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Another Distributor and Fan Renovation

Oilline

Well-known member
Joined
20 Jun 2009
Messages
137
So what started as a quick distributor drive belt inspection has turned into a distributor rebuild and fan/fan housing refurb.
Parts have been blasted and now off for conversion coating so they will accept paint or powder coat without peeling off in the future hopefully.

 
Oilline, looks like you have got right in amongst things in a bid to have a tidy engine bay, nice work.

At the risk of repeating myself... When I got round to thinking that a Porsche was other than a souped up Beetle with an engine bay that looked more like the innards of a washing machine compared with the likes of Jaguar and other classics of the time which had black enamelled exhaust manifolds, highly polished rocker covers, carburettors etc, well a 911 derivative has a difficult time when up against those type of expectations and perhaps more so when the engine bay may have an aged appearance...?

I had helped friends by stripping the engine and gearbox out of their SC Sport as they wanted to clean things up a bit, and boy did they make a fantastic job of cleaning and polishing everything.... though such is the climate in these parts that within a short period of time after re-installation, it all dulled down considerably, which I thought was disappointing given all the time and effort they put into the process.

some years back when I stripped the mechanicals out of my SC to replace the clutch, and upgrade to oil fed chain tensioners, I decided to have all the tinware blasted and powder coated black, and like you I had the cooling fan etc all blasted clean, and given the experience of my efforts on their engine, I decided to take the powder coating route with the fan, it`s housing and rocker covers too, at the same time I replaced the rusted old silencer with a stainless item. When I look back at the old photographs of it on the garage floor prior to installation, it all seems a bit too bling to my eyes, but once re-installed the engine bay was definately more colourful and easier to keep clean.... These days, I think I would be more impressed with clean and tidy components in their original finish, though on an older engine that would seem to be a difficult if not a very expensive process to try to replicate..?

Those guys with modern machinery such as Jags and Mercs etc that have plastic covers over everything have no such issues, and as for the latest Porsche 911`s and what can be seen in their engine bay...!!!! Yup there is no holding back evolution and trying to make an electric motor look impressive to an old duffer like me...hmm :?:

It will be interesting indeed to your choices, good luck with the processes :thumb:
 
Hey O L

I did a bit of a refurb some years ago and had parts powder coated

It would appear that the magnesium fan reacts or off gases after powder coating and it started to fail within a few months, see below. The fan housing has now started to lose teeny bits but not as extreme as the fan itself.

I recently had to buy a new fan and had it painted so time will tell, unfortunately I haven't used the car for some time so can't give you results on the painting

Good luck with your project but I would avoid powder coating on the magnesium parts

Ash
 

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Yes and that's the reason for the chromate conversion coating on the magnesium parts before painting or powder coating. With this type of pre treatment there is no chance of the base metal corroding or giving off gasses.
It is wildly used in aerospace on aluminium and magnesium components. But time will tell !
I'm also having the fan housing coated with Xylan which is an excellent , tough , nonslip coating. This will be satin black. Unfortunately Xylan is not available in a shade similar to Zermatt Silver so I will paint the fan with 2 pack
 
Yes and that's the reason for the chromate conversion coating on the magnesium parts before painting or powder coating. With this type of pre treatment there is no chance of the base metal corroding or giving off gasses.
It is wildly used in aerospace on aluminium and magnesium components. But time will tell !
I'm also having the fan housing coated with Xylan which is an excellent , tough , nonslip coating. This will be satin black. Unfortunately Xylan is not available in a shade similar to Zermatt Silver so I will paint the fan with 2 pack
 
I'm just about to have my fan and housing refinished. Your talk of chromate conversion coating sounds like a good plan. Do you have any further information on the full process that you would recommend?

Are you thinking Alocrom 1200 or Iridite NCP?
 
I asked for Alochrom but they prefer to use Iradite these days as it's safer apparently. Will collect from platers next week. Was quoted £75 for the conversion coating and Xylan on the fan housing
 
yes Alcrom has been on its way out for a while due to the nasties in it. Its a good call getting it coated, i hadnt given it a thought. Thanks for posting that :)
 
Oilline said:
Yes and that's the reason for the chromate conversion coating on the magnesium parts before painting or powder coating. With this type of pre treatment there is no chance of the base metal corroding or giving off gasses.
It is wildly used in aerospace on aluminium and magnesium components. But time will tell !
I'm also having the fan housing coated with Xylan which is an excellent , tough , nonslip coating. This will be satin black. Unfortunately Xylan is not available in a shade similar to Zermatt Silver so I will paint the fan with 2 pack

Ah, apologies, didn't read your initial post properly, seems like a great idea, incidentally I wish I had painted my housing matt rather than gloss, just a thought. Hope it all goes well..........my engine bay tends to be cleaner than the bodywork these days........
 
Fan, housing and distributor had the Iridite conversion coating before painting.



The fan housing received a satin Black Xylon coating. I dont have a picture of this but its a tough non stick coating.

The fan itself painted Zermatt Silver



Distributor rebuild with new parts. Thanks Diddi for your advice. Painted RAL 9007 Graualuminium



Made my own RS single pulley hub






New voltage regulator fitted

 
Great to see a man working in a machine shop :thumb: I often look back and wish I still had access to lathes, shaping machines and milling machines. Sadly that was a long time ago.

So are you going to be the "man to go to" for an RS single pulley hub?

Great work :thumb:

ATB :)
 
....absolutely best performance you can start with me - the coating and varnishing process is first cream !
I've been smart with you too. Thanks.

I'll drink to that with you.
 

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On the subject of fan housings, fans and alternators. Just got mine all back together after a referb, I had the alternator tested while it was out even though it's a new one of about a year old, all tested ok. But the alternator is not charging the battery. I thought I remembered not tightening the 3 connections tightly, but I had. I'm wondering if the alternator needs to see ground though the fan housing? As it seems to indicate that it should on the engine wiring diagram. Should I have a ground path through the the alternator housing to the fan housing and then fan housing to engine? I'm a little mistified as to why I'm not getting a charge. Any helpful thoughts?
 

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Check the connections at the starter motor and both earth straps. If it starts and runs ok with a charged battery. Either your battery is faulty or the diodes on the altenator have blown. Hope you didn't mix the wires up on the altenator.
 

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