Chassis Corrosion
Discussion
I know there have been loads of posts over the years throughout the TVR forums on this subject, but I am concerned about the state of the chassis on my 95, 84000 mile old Griffith. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but what do people think about the state of this? It's not easy to see, but there is a small hole just in front of the rear wishbone mounting, which I am assuming shouldn't be there.
I only really noticed the extent of the corrosion when I remove the manifolds. Can I just clean this up, and paint on some rust eater, followed by decent thick paint and underseal, or do I need to get this professionally sorted out?
I understand a body removal and clean is around £2500, how much extra would it be to have the chassis replaced?
>>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 14:01
I only really noticed the extent of the corrosion when I remove the manifolds. Can I just clean this up, and paint on some rust eater, followed by decent thick paint and underseal, or do I need to get this professionally sorted out?
I understand a body removal and clean is around £2500, how much extra would it be to have the chassis replaced?
>>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 14:01
I suspect it's corrosion. I've spent the afternoon cleaning off the waxoyl. I'm not convinced it's helped me. I suspect that it's trapped in some moisture and at the very least has hidden the corrosion to the eye. It seems that the worse corrosion is where cables and pipes have been cable tied to the chassis, forming a crud trap. See following picture for the full horror story!
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000011.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000012.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000013.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000014.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000011.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000012.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000013.jpg
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00415354f00000014.jpg
Doesn't look that bad to me, I would take out the cross-member, remove the road spring, go at it with a wire brush in a drill, allow it to dry and then a couple of coats of smooth hammerite. With hammerite you don't really need to treat the rust first.
As for the hole I would think it's a product of the welding, as the rust doesn't look that servere, it obviously needs filling, you could use metal filler, again dry is best (a hair dryer may help!), rub down and then 2 coats of smooth hammerite. If you look further around the chassis you may see more examples of the powder coating lifting, its not uncommon!!
I would think its earlydays as yet and not drastic enough for body off.
As for the hole I would think it's a product of the welding, as the rust doesn't look that servere, it obviously needs filling, you could use metal filler, again dry is best (a hair dryer may help!), rub down and then 2 coats of smooth hammerite. If you look further around the chassis you may see more examples of the powder coating lifting, its not uncommon!!
I would think its earlydays as yet and not drastic enough for body off.
my outiggers looked worse than that,
i just used a scraper and a wire brush, 1 tin of siver hammerite smoothrite and two tins of clear waxoyle in the aerosol.
now looks very good
looks like the waxoyl may have been applied on a damp chassis.
waxoyle is ok on a good, clean dry surface but anything else and it just seems to keep the moisture in (learned from my MG days)
dont worry i think they used T45 tubing which has good anticorrosive properties and just surface rusts (used to work for the aerospace steel company that supplies them, grinnal, safety devices, prodrive and many others)
i just used a scraper and a wire brush, 1 tin of siver hammerite smoothrite and two tins of clear waxoyle in the aerosol.
now looks very good
looks like the waxoyl may have been applied on a damp chassis.
waxoyle is ok on a good, clean dry surface but anything else and it just seems to keep the moisture in (learned from my MG days)
dont worry i think they used T45 tubing which has good anticorrosive properties and just surface rusts (used to work for the aerospace steel company that supplies them, grinnal, safety devices, prodrive and many others)
Don't look too bad to me either. Surface rust can be sealed with POR-15. It's amazing stuff and better than hamerite. The hole is bit conserning thou' because this suggests the corosion is more than surface rust. The metal must be thin in that area to go through. I'd get that looked at personaly.
RAW-SEWedge said:
Don't look too bad to me either. Surface rust can be sealed with POR-15. It's amazing stuff and better than hamerite. The hole is bit conserning thou' because this suggests the corosion is more than surface rust. The metal must be thin in that area to go through. I'd get that looked at personaly.
Hole
missed that clean it out using a drill and spot it with a mig welder only if it is a small hole this hole could have been their from new? is it on a weld seam,if so it could have been missed, if it is in the middle of a tube/box section your gona have to see how thin it is im affraid if your neer me i can sortit with my tig welder email me. stave.
stesrg, I might take you up on that (I'm in Atherstone, Warwickshire). The concensus seems to be that it's not as bad as I feared! I will have a good go at the rust and flakey paint with a suitable power tool, (and the hole as well - which is not near a weld), and use rust inhibitor and Hammerite. Does this give a reasonable match to the original colour, or am I better covering it all with that horrible looking Waxoyl again?
starmist said:
or am I better covering it all with that horrible looking Waxoyl again?
Waxoyl is a neccessary treatment if you want to delay/stop the attack of rust. But you could use it as I do, waxoyl areas that you don't/can't see easily - outriggers, inaccessable areas etc.
Then you work on the premise that places that you didn't waxoyl you check and clean often.
starmist said:
and use rust inhibitor and Hammerite.
really worth giving POR-15 a go starmist. It is amazing stuff (no I'm not a salesman). I used it on mine, you can hit it with a hammer and it won't chip. Totaly water seals the metal too.
You can get it from Frost, £15 worth is more than enough and the finish is very good too.
starmist said:
It's not easy to see, but there is a small hole just in front of the rear wishbone mounting, which I am assuming shouldn't be there.
I only really noticed the extent of the corrosion when I remove the manifolds. Can I just clean this up, and paint on some rust eater, followed by decent thick paint and underseal, or do I need to get this professionally sorted out?
If there's a hole in the chassis tube, you need to get it sorted, particularly as it's so close to a very structural part of the chassis - the wishbone mount. You might be able to get it sleeved as a reinforcing repair. Cleaning up the hole and MIGing it would be OK, but it's no good trying to MIG on to thin metal/rust - you'll do more harm than good. I'd spend some time with an inspection lamp and a mirror having a very close look at the rest of the chassis too.
RAW-SEWedge said:Do you know if the grey is a fairly good match for the standard grey of the chassis, or would you recommend overpainting the whole lot afterwards (tricky with everyting still attached!)
really worth giving POR-15 a go starmist. It is amazing stuff (no I'm not a salesman). I used it on mine, you can hit it with a hammer and it won't chip. Totaly water seals the metal too.
You can get it from Frost, £15 worth is more than enough and the finish is very good too.
[quote=starmist]stesrg, I might take you up on that (I'm in Atherstone, Warwickshire). The concensus seems to be that it's not as bad as I feared! I will have a good go at the rust and flakey paint with a suitable power tool, (and the hole as well - which is not near a weld), and use rust inhibitor and Hammerite. quote]
As i have previously repaired lotus chassis (yes and the alloy ones)
also audi A8s panels,i can do tubular ones in my sleep, keep the tea and cakes comming and ill come and have a look.
As i have previously repaired lotus chassis (yes and the alloy ones)
also audi A8s panels,i can do tubular ones in my sleep, keep the tea and cakes comming and ill come and have a look.I ordered some grey POR-15 last night from Frosts, along with the rust eater they do, which apparently helps to bond the POR-15 onto smooth surfaces. In the mean time I spent an hour with my drill having a go at removing the surface rust and flakey paint. I still need to have a go at the more difficult to reach places, but it's looking pretty promising!
This is a better shot of the hole:
I think I'll need to get underneath to give the underside of the tubes a good clean and prep tonight, if I get time.
This whole thing started, only because I was changing my injectors, and now I've only got half a car intact!
>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 13:59
>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 14:02
This is a better shot of the hole:
I think I'll need to get underneath to give the underside of the tubes a good clean and prep tonight, if I get time.
This whole thing started, only because I was changing my injectors, and now I've only got half a car intact!
>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 13:59
>> Edited by starmist on Tuesday 20th July 14:02
Starmist,
I know exactly how you feel!
Last year I was just about to lower my car down off the axle stands,after decatting it,when I thought I might as well take the opportunity to have a quick look at the chassis.
I was planning to strip and repaint the chassis anyway over the following few months,so it would give me an opportunity to have a scrape and poke around underneath to see how much work I had to do. However,poking around the n/s front outrigger,I found that the crusty metal disintegrated to reveal an ever increasing hole in the tube.
Just when you're looking forward to being behind the wheel again,you know it's going to be a very long time off!
Consequently,it was another 3 months before my car was back on the road after having a new chassis,wishbones,etc.
Hope yours is a quick and easy fix!
mack
I know exactly how you feel!
Last year I was just about to lower my car down off the axle stands,after decatting it,when I thought I might as well take the opportunity to have a quick look at the chassis.
I was planning to strip and repaint the chassis anyway over the following few months,so it would give me an opportunity to have a scrape and poke around underneath to see how much work I had to do. However,poking around the n/s front outrigger,I found that the crusty metal disintegrated to reveal an ever increasing hole in the tube.
Just when you're looking forward to being behind the wheel again,you know it's going to be a very long time off!
Consequently,it was another 3 months before my car was back on the road after having a new chassis,wishbones,etc.
Hope yours is a quick and easy fix!
mack
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