The Rover-Landers of BC

I am just about to take my frame in for powdercoating and thought I would ask if anyone wished they would have made any modifiactions or drilled holes prior to painting. I never intended to have the removeable tranny crossmember so I think I am set to go but thought I would throw this out for info/advice.

Interesting question. Is it a military frame with the longer spring hangers?

I just made a deal on a new frame myself and I'm wondering if I leave it as is with the numerous coats of epoxy paint lovingly coated on, or whether I do a bit of welding to lengthen the hangers like the miliary 109s have. I'm also thinking this is a good time to build a set of heavy duty rock slider sills as its alot easier to fabricate with no body in the way.

I agree, lifting the transmission hasn't ever been a big deal so I'm don't really care about making that crossmember romovable, although I think it already is on this new frame.

Two other things you might consider...

Is it a II or IIa? If so, the gusseting against the frame on the crossmember that goes under the bulkhead, left side, could be trimmed off so that you can install a series III transmission and have room for the series III slave cylinder. If its a series III this is already trimmed off. Sorry no pic of this.

And lastly, same crossmember on the right, another modification that some folks make at this stage is to make a cutout to clearance the front driveshaft. this is good advise if you intend to use Parabolics with extended shackles as otherwise the driveshaft can rub on this crossmember. Photo here of how the mod looks.

Thanks Dave - I am not planning any of those mods. Good food for thought though.

Richard,

Just curious. Why powder coat over galvanizing? I would think it would be way cheaper.

Later,
Don

Plus galvanizing coats the inside of the frame. Powder coating will leave the inside bare and one day it will rot from the inside out.

Where would you take a frame for galvanizing? And, do you have to strip the paint yourself, or do they dip it in acid or something first?

I know Devin did his and it sounded pretty reasonable. Devin, where did you get it done, and how much prep did you have to do?

Dave

The only thing wrong with powdercoating is if it gets stone chipped,then the rust will get underneath.I would vote for galvanizing for a lot longer life.

Mike
Long live the oily beast.

I'm in Prince George and as such the logistics of getting the frame to Vancouuver are a bit much. Just sandblasting and priming would save me a hundred or two but I just thought what the hell - go for it. I plan on doing a thorough job of rust treating the inside before I start putting things back together. I suppose I could think about getting it to Van that but have to line up a trailer or ship. Would add considerabley to the program. Thanks for the reminder as I haven't really priced out that option. Anyone know what a 109 would cost to get galvanized?? It has to be fairly rust free when you drop it off and so I would have to line up a blast for it down there. Again more logistics.

Ebco in Richmond does galvanizing and has probably done a dozen landrover frames.

They require that all metal be paint and scale rust free, light surface rust is ok since they do a pre-galvinizing acid dip. Any previous galvanizing would require sandblasting down to original metal.

I would recommend having redistrip dip it first to get any paint off first. www.Redi-Strip.com They are familiar with Landrovers and they have a relationship with ebco.

It has been 8 years since I had all the body cappings, etc done and it was $0.48 per pound minimum $100 at that time.

Neil A. had his frame redi-stripped then galvanized more recently and Devin even more recently. I would ask one of them for more info.

Good Luck.

There will be a place in Prince George that does galvanizing. Look around. It is a very typical thing to get done to equipment in industry. It is usually quite cheap. They will do any prep if needed.

If you want to save some money,you could use Por-15 on the frame.It is tough as nails and the surface doen't have to be totally rust free.

Mike
Long live the oily beast.

I recently had some galvanizing done at "Silver City" on Annacis Island in Richmond. 50 cents per pound and a 200 pound minimum. Very light surface rust or contamination is tolerable but loose scale or flakes and especially paint are not acceptable. I had good service from them, one week turnaround promised but I had the parts back in three days.
Bill :D

No doubt those of you that have galvanized can provide us with how important the following factors are, but I phoned Ebco (604-720-1510) today and talked to their rep, Tom Saxton, about his thoughts, suggestions and pricing.

Tom does remember several Land Rover frames, but said he hadn't heard back from anyone who'd had it done to let him know how it all worked out.

Anyway, Tom had the following cautions:

- Be aware of possible distortion as the metal is heated to 840° F before being dipped in the molten zinc.

- All surfaces must be clean, bare metal, either acid dipped or sandblasted.

- Holes must be drilled in appropriate spots to allow the zinc to seep in and drain out of the frame. Minimum 3/8 size. The frame is turned up on its right hand side (how do they tell which is left right, front or back?) and dipped into the tank. The holes must allow the zinc to flow into the entire cavity, so should be at the very bottom (turned sideways to the right) with breathing holes at the very top of each cavity. Otherwise, either no galvanized coating is applied to the surface, or where there's not enough drain holes, a solid pocket of galvenizing occurs, which creates additional weight -- and zinc is heavy stuff.

- Minimum price $100. Price per pound is $1, and is only charged for the actual zinc used by weighing the frame before and after. He says that typically if proper draining is done the zinc coating ends up being 4-6% of the weight of the original frame. (if the frame is 1000 lbs -- I haven't weighed mine -- then you'll probably still have to pay the minimum of $100, since 6% of 1000 is 60 x $1 = $60)

- He suggested either sandblasting or redi-strip acid dipping as preparation for galvanizing.

I called Redi-Strip (604-946-7761) and talked to Brandon, who estimated $400 - $500 to acid dip and clean a frame. Could be less if the paint came off easy, but could be more if a powdercoat or epoxy finish didn't come off very easy. Hmmm, maybe have to check into sandblasting.

I still want to see if theres anyone here in the Fraser Valley who can do a Waxoyl style coating as well as they do it in the UK. Ideas, anyone?

Dave

Prior to bringing in new frames I use to repair frames and have them galvanized in Vancouver. In my opinion it is the only process that works in the long term. I know many of the frames are still in service more than 15 years later… I do not believe we ever had one that suffered distortion due to the heat. The finish that results can be a bit “lumpyâ€