nine9six

Andy, before you shell out $5 bills on a fan, it would be well worth your your while, to strip that poorly prepped paint job from the fan and have it NDT, Dye penetrant inspected for cracks.

Cast Mg produces a porous part, and if this fan was not properly cleaned in prep for paint, it could easily produce this bubbling of the paint on the fan.

Dont know how long you've owned the car, mileage, or if you had painted the fan; but Id darn sure spend $75 on checking your existing fan, before shelling out in excess of $500 for a new part.

If you feel like shipping the fan, I will perform the NDT, free of charge.
I was a Level II inspector in Dye Pen, Ultrasonic, Radiographic testing; and a Level III Examiner in Mag Particle inspection, in procurement for the DoD, in the aircraft/aerospace industry.

P.S. In your video, it sounded like your lifters were making a little noise too...Not a lot, but some.
How many miles on your car? Any evidence of the lifters being replaced, in the cars' history? Maybe something to think/budget about/for in the future?

Andy Hodapp

Thank's so much for the offer nine9six. As for the engine, the car has 64k but had a complete upper engine rebuild at 20k so I can only imagine the lifters were replaced at that time. I'll have to listen more closely the next time I start it up.

joebaehr

Mine looks similar at 100k, was planning to strip and have powder coated.

Super90

I noticed mine had a couple of small cracks near the hub. Ordered a new one from Sunset for $438. Once apart I found the hub bearing was going out, and it was just starting to rub the housing, so a good thing I was replacing.

I would remove it and look it and the housing over very closely and then decide. The hub itself is maybe $150, so maybe $280 incremental for a whole new fan assembly.

Endoman

Just replaced mine with new from Rose Passion in France not sure how the price would work out in US but it was reasonable in UK. Didn't need the bearing as I'm using RS pulley. The black mark may be from a previous belt failure.
Another wall clock on the way.

Railmaster.

Good to know! But worrying! How many revs on that fan?, or miles?!

Super90

1990 C2 with 86k miles.....

KeninBlaine

I pulled my fan and shroud yesterday. There is a little flaking on my fan, but no sign of pits or nicks. Had planned to have it mildly (low pressure) sand blasted and cerakoted. The bearing sounds dry, so I ordered a new hub/bearing for about $100 at Sunset. Car has 105k miles. I'm now wondering if I should just spring for a new fan with bearing for $450 instead of spending $120 or more having the old one refinished.

If I do simply replace the fan, is there any problem freshening up the shroud with some plain engine paint rather than cerakote or powder coat?

Interestingly, there was no clamp on my AC hoses at the 11 o'clock position on the shroud. But my shroud also doesn't have the threaded hole there (about 2" back from the edge of the shroud) for a clamp to be bolted, which indicates my shroud could be from a 95 model year since the hoses on the 95's are routed to the rear rather than across the top of the shroud. Is this common?

Thanks for any input/comments.

nine9six

Kenin
It gets warm in there so maybe a can of high temp caliper paint.
I have some VHT in satin black that would look great on the shroud.
Not so much a fan of foo-foo'ing the fan shroud.

KeninBlaine

Thanks. Sounds like a plan. Just wasn't sure if there was any issue with paints reacting with the existing coating on the shroud. Your comments about chromate and various chemicals got me worried. I never enjoyed metallurgy in engineering school. I'll likely just paint the outside of the shroud, and the first few inches of the inside that is visible around the fan blades. Everything else is invisible.
BTW, I'm Ken, in Blaine.

JasonAndreas

I'm all about DIY (hell, i've patterned, cut and sewed my own leather...) but for something like this (i.e. Magnesium exposed to high temperatures with lots of movement), forget about the rattle can and send your fan & housing to Mark Motshagen in Cali!

makemann

I knew I shouldn't have clicked on the link...there goes more of my funds.

That's some beautiful craftsmanship!

KeninBlaine

Thanks for providing the reference to Mark. I called him and it turned out he was pretty booked up, so after chatting with him about what I was doing and getting some valuable advice, I chemically stripped the flaking fan and had it Cerakoted locally (in satin silver). My shroud was pretty clean, so I just cleaned it off and sprayed it with VHT satin black, which turned out great. I was only doing this for aesthetic reasons, as my fan looked pretty lame with the flaking paint, but in the process of disassembling the pieces I found the fan bearing was sounding pretty dry, so I bought a new hub and bearing from Sunset. I'm glad I caught the bearing before it got worse.
Thanks for all the inspiration and help on this thread. And I highly recommend Mark for anyone not inclined to take on this refinishing themselves. He is a conscientious and knowledgeable guy, and obviously does good enough work to be booked for weeks in advance.

_snowbird_

No kidding. I think I just found out how to get exactly the shade I'm looking for...

rg0115

Looking good. Nice work.