Cleaning Fan and Shroud

[Aircool]

I am doing some spring cleaning in my engine compartment. My fan and shroud are dirty and need cleaned. What is the best way to clean and maintain the original finish? What is the original finish?

Thanks,

Steve

[mjmoran]

Glass-bead blast and then a clear-coat works nicely. Cheap and easy...

[kenikh]

Henry Schmidt suggests the interim step of using mag wheel cleaner between the bead blasting and clear coat steps. He also suggested matte clear over gloss.

[RTincher]

Henry at Supertec seems to have the best solution, especially if you want to renew the cad plating on the fan itself.

Has anyone tried the Tectyl coating approach for the fan and housing, which is what I have read was the factory approach? See this thread on Pelican for a technical discussion on Tectyl as a protectant:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...ghlight=tectyl

[Aircool]

Thanks guys. The thread at Pelican reminds me I have much work to do. Luckily, the drain line at the bottom of the airbox was missing and a good portion of the engine and compartment has a coat of the crud that the drain is there for. It actually preserved things nicely for a 200,000 mile car but I now have to clean it up. I did not discover that it was missing until I took the cis off looking for the "oil leak" that had created the mess.

Michael, looks good. What did you "clear coat" it with?

Thanks,

Steve

[mjmoran]

Steve,

I just use the "high temp 500F" clear from the local stores...works real well, easy to clean and resists most of the "cleaners" we use on the engine. It is a matte clear...not a high gloss as Kenik pointed out earlier.

Good luck and get that oil off your engine...a clean engine is a happy and cool engine.

Cheers,

[sithot]

This is one of the better ones I've done. It's on Rennman's 67-S.
You can buy the acid from any power-washing equipment sales office much cheaper than at an auto parts store. It's the same thing as Eagle One or the Napa brand for porous aluminum, etc.. I use it on BMW engine cases that I prepare before building them.
It's very nasty and will burn if you have cuts. I use Scotchbrite pads to clean both the housing and the fan. Multiple applications of the acid and elbow grease come in handy. As far a clear coating or painting, I've never seen anything that held up for any length of time and it's not hard to clean the thing once it is clean.
This housing turned black and I left it that way. It was considerably lighter than my 67 normal coupe which led me to believe it was Magnesium. I have a Magnesium race brake for a project bike and it did the same thing.
I think the contrast is pretty neat.
You can also use a fine glass bead if you have a really cruddy one. Just be sure to clean it up really good before reassembly.
Depending on your patience and tastes you can get a number of varieties of finish. I've even polished fans and acid etched them afterwards for a very smooth blasted aluminum look.

Rome wasn't built in a day and this can be a time consuming affair. Wear rubber gloves; Nitrile ones work pretty good. Snap On sells them as does NAPA and most other parts stores. Ones allowing good dexterity work better (no clam/oyster shucking gloves!).

Tom

[Aircool]

Last night I took the fan and shroud off looking for the source of my oil leak and the situation quickly decended into Porsche hell. I realized there was way too much crud to be just from the airbox drain so I started digging. What I found was a lot of oil and oil based crud on the top of the engine (not fresh, had been there a while). It appears to possibly originate from the oil cooler area, but is all over the rear of the engine on top of the case. It might be the thermostat or breather base as well. I then looked underneath and found a lot of fresh oil on the case as well as the heat exchangers towards the front of them. I am thinking the front main seal (flywheel) has gone bad. I also noticed some leakage at the base of the cylinders. This was noted at the last service and the heads were re-torqued. I checked the main through case bolts (near base of cylinders) as well and several appear to need tightening. I plan on re-torquing everything, cleaning it up and running some to find the leak. I haven't monitored the oil consumption as of yet and it did not seem out of the ordinary but I will keep an eye on it. The history of the car is pretty well documented and the engine was rebuilt at 134,000 miles by the previous owner. It now has 205,000 miles. It is strong and runs good with only some smoke on start up. I don't think it is quite time for a rebuild. I am leaning towards the main seal. If it is that though, would there be any oil on the clutch or does it get thrown off of the flywheel first? Any ideas what might be going on? Help!

Thanks,

Steve

[mjmoran]

Steve, your best bet is to just remove the engine and replace all the seals. Not a hard job for the DIYer.... As most of the oil-repair stuff is not that expensive, I would sugest to buy all of it...hoses, seals, return lines, o rings...everything. Two good productive weekends will have you back on the road with a clean engine. You can always have your sheet metal powdercoated and sand/bead blast your other stuff (heat-exchangers, fan and shroud) but your two weekend job will turn to a month project quick at that point...but the end result is quite rewarding.

Good luck

[Aircool]

Thanks Michael. That is where I am headed. I just need to find the time. (I have a 4 year old and 11 month old, both with endless energy.) I have all of the seals for the top of the engine so it makes sense to just pull it and do it all. Hmmm, while it is out, I really need new heat exchangers. And so it goes!!!
Tom, thanks for your comments. Looks good. As you can see from my previous post, everything is going to get done. I am not sure how I am going to approach the fan yet but it is on the list.

Steve