POR-15 or Powdercoat - Votes please

[Ralph S3]

Hi All,

I have got to the stage of my chassis restoration where I need to decide how to protect my shiny new outriggers.

The chassis is stripped right down at the mo and all the welding has been done. Now the big question. I have two options.

1. Strip off all powder coat myself and have it shotblasted, zinc primed and then powder coated for around 300 quid.
2. Strip off all powder coat myself and then paint with POR15.

Going the powdercoat route means that chassis will be nice and shiny and ready for reassembly within a couple of weeks while POR-15 will prob take me a couple of months. The downside is I don't trust powdercoat. After all, we all know how long the original powdercoat lasts. However, the powdercoat specialist told me that using the zinc undercoat will allow the powdercoat to bond with the chassis and even if it is chipped it won't let water creep under it.

What do you reckon I should do. I just can't decide.

[Pies]

1. Strip off all powder coat myself and have it shotblasted, zinc primed and then powder coated for around 300 quid.


Powercoating has improved alot since TVR did the S

[nicbowman]

I tried PQR 15 and thought it was cr@p. It came off real easily. In the end I took it all off and started again.
Now you have got this far, get it powder coated, ask the company about an anti-rust primer coat. Best of luck. Nic

[dern]

I seem to recall reading the s chassis wasn't powder coated but plasticoated or something... could be wrong. The powder coating of my old westfield chassis looked as near to new as you could get and that was made in 88 although probably saw less wet weather.

Mark

[spivvy]

por15 on my chassis and sticks like s**T on a shovel ,
preparation is the key
and lots of layers for the pieces you miss


if you want to see


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.bolards/tvr/html/the_body_lift.html

wether it is any good only time will tell

[nawarne]

Ralph et al,
I've posted about thermal metal spraying in the S forum just before Christmas.
I think the thread started about trailing arms. Have a look at the thread and see what you think.
The company I got a quote from is quite local to Southampton, but I know/had dealings with a firm up in the N.East as well.
Quote for about 100 foot run of 16 gauge 1" tube and square section steel was £600 (they did say it was on the heavy side). But industry experts are giving a 25 year life span to this coating method.

Just picked upon the powder coat improvement comment - I painted/waxoyled my chassis a few months ago, and noticed the powder coat falling off my T/A's around the welded bush trunnions. These T/A's are only 3 or 4 years old (may have been in store tho') so I wam not enamoured with powder coat!
Nick. (hants)

>> Edited by nawarne on Friday 14th January 09:19

[z_chromozone]

If you are going to powder coat you will have to remove all of the oxidised metal (rust and crap welds), to make sure you are not going to have the whole lot peeling off after a few years. You may also have to strip off every component on the chassis inc engine to get easy access for spraying and / or mess about masking bushes etc.

Taking the body off is a fair amount of work, doing the rest of the prep is going to be at least as much again and then some IMO. That said, you will end up with a fantastic chassis.

Trouble if you have a fantastic chassis you start to get ideas about stripping and powder coating the coil springs, electroplating any exposed bright work and replacing all your nuts and bolts with stainless and brass where ever possible. It can really start to snowball. Before you know it you have a concourse car that cost 1000’s to complete, that you don’t dare driving.

Personally unless I wanted a show car there is no way I would start on that route.

Take any broken coating off with an angle grinder and brush. Prep with acid etch if you must get it back to bare shiny metal. And finish with a good tough top coat of POR-15, or similar. It really does do the business if you get the prep right, but do make sure you remove all the loose stuff. Coat the whole lot in body underseal / wax oil and put it back together.


Out of interest, exactly how many people have had their chassis stripped and powder coated.

Z

[Ralph S3]

Thanks Z,

Thing is for various reasons the chassis is already nearly stripped. Only the trailing arms and diff are still attached. So the effort involved to get it powdercoated is actually quite small.

I'm not interested in a show car. I just don't want it to rust. I guess my real question is will a modern powdercoat with a good zinc primer last longer than POR-15? I will go with whatever is better.

Believe me, the engine/bodywork won't win any awards.

R

[mickypee]

POR15 is a very good product.However it is affected by UV light and after a while you will fine it will dull.Perhaps not a problem on your chassis,but it should have a finish on it to "do the job properly"

I have used the product for what it was designed for on my Jeep Wrangler and it is standing up to the rigours of the Great British Winter,but as mentioned previously, powder coat products have improved a great deal in recent years.If you are shot blasting, Zinc primer and poly finish,you shouldn't have any problems.The only extra thing you could do would be to phosphate the metal before the primer.TVR now do this on all their bare metal,but quite honestly it will be fine for many years to come.If the odd chip appears,touch it up.