Form or function?

[Nefarious]

All the front suspension bits are now off the car, I've got five out of six stripped back to bright metal and I've got 2 and a half of the old bushes out. Hopefully the first coat of zinc will be going ontomorrow at some point.

Now I'm left with a decision about what top-coat to use. Having spent so bloody long getting them to the state they're in, I'd love it if there was a clear lacquer option, but that's just silly - but it has got me thinking about doing something other than the "zinc-stonechip-Tetracan gunk" option I used on the chassis.

Maybe just finish with a second coat of stonechip? Probably not as resiliant as using underseal, but would look a lot nicer than coating everything in black gunk.

Thoughts?

[peteA]

Nefarious said:

All the front suspension bits are now off the car, I've got five out of six stripped back to bright metal and I've got 2 and a half of the old bushes out. Hopefully the first coat of zinc will be going ontomorrow at some point.

Now I'm left with a decision about what top-coat to use. Having spent so bloody long getting them to the state they're in, I'd love it if there was a clear lacquer option, but that's just silly - but it has got me thinking about doing something other than the "zinc-stonechip-Tetracan gunk" option I used on the chassis.

Maybe just finish with a second coat of stonechip? Probably not as resiliant as using underseal, but would look a lot nicer than coating everything in black gunk.

Thoughts?

I 'cleaned' up my chim suspension parts and painted them with er black gunk (under body seal) and whilst they will probably be fine even a few years from now, they didnt look good and small stones, debris etc stuck to them.

I now have a cerb and have cleaned up the suspension (chipped, ground, sanded, etc) the suspension in situ and am intending the paint the relevant parts in white to match the chassis / the origianl finish as best I can.

my vote - go for something that looks good and will prevent future rusting - stonechip (even if, protection wise, its not ultimately as good as black gunk!)

[JensenA]

Send them off to get properly powder coated - it shouldnt cost too much.

[peteA]

JensenA said:

Send them off to get properly powder coated - it shouldnt cost too much.

good shout - especially as they are removed from the car!

[Nefarious]

JensenA said:

Send them off to get properly powder coated - it shouldnt cost too much.

Considered it, but IMO it's not as good as galvanising them, which is what I'm doing.

[Nickccc]

Any decent powder coating outfit will clean (acid dip) and alochrome the part before painting, http://www.staranodising.co.uk/alochrome.htm
I have sprayed quite a bit of powder coat. The company I worked for used to fabricate and paint all the steering houses, binnacles and such for a major supplier to the yachting industry. This stuff would be up on deck in ocean going craft. It will be good for suspension parts and such.

If only TVR had cleaned and coated the chassis before powder coating it.

[greenm]

Just an idea as I am also in the yachting industry and anytime I have had any plain metal parts we paint them and then give them a coat of two pot epoxy which is extremly hard and resiliant and clear? Just a thought!!!

[Luckyone]

Nefarious said:

JensenA said:

Send them off to get properly powder coated - it shouldnt cost too much.

Considered it, but IMO it's not as good as galvanising them, which is what I'm doing.

If you have electro plated them in a tank to galvanize them then they should be fine as they are – lamp posts & motor way crash barriers last for years with year round road abuse. If you have just used a zinc rich primer then you will need good stone chip on top. I assume you know there are two types of stone chip – the “black gunk (some times with waxoly) stuff which is rubbish & the proper solvent based stuff that can be over over coated with normal car paint. This stuff fine to leave as it is but you can spray over it the same colour as the body if you like. If you want a spay can http://www.rust.co.uk/popup.cfm?p_i=405082&p_n...
Or they have one for a spay gun too.

[Ireland]

Galvanise first.

Then powdercoat.

[Luckyone]

I was trying to work out what you meant by "zinc-stonechip-Tetracan gunk" on my search I found your original post about the work you did on the chassis. Sorry to say but if you started the process off with Kurust you will be doing the whole lot again before too long regardless of what you put on the top. There isn’t any "rust converter" that actually works I’ve tried them all & regretted it every time. Also the zinc rich primer needs to be applied to the clean bare steel to work, not on top of the Kurust. There are lots of products now that really do remove the rust with out sand basting giving you that clean surface for the your primer. Although the best primer to use is an acid etching one.

[WorAl]

Galvanise then white hammerite smooooooth

[Nefarious]

Luckyone said:

I was trying to work out what you meant by "zinc-stonechip-Tetracan gunk" on my search I found your original post about the work you did on the chassis. Sorry to say but if you started the process off with Kurust you will be doing the whole lot again before too long regardless of what you put on the top. There isn’t any "rust converter" that actually works I’ve tried them all & regretted it every time. Also the zinc rich primer needs to be applied to the clean bare steel to work, not on top of the Kurust. There are lots of products now that really do remove the rust with out sand basting giving you that clean surface for the your primer. Although the best primer to use is an acid etching one.

I'm not using Kurust on the suspension, because I can strip everything down to bright metal. I used it on the chassis because there were quite a few bits I couldn't get to properly with a grinder/wire brush etc without lifting the body (e.g. top of the outriggers). Everything that could be filed right back was, and got a coat of Zinc 300 to clean metal. Absolutely everything I could get to with a brush/spray tin (both the zinc coated bits and the Kurusted bits) with stonechip and black gunk. Six months on (which admittedly isn;t very long), everythign still looks pretty healthy.

[trooperiziz]

Ireland said:

Galvanise first.

Then powdercoat.

Then Hammerite

Then Gunk

Then wrap in bubble wrap

[WorAl]

trooperiziz said:

Ireland said:

Galvanise first.

Then powdercoat.

Then Hammerite

Then Gunk

Then wrap in bubble wrap

Then Gaffer Tape

Then Shrink Wrap

[itsallyellow]

Then bake in mud just to make sure! (works with fossils??)

[Luckyone]

Nefarious said:

Luckyone said:

I was trying to work out what you meant by "zinc-stonechip-Tetracan gunk" on my search I found your original post about the work you did on the chassis. Sorry to say but if you started the process off with Kurust you will be doing the whole lot again before too long regardless of what you put on the top. There isn’t any "rust converter" that actually works I’ve tried them all & regretted it every time. Also the zinc rich primer needs to be applied to the clean bare steel to work, not on top of the Kurust. There are lots of products now that really do remove the rust with out sand basting giving you that clean surface for the your primer. Although the best primer to use is an acid etching one.

I'm not using Kurust on the suspension, because I can strip everything down to bright metal. I used it on the chassis because there were quite a few bits I couldn't get to properly with a grinder/wire brush etc without lifting the body (e.g. top of the outriggers). Everything that could be filed right back was, and got a coat of Zinc 300 to clean metal. Absolutely everything I could get to with a brush/spray tin (both the zinc coated bits and the Kurusted bits) with stonechip and black gunk. Six months on (which admittedly isn;t very long), everythign still looks pretty healthy.

Ah ok, I thought you meant you’d painted the whole lot with Kurust. It’s a shame you didn’t use http://www.hammerite.com/uk/products/ps_rust_remov... instead on the rusty bits first, then it really would last for a very long time. There are products like http://www.bilthamber.com/deoxc.html which you could have immersed the whole arm in (as it was off) to totally clean it up, but you don’t really want to hear that now you have finished doing by hand
But as for your original question, as you went back to clean steel on the front suspension bits, rubberised solvent based stone chip, like the one in my other post, on top of your primer will be just fine, it’s very tough stuff. If you want it to look better just spray over it in any colour body paint you like & if you really want it to shine spray over that with some lacquer. That’s more or less what production cars have now under the wings.
There’s no need to bother with black gunk on top, it doesn’t bond at all well & just covers over any trouble spots as well as sticking to every part of you when ever you go to work under the car again in the future…

[Malam]

Check this out...

http://www.triple-s.co.uk

Price list;

http://www.triple-s.co.uk/auto.htm

[caduceus]

I took mine to the powder coaters. Got alot of stuff done so he did it for a good price, and I'm happy with the results. Now I'm on the lookout for some plastic trim to stick on the thin edges, where the powder coat normally flakes off from.

[Luckyone]

caduceus said:

I took mine to the powder coaters. Got alot of stuff done so he did it for a good price, and I'm happy with the results. Now I'm on the lookout for some plastic trim to stick on the thin edges, where the powder coat normally flakes off from.

Very nice!
Although proper (not TVR ) powder coating is very good, probably better than any painting, I think don’t think our man will swayed from the DIY route, but I know where he’s coming from & still gets a from me.

As for your edges, I was on a different forum for my 200sx, where a guy suggested filing all sharp edges round before starting what ever coating process you were using. It increases the surface area of the contact patch on the edges & reduces the stress on the coating making it more resilient. Not tried it my self but sounds like a good idea. Bit late for you though, sorry, a theme seems to be developing here….

[markh1]

Looks very smart caduceus, I am undecided as to how to protect my wishbones. I had considered powdercoating but I dont think it will last that long.

I think what I am going to do is once the parts are grit blasted is apply...

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8...

and then paint on this...

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9...

and then because they dont have the above in white I would spray on some white paint.

Opinions??