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Bring The Red Back
Here's one I've been saving till I was sure it would work…
There's been a lot of discussion on how to restore your S fan shroud, particularly how to bring back it's red color while retaining the fiberglass weave… i.e., not opaquely painting it.
Well, the following technique has worked for spot touch ups while the shroud was in the car, but now, while doing a rebuild I had the shroud in hand and was able to do the job right.
1. Clean the shroud with lacquer thinner then denatured alcohol.
2. By some translucent red leather dye (Tandy) and put a small amount in a container and dilute with denatured alcohol at about 5 parts alcohol to 1 part dye… WARE GLOVES ! this stuff doesn’t come off of anything! .... I told-you-so Mr. Red Hands
3. Rub the mixture into the shroud with a clean rag or towel like you were staining a piece of furniture… dye the complete shroud working fast and evenly avoiding any blotchiness... rub it in, then let sit… the alcohol/dye dries very fast, but it takes awhile for the dye to penetrate fully.
4. Check the color intensity and reapply if needed (I did mine about 3 times within 3 days) ... sneek up on it guys... not too red too fast.
5. Polish with what you want (you will take some dye off and get another polishing rag red) I used Pledge and a cotton towel.
The color will mellow with time and the warm engine environment.
Again, this is for bringing back the color only on a faded but otherwise ‘clean’ and undamaged fan shroud… any repairs to the glass itself is a different mater.
Cheers, and good luck ;)
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Doh! Mine was just re-installed on Friday! I was wondering about that as mine is in really good shape, but definitely faded in a few places. We were talking exactly about how to bring the red back and couldn't come up with anything that we thought would detract from originality. This looks like a great idea. I'm going to print it out and save it in my folder for the next time my MFI comes out for some reason (hopefully not for awhile). Thanks Chuck! Can you take a few pics of yours so I can see how it came out? Did you take a before shot?
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Sorry Chris,
No before shots ... but will be posting some progress pics as soon as I have ANOTHER lesson on how to post from Sherwood.
This computer stuff goes through my memory faster then we pass 'civilians' in the hills... ;)
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Great tip, Chuck! I've used clothing dye on plastic pieces, but never would have thought of using leather dye on a shroud...hope you ended up with the perfect orange/red tone... :D
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Attachment 394834
Will give this a go! Have just started the engine tear down.
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Rich,
I'm not sure if the original Tandy alcohol based product exists anymore.... Last time I looked it did not.... :o
I'll see what I use now tomorrow....
cm
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Take that off and have Damon Josz send you a new one. A clean and pretty engine is a happy engine.;)
Porsche used one of his shrouds in a restoration and were pleased.
There are color variations in red. '67S and '68S were their own red. "Redder" shifting more to Burgundy". '69 up are red-orange.
Pure red is shown below the red-orange shroud.
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Rich,
This is what is available from Tandy now....
Different stuff, but still works ...
Doesn't seem to be alcohol based.... use it straight out of the bottle.... always do a small test first...
Hopes this helps,
cm
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Hi thanks for the extra info, so my car is a 68s, is the shroud pictured the 'correct' shade of red? I have been a bit of a sucker for fixing up original where possible , so will have a go with the stain and see how that goes. Thanks