I see no holes. I didn’t see any scars or imprints when disassembling and cleaning for paint.
Also, the bonnet latch guide plate. It’s nearly the same design on a few British cars. I’ve usually seen them offered with a cad finish as original on the MGA. Moss offers this part but it looks like it’s bare steel, odd for Moss to offer a part that needs to be sent out for plating.
Was it cad, or painted?
On my car, painted black, as was all the bonnet latch mechanism.
Did Jaguar actually cadmium plate anything on the car? The seat sliders would have been bought in from the manufacturer in Birmingham ready-plated. I don’t remember anything else that looked cadmium plated when I was dismantling it - fasteners etc. all black, and so on. Even the wire wheel hubs had no sign of plating, some rust and black paint remains only.
(70k miles car, locked away in a dry garage in 1982.)
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Maybe your fan didn’t need balancers?
This one only has one hole. Probably the balancers overlapped and they just put in one hole through both.
We talked about the bonnet latch awhile back, and I think we came to the conclusion that it was installed before the body was painted, because, like doors and bonnets, they would want to align and adjust it on an unpainted body and then never touch it.
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I just contacted a couple of plating companies in the UK who’s websites show that they do cadmium plating. I was told in no uncertain terms that it is illegal to cadmium plate car parts, and has been for some years, with the operator’s licence at risk if caught doing so.
Aviation parts are permitted, but no car parts.
I’ve never done any work on an aircraft, but wouldn’t a historic light aircraft have a couple of seats up front that might sit on adjustable slides? Hmmm…
Govt Regs!! same as glass you just go to company say there for vintage aircraft say nothing else there plated will cost you a small fortune as here in Australia they need to provide a certification certificate for each part.
Glass being cut here in OZ for car should have OZ safety logos so you go to company and tell them its for a cupboard or artwork or some reasonable story comes back no logo!
Honestly get the tracks silver zinc plated no one will tell the difference and if that is the only fault on your car you will have the best XK in the world!
Shouldn’t the tips of blade be painted black as well or is it lower part of blade?
I’m sure they didn’t take the time to mask the blades. They would be unfinished if they were riveted after painting the hub. Either way, I’ll see they because they’re bright, or I’ll see them because they’ll have a red tip.
'sides, anybody picking at my car because of the finish on the fan blades can kick rocks.
Take an ordinary silver zinc plated bolt and dip it for one second in muriatic acid. Then immediately immerse it in water to neutralize the acid. You’ll be left with a durable finish that closely resembles the cadmium plating used on our cars.
I sent a number small parts that were originally cadmium plated (such as the lug nuts, TEX and Cheney clips, etc.) to a local bulk process plater to be silver zinc plated. I then used muriatic acid to tarnish the bright zinc to approximate the color of cadmium plating. Had I known the seat tracks were originally cadmium plated, I would have also sent them to the local bulk process plater.
I’m fairly certain this is how an engine fan would have looked on a May '55 140.
No balance weights or extra holes on this one, either.
See attached photo of an untouched, low mileage original Fan from a Sept 1955 XK140 OTS - I am totally sure this is as ALL XK140 fans should be re paint finish. Fan centre is steel, blades are aluminium and black paint covers the centre only of the fan and the inner ends of the blades to just beyond rivet leaving outer end of blades natural aluminium, but please not polished - just natural sheet aluminium finish. And XK140 fans - C.7615 - are EIGHT blade as shown and 16in outside diameter, apart from the 53 only earliest XK140 FHC that have a different C.10128 Fan.
Note also two balance pieces, in original (for this car) position, showing how groove allows rotary sliding to position before being secured by four AUTO - R brand setscrews… (setscrews may vary over 1954 to 1957 period but these AUTO are as expected)
These Balance Pieces - C.5121 - were ‘as required’, and although usually found with two off, I have seen at least one three-off (two stacked on one side), but never zero - albeit presumably that’s possible.
Note also I have marked on edge of balance weights the position of the two small holes that are drilled through balance weight and fan centre after assembly has been balanced, so exact correct position can be maintained when assembling onto water pump pulley
These two '120 type fans don’t have any balance weight holes (unless one of the extra holes took the place of a balance weight hole). Yet my other '120 (in storage) definitely does have a balance weight hole with the weights.
Could it be that Jaguar only fitted fans with balance weights to those that actually needed it? And others that passed muster simply went on the car without any weights added? I’m picturing a young apprentice at the factory being tasked with sorting these into two piles: those that need weights and those that don’t (?)
We’ve discussed that question in the past.
Did they paint the spider before attaching the blades or after???
There are factory photos of fans with unpainted blades and photos with blades half painted, and we have not been able to attach a definite date to the change, or even if they changed back.
That one shown by Chris is interesting because it has been re-drilled to fit a hub that originally had a five blade fan.
Obviously not a factory job!
Roger, that photo is exactly the same as my 140’s fan, as posted above. The only difference is that mine shows no signs of ever having had any balance weights attached - none on it when I dismantled, and no marks in the paint where they would have been.
If I ran the shop supplying fans, I wouldn’t take the time to do anything that wasn’t required… just like balancing a tire. If it’s good, it’s good. Put it in the box.