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