Someone school me - Hot Dip Galvanizing

[01001010]

Thank you once again Jim! This is only the beginning so expect A LOT!! of questions from me.

Yours and everyone else's help is GREATLY appreciated!

[zed]

I'm amazed that the thing doesnt fill with zinc.

[Series 3 guy]

Originally Posted by Mercedesrover

This was a brand new Marsland Stage One frame that I modified a bunch of stuff on (New motor mounts, different power steering, different tranny x-mamber, etc.) and had re-galvanized. Galvanizing is incredibly cheap and really the only way to go for a frame. This frame along with about 100 other pieces cost under $300 to galvanize. I just had a whole bunch of stuff done yesterday. 2288lbs. worth of steel and the bill was $886.00. No, it doesn't pay to paint.

That is a good deal to have all that done! Yours still looks allot cleaner than mine though. Mine is new but I like the looks of yours better. Mine looks a bit more "rough" in the galv process. Good job but not as well refined....

[dav1551]

JC

As said previously hot dipping a chassis is not going to warp it... and is relatively cheep for the longevity that it provides. When mine was done it was their minimum charge of $250....
What seemed to possibly smooth the way in getting it done, was loading the chassis up and riding over there to speak to them in person. In doing so I was able to persuade them to do the parts, then again persuade might not be correct.... more like.... They were able to show what to expect and I could leave them with the insurance that I'd not be "going off" when the did not turn out looking like Jim's(Mercedesrover)

Jim have to say your stuff really came out exceptional and no doubt a first rate appearance on the plating.

But with that I'd venture to say that Jim's is the exception to what you'll find and more likely the guy's doing the galvanizing are dipping such as bridge parts, guard rails, high tension, light polls and the like. Where in they are not set up to be doing architectural grade individual parts, as so to get that sweet looking crystalline pattern coating throughout....
That for one is the reason I opted not to dip the bulkhead and radiator support and went with epoxy primer on those. But with the chassis, cappings, front window frame, side window supports and yes, even the roof gutter, or basically if it was galvanized before it got re-dipped along with some other odd bits. Such as the front visor brackets and a fabricated work lamp bracket,,, all went through the process with out problems.
The rain gutter to the roof had me fretting a bit to where I added some cross bracing to keep it from spreading......... It did have some ark after being dipped, but it was minimal and was able to pull it back into place while trial fitting.

If you can get someone to dip the chassis....... Sandblast it, drill a few holes near the corners of the crossmembers to allow the zinc to flow better through out the chassis and clean it out well before dropping it off...... Might also request that they do not clean it up after dipping.... When I was having it done they cleaned the excess off with a side grinder, which to me looked worse than a bit of excess zinc. Where I preferred to clean them up myself with a hand file and air tool here at the house. Cosmetically it might not look as original, but a zinc coating even in uneven is going to hold up better than paint. Oh and in note if you paint over top of the galvanizing on the chassis, no one is going to notice any imperfections.
If by chance have a copy of Land Rover monthly (Dec 07) lower right corner pic on the cover from the MAR rally there were several that inspected the undercarriage with out mention other than phrase and those boys are near fanatical rover coinsures.

But in truth what I'm trying to get at is that a full but uneven non-pristine coating of zinc is going to hold up better than paint in my opinion and if choose to, got for it.


Dave

[antichrist]

Originally Posted by dav1551

But in truth what I'm trying to get at is that a full but uneven non-pristine coating of zinc is going to hold up better than paint in my opinion and if choose to, got for it.

Nearly always. Galvanized steel is to many extents self healing. Scratch it and the zinc will migrate to coat the scratched area.