments commonly used with magnesium alloys involve several processing options to produce either thin coatings of about 5 mm thickness for flexibility and surfaces suitable for paint adhesion, or thick coatings, up to about 30 mm for maximum corrosion and abrasion resistance. When anodizing is used for the treatment of titanium and titanium alloys it can provide limited protection of the less noble metals against galvanic corrosion, and when used together with solid film lubricants it helps to prevent galling. The process produces a smooth coating with a uniform texture and appearance, and a uniform blue to violet color."

Sherwood

[khamul02]

I was thinking of going black on the housing and polishing the fan. I like the black housings I've seen but have heard that paint and powder wear. I would think that a black anodizing would really stand up. Especially a hard anodizing.

[911s55]

Here are a few for reference including original anodized.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18629

[jonbot]

FWIW, I recently tried just sandblasting my fan and housing, then applying a coat of clear to it, I'm happy with how it turned out. Here are some before and after shots.

Before:


After:

[khamul02]

That looks great. I'm just curious how long that clear coat will last. If we hard anodize it I'm guessing (not 100% sure) that the anodizing will last longer and it won't flake off.

[khamul02]

Also, What did you do to your muffler. I wouldn't mind cleaning mine up if it comes out that nice.

[jonbot]

Originally Posted by khamul02

That looks great. I'm just curious how long that clear coat will last. If we hard anodize it I'm guessing (not 100% sure) that the anodizing will last longer and it won't flake off.

Thanks, I'm curious as well, I guess we'll find out once the engine's back in, which should be sometime this weekend. I tried to use the best clear I could find, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by khamul02

Also, What did you do to your muffler. I wouldn't mind cleaning mine up if it comes out that nice.

I first wire brushed all the surface rust off of it, then, I kinda broke all the rules and used silver BBQ paint. It's been said before that it won't hold up to the temps, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyways, and if it starts to flake off, it's something that can be taken off relatively easily and recoated, I guess it's really more of an experiment than anything

[Porsche-O-Phile]

So the fan itself is magnesium and the housing is aluminum?

If so, I'd think anodizing the housing & polishing the fan itself would look pretty sweet and hold up well.

Polishing the housing would be a B!TCH. Too many little notches, grooves and recesses to do a good job, I'm guessing.

[jonbot]

According to what my powdercoater told me, the housing is magnesium, that's why it gets that "greying" effect after so many years, I'm not sure about the fan blades though.

[khamul02]

Something like this but with a Black anodized housing. I want to use a stainless fan housing strap and would like a bit of contrast.



Don (delaneyd) says this is Al Reeds work after 4 years.

[Mitch Leland]

To add my 2 cents to this discussion I think that anodizing is not the proper application for this use. I beleive you need a more substantial product on the fan and housing, i.e. Powder Paint. Also you can use high quality two part paints like DuPont Imron that are really tough and will hold their sheen.

The advantages to Powder Paint is that you take your old dirty parts in and get back shiny ones for not a lot of money. You don't have to buy expensive paint, activators and thinners, no fuss, no bother.

Here's a pix of my Powder Painted fan and housing. If you do use Powder Paint remember that the fan blade tips need to be taped off. I kissed the blade ends with my 1", 120 grit belt bench mounted sander.

[onboost]

Mitch..

That's a purdy motor ya got there.. did you polish or chrome the Rennline engine bar? Assume you cad plated the fan, then taped it off and powder coated silver?

So whatta you got going on there in ol' Fredricksburg? I see some nice equipment in the background so is this a shop or just your garage?

I used to spend a lot of time down that way on the weekends and summers between Indian Acres in Thornburg, Cedar Ridge..(used to race motocross), Lake Anne, Fredricksburg, Bowling Green and Sparta! We'll have to hook-up sometime... local PCA and BMWCCA have run a couple of tours that have come right through there and then back out Rt 17.

See ya..

Paul

[911pcars]

MHO.
If you want to anodize, then the base material has to be fairly smooth via sanding, media blasting, etc. The anodized surface, even if hard anodized, is only around 0.002". I don't see the advantage of hard anodizing in this application.

Powder coating will hide some surface roughness since it's a fairly thick paint layer, and there's a wider range of available colors to choose from. In addition, this process will be more economical.

As for the longevity of either one, it's hard to say. It might depend on the ambient air conditions (dirt), if anything.

OTOH, My fan housing is powder coated (still ok), but the fan is rattle-canned; all about 10 years ago. The leading edges accumulate more dirt, but it still looks fine. Re-application should be about $5.00.

Sherwood

[khamul02]

That does look good and it would probably hide a bit of the muck if it were black.

[Mitch Leland]

Hello Paul,

The Rennline engine support is S.S. so for a little 'bling" I had it polished, I just love S.S. and couldn't help myself with the polish... Regarding the fan pulley, it's a long story, but I had the pulley rivets drilled off, cad plated the pulley and re-installed it with 1/4-28 flat head alan screws, and lots of Lock-Tite. To accommodate the thickness of the Powder Paint I machined about .002"-.003" (total) off of the sides of the pulley recess. It would be pretty hard to tape it off and get an even edge. If you want to know more PM me, I didn't get it right the first time.

Well come on down, always looking to meet nice people. The Hill Country is a great place, but sometimes you can't find the right stuff for Porsches, now if it's a John Deere, that's a different story...

Oh, when you talk about a tour, you mean a cross country tour...