In reply to Adrian_Thompson :
840 degrees.
That was my biggest concern as well. The zinc is at 850 degrees and after the frame is acid dipped, it is lowered into the vat of zinc for a few seconds, so the frame is going to get rapidly heated. The muscle car restorer crowd is not concerned as their frames are thick metal, but I wanted to see if anyone has done a Triumph frame and could not find any examples on Google. Here is a Rover frame, but it is much more substantial than a Spitfire frame.
I am not really that excited about the galvanizing look as much as I am about getting the frame dipped and 100% clean and rust proofed for only $300. I would not be interested in painting it with galvanizing first and then having to paint it again. I would normally just sand blast it and paint it black and be done with it. My TR4A restoration still looks great 17 years later, so I know that process works. I wanted to power coat it until they gave me the price, so then found this galvanizing being done on other cars, so it was worth considering. I am still on the fence, will be a few weeks until it is ready to go, so will need to decide.
How much to just have it acid dipped? Will they do that without the galvanizing? Then you could paint it yourself.
Got anyone local who does E-coating? There's a shop in Romulus MI called International Paint Strip that does the burn off / acid dip / neutralizing wash / black e-coat process. It's probably cheaper than the powder coat quote you got, and it's quite robust.
I will look into that, sounds like it is pretty much an industrial power coating? I have a few weeks, so will start shopping around
I was going to have my Rover frame galvanized before I rebuilt the truck, but the scheduling didn't work out. I already had it sandblasted. When it became apparent that the galvanizing wasn't going to work, I used POR-15. It's pretty awesome stuff, I've rubbed it up against rocks and it's held.
Rover guys do it quite a bit, but I’m not sure how the frames compare. I have a rust free frame thankfully.
I don't have anything to add except the Ospho label specifies instructions for how to use the product to prepare galvanized metal for painting.
I'm considering doing a test piece next time I'm spraying epoxy primer. Throw it in the trailer to bounce around and test the adhesion.
Go in with your buddies and make a POR dip tank. Would only have to do one half of the frame at a time (R/L) , then flip it over and dip again. Wear gloves.
Definitely interested to see how this works out as I'm going to be needing to do something similar with the DMC's frame once I finally get to working on it and have repaired all the rusted sections so I don't have the problem again (or for another 30 years).
In reply to dherr :
The e-coat is done in a huge dip tank IIRC. I really need to google it or go visit them again.
If you are worried about twisting your frame because of the heat of that liquid Zinc that it is dunked into. Ask if the do electrostatic plating of Zinc. That is what most parts and bolts are cover in. You can even go with colors.
Zinc Plating Services We Offer
Back in the day I used to drop off parts we made at a little plating shop. Some times they would have car parts there waiting to be picked up. Fenders,doors,etc.
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