Re: [DMCForum] Re: impending frame off restoration

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxxxxx>]

> The rest of the car is fine, 
> so I will not be also going thru the cooling system, AC, or anything 
> like that.

John, in order to get the body off the frame, the aircon hoses will be in the way.  You cant lift the body very far off without having to disconnect these lines.  I predict that once you get into it then you will run into, "while I am in there" syndrome.  While you are in there, while you have the aircon system open, you might as well replace the orifice tube, flush out the old oil, replace the ..... well, I could go on & on...

> and would definitely consider other 
> options such as sandblasting and POR-15, or powdercoating. I'd just 
> be a bit concerned that powdercoating on its own wouldn't be very 
> durable

Sandblasting can work well, but I have seen chemical dips that work better.  You take it to a place that has a big heated vat that they dunk the whole frame into.  It eats the rust and leaves only bare metal.

Powdercoating only works as well as the preparation.  I have had two batches of steel spoke rims sandblasted and then powdercoated.  The first batch turned out excellent.  The second batch turned out very poorly because they did not properly sand blast the spokes.  Within a short time, the paint started to come off.

As far as I know, powdercoating only sticks to bare metal.  So this would preclude using POR-15.  I'm not a big fan of POR-15 because it is used to cover up rust.  I prefer to get rid of ALL the rust.  Using Naval Jelly is a do-it-yourself way of chemical dipping.  I like it because it gets rid of the rust instead of sealing it in.

> Also, it would be difficult or impossible to sandblast and 
> paint inside the closed off box sections of the frame such as the 
> engine support cradle or the front crossmember. The Zinc dip would 
> get into these areas much better.

This is the bane of DeLorean frames.  Forget about zinc dipping or painting the boxed-in sections unless you are certain that they are rust free and bare.  I haven't been this far into a frame, but I have heard accounts of guys cutting the boxed sections open to clean them out.  Then they weld them shut.  But if you paint them before you weld, then the heat from the weld burns the paint.  What can you do?  I wonder if it would be better to find a way to leave the boxed sections open but reinforce them otherwise so that they can stay open.  

> So I can use a toolkit, 
> but I'm not a mechanic by any means!

I think that most professional mechanics fit into this category. ;-)

> I was then going to powdercoat 
> over the galvanised frame.

I have not heard if powdercoat would stick well to zinc.  I suppose it would, but it might require treating the galvanized with a phosphoric acid wash.  Years ago when American auto manufactures started making a decent effort to stop their cars from rusting so bad, they used body panels made from an electroplated sort of galvanized metal.  The paints didn't stick very well.  I saw plently of relatively new cars with paint flaking off.  But at least they didn't rust so bad.

If I were totally restoring a frame, my preference would be to chemically strip it and then paint it myself with a spray gun and then possibly use a brush to reach confined areas.  I dont like galvanized very much because it tends to wear away.  It does a fine job of coating steel, but when exposed to the elements, it tends to wear away.  I'm sure that could be a problem on a DeLorean frame.  I think that painting over galvanized would be too much crap for the trouble.  It would be hard to make the paint stick to it.  And if you are going to do a good paint job, your preperation & application of primer should be as good as galvanizing.  And if sealed with a good top-coat then it wont wear away.

Pearce says that part of what makes their frame not so heavy is the lack of paint.  I remembering hearing that the factory epoxy alone can weigh around 10 pounds.  If you put paint over galvanized, I think you would have a rather heavy frame -- not that it would matter, tho.



Walt


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