The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi,

I've pretty much stripped my MG to a shell now, and have lots of parts that I'll be looking to get reconditioned.

These include the front & rear anti-roll bars, suspension components, front cross-member, gearbox cross-member, steering arms etc.

I was wondering whether people had any opinions/experience of powder coating vs zinc/galvanised plating etc?

I'll be looknig to get things like the door lock plates, door hinges, boot hinges and other things zinc coated at some point, was mainly wondering if that was a good idea for the suspension and other bits?

Galv usually has a min weight to get done, quite large, so small bits would cost loads. You also get lots of galv flash that needs cleaning up. It's brittle so not good where things spring/flex, and there's the heat too.

Dunno about zinc plating, apart from it's tidier. There's also hot zinc spraying.

Not keen on powder, once it chips, rust creeps and it lifts. Need a good coater on the case otherwise bits get thin cover/no powder; in nooks & corners, the field fights back, so needs extra effort to get powder in there. Have had bad jobs on bike frames like this. No doubt there's good people out there and other folks have had better luck though.

Any alternatives then?

One of the plating options + paint should be good, or paint alone, I guess. Or a known good powdercoater possibly. I like paint cos it's easy to repair, but have the luxury of spraying kit for 2k, and am too tight/skint to pay for plating.

chodjinn wrote:Any alternatives then?

A decent 'chassis black' will last for ages. If the parts are rust free before painting.

There are home kits available for zinc plating - quite pricey, but probably worth it if you have lots to do. Preparation is the key to success, and this is labour intensive hence the high cost of having it done professionally.

^ did this on my Minx daily, Jotun Jotamastic marine primer (a 2k epoxy), chassis black on top of that.

I would like a nice finish though, rather than hand painted etc.

For chassis black stuff, like Dinitrol? You can ge that in a spray paint.

If I get the parts blasted to remove rust etc and give a decent finish, a few coat of that should be ok right?

Anyone used it, or something similar?

After much thought on all options including powder coating I decided to shot blast my chassis and parts and paint in POR15. I was convinced by many posts and the demo video (albeit by POR!).

I have to say it does what it says on the tin. I even painted my front pulley / crank bolt and after torquing it right up to 247ft lbs it did not chip.

I sprayed it all myself and did POR15 in three coats and then their Chassis Black in three coats over last Easter.

You can hand paint it and I did on several brackets. Chassis Black came out as a silk finish when hand painted (more gloss when sprayed) but you can see when it is hand painted.

Praise enough?

One of those things were there's a ton of different products, people will have their favourites, and there's probably no one ideal way.
I've had bad luck with POR15 before, and from now on it's Jotun 87 + topcoats or an automotive 2k epoxy, plus topcoats.

Trouble with rattle cans is their price and the coverage is thin.

Lots of people make chassis black, not found much odds between cheap and pricey tins as yet. Minx is wearing el cheapo c.b., it hasn't been chipped as yet, used daily for a year.

There's other left-field things like MIO (micaceous iron oxide) industrial paint, and Raptor truck bed liner, read of one shop using it, but haven't used either of these.

2k for me.

Pete