Mag Fan Resto - ideas?

[acf321]

Folks,

I am sure this has been addressed before, but my search herein did not pick anything up. I note the US guys are into their fan resto's, but what experience have we had locally in this area?

My 71T Magnesium (i think) fan is grubby and pitted (especially the housing). I called to enquire about vapour blasting, but the company in Sydney that does it said he was not overly impressed by the results. The leaves me thinking; 1) 3M Scotchbrite pad and Gibbs + elbow grease - my initial intention, or 2) the less desirable blast and paint / powder coat.

Has anybody here had any other notable successes in restoring to OEM spec their grubby fan blades? Mine is well overdue a tidy up.

Regards,

Adam

[ELSPORTO]

Hydro blast and Gibbs .... there's guy outside of Canberra who does the blasting. Very reasonably priced even with shipping to and from.

[oz772]

I would recommend Adelaide Vapour Blast. Tony is a terrific bloke, and a real stickler for detail. He also has his own collection of old vehicles, so understands doing the job properly. 0432 426 426

[acf321]

Elsporto,

Is 'Hydro' blasting the same as 'vapour blasting'? and did the guy outside of Canberra do the zinc plating afterwards?

Lastly, and most importantly, do you have the guy's details?

Many thanks in advance,

Adam.
71T

[ELSPORTO]

Hi Adam, he does do zincing and other coatings - blasted, painted and cerakoted my manifolds too.
As far as I know, hydro blasting is water and media particles and I believe is the same as vapour blasting.
Ben.

[9er]

Obviously vapour blasting
or any other sort of media blasting will exaggerate the pitting that you mentioned.

[acf321]

Thanks 9er & Elsporto, I did recognise that the pitting would be opened up by the cleaning process. The issue is it's a real mess, so a clean up and then reassessment is the best way forward. I guess if the fan housing is too pitted, we can consider filling and painting. Either way, it's not staying the way it is.

[Oldskl60]

Has anyone powder coated? If so does this stand up?

[9er]

I have certainly powdercoated fans in the past, I think it looks a bit naff especially if you are going for an original ish look to your engine.

The source of the "ceramic" spray coating is a bit of a secret, but places like Eastwood sell a wide variety of finishes and colours in spray cans that should satisfy most DIYers

However any sort of coating will rub the purists up the wrong way. http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...4377-Fan-color

[ELSPORTO]

Thanks 9er & Elsporto, I did recognise that the pitting would be opened up by the cleaning process. The issue is it's a real mess, so a clean up and then reassessment is the best way forward. I guess if the fan housing is too pitted, we can consider filling and painting. Either way, it's not staying the way it is.

Call Shane - he has a lot of ideas.

It's cheap to hydro blast the fan and see how it looks.

Mine is still pitted but it's 50 years old, and it's nice and clean (for now ..)

[acf321]

Great words of advise Elsporto, I really appreciate it. I suspect i'll be boxing it up in the next few weeks off to Shane!

Cheers,

Adam

[SM911]

Why don’t you post a pic Adam? Your frame of reference might be skewed towards pristine looking fans from cars on Instagram/Facebook. I’d go so far as to say that many of us have nice clean looking fans, but nothing too over the top.
I have had fans refurbished in Costa Mesa by Mark Motshagen, who is seen as ‘the fan guy’. He does a great job, and ends up painting them to replicate the factory finish.
I’ve also had many vapor blasted, which is the ‘softest’ approach to blasting. It works very well, and is what I do these days. Keeping some Gibbs oil on it afterwards also helps keep it clean.

[acf321]

Thanks Scotty, much appreciated. I will attempt to get some pics up this weekend. I will I think in the first instance do what you did, that is hydra blast it and then assess from there. I presume all paint jobs require a clean in the first instance, so this is the most logical step.

Need to consider if I go and buy all the set-up stuff for Cad plating at home, or if anyone can recommend a good shop for that, i'd surely appreciate that too.

Cheers,

Adam

[SM911]

If you use a shop for zinc plating - just make sure they take a photo of ALL the parts that they're plating, and have a process in place to ensure that all of the parts are returned.

Believe me, it is a MONUMENTAL PITA if they lose things (like a clutch pedal cross shaft and the accelerator rod cross shaft). Thanks a lot East Coast Electroplating in Brendale, QLD.