Galvanized Chassis

[malc_grn]

Well body off rebuilds seem to be the hot subject at the moment, so this is what I done last year.
My steering rack went, so while I was sourcing a replacement I started to dig around the chassis, and within a week or two decided the body had to come off!
After a fair bit of research and having owned an Esprit, I went down the galvanized route, to me this makes complete sense. Both the inner and outer of all tubes are coated, the galvanizing is very tough and even if you remove a bit of it with a grinder the zinc is sacrificial so the bare metal won't even rust, and they give it at least a 25 year life.

Heres a couple of pics, before and after:
[URL=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2983902440101836410hVbtuR][/URL]

[URL=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2650748620101836410rLsLuQ][/URL]

[URL=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2548605480101836410ToUBus][/URL]

I throughly enjoyed the chassis refurb and would love to do another, I'm almost tempted to sell and buy a cerb with rotted chassis!

Edited by malc_grn on Sunday 8th March 20:59

[baztvr]

Looks the biz that doe's, It's a bit scary to see the before pic because you might not be able to see that with the body on. Howe much is the coating roughly. and when the body came of did it cause any cracks if the body flexed?/

[ridds]

Top job.

Don't suppose you'd let on where you got it done and a rough cost?

You can come and help me with mine if you really want!

[QuiteQuietCerb]

malc_grn said:

I throughly enjoyed the chassis refurb and would love to do another, I'm almost tempted to sell and buy a cerb with rotted chassis!

Edited by malc_grn on Sunday 8th March 20:59

or you could do mine

[malc_grn]

As you said I had no idea of the condition the chassis was in, I was always told that it was good and solid, I couldn't see any holes with the body on, I only took it off so I could do a proper job of cleaning it up etc... So there must be loads running around like I was without a clue of what lies beneath.

The Body is very stiff and strong with the roll cage bonded in, so no issues with flexing / cracking when removing, compared to other fibreglass sports cars I've restored!

The cost of the galvanizing is worked out on the weight of the final product, my chassis came out at 106kg and the cost was £410.00 / Tonne, so it worked out at £75ish - Bargin!

Ridds happy to help out, PM me if you need anything, I have an excellent fabricator, and contacts with the galvaninzer.

Cheers

[hiltonig]

how can you guarantee nothing distorts during the dipping >>>?

[malc_grn]

QuiteQuietCerb said:

malc_grn said:

I throughly enjoyed the chassis refurb and would love to do another, I'm almost tempted to sell and buy a cerb with rotted chassis!

Edited by malc_grn on Sunday 8th March 20:59

or you could do mine

Would be happy too, being a firefighter I have lots of spare time - I see a buiness opportunity here!

[BCA]

Very impressive - I think ridds and I are going to become rebuild vultures;

May I please ask who did the galvanising/repair work to the chassis? Do you have any contact details.

thanks.

[malc_grn]

hiltonig said:

how can you guarantee nothing distorts during the dipping >>>?

Well I had to go with the advice / experiance of the galvanizers, you're right some companies refuse to touch anything to do with cars.
I took the chassis along so they could assess for themselves, the chassis is very strong, with lots of short runs of tubing, they said it was more sheet metal work you get issues with and they had no problems doing the cerb chassis.

When you compare it to an esprit chassis and alot of the kit cars that come with glavanized chassis the cerbs looks bomb proof in comparision.

Note: I didn't get any of the wishbones done as I felt they wouldn't be up to it, so had them powder coated instead.

[malc_grn]

BCA said:

Very impressive - I think ridds and I are going to become rebuild vultures;

May I please ask who did the galvanising/repair work to the chassis? Do you have any contact details.

thanks.

Thanks - I'd recommended it, very statisfying

I used McArthur Group Ltd, in Bristol

Chassis was refurbed by a friend who is a fabricator at a local engineering company.

[Gazzab]

well done!!
this topic has been covered before and people were scared off, worried over chassis bending whilst dipping.

[Malam]

Now that's how a chassis should look

[jonbarrett]

I enquired about gavanizing a chassis ages ago and someone put me of by saying the additional metal would significantly increase the weight of the chassis. Do you know how much weight it added? Personally I think I'd prefer a heavier, corrosion free finish.

[Guy J Russell]

Malam said:

Now that's how a chassis should look

If it had looked like that when TVR put it together the first time how much better would it have been for all concerned! And for the price! I think if it had been on the options list alot of people would have ticked that box even just to have it as a selling point. Anyway nice job! A TVR for life?

[GreenV8S]

jonbarrett said:

I enquired about gavanizing a chassis ages ago and someone put me of by saying the additional metal would significantly increase the weight of the chassis. Do you know how much weight it added? Personally I think I'd prefer a heavier, corrosion free finish.

IF the chassis distorted when it was hot dipped, who's problem would it be - yours, or the person you paid to dip it?

[Brummmie]

Its another way of skinning the cat. When i did mine i paid to have 2 coats of zinc primer, then the powder coat over the top. Mine will not need doing in its lifetime, so the same result is achieved. What temp is galv done at?

[Guy J Russell]

Well i imagine if they said they could dip it without any distortion issues then it would be down to them but how hot are we talking here? Hotter than it gets anyway whith the exhaust manifolds right next to the chassis?

[ridds]

Quick search shows 450-500°C so yes, a lot hotter than around the exhaust pipes.

This issue is say putting the chassis in at al angle and or too quickly.

The chassis would ideally need to be heated as much as possible to reduce the temperature differential.

[GreenV8S]

Brummmie said:

Its another way of skinning the cat. When i did mine i paid to have 2 coats of zinc primer, then the powder coat over the top. Mine will not need doing in its lifetime, so the same result is achieved. What temp is galv done at?

It would be around 450C. The exhaust does get hotter than that, but then even on relatively short exhaust runs the expansion can be enough to cause stress cracks over time. The total expansion would only be a few mm per meter, but that's enough to cause a lot of distortion if the metal yields while it is hot and under stress from thermal expansion.

Maybe it's OK, maybe it isn't. My worry is, if anything goes wrong, who is it that is out of pocket? If the galvanising company were committed to replace the chassis if necessary, that would be great. But somehow I doubt they would be willing to take on a liability of potentially thousands of pounds for a job costing a couple of hundred. More likely IMO the owner bears the risk.

[Guy J Russell]

That is very hot! I imagine there might be other issues whith getting it that hot like softening it. We anneal on a furnace at work at 260 degrees.