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The video shown is simple electrocoat used in all auto plants and manufacturers.
it has minimal throwpower to penetrate cavities even if submerged and touching.
car bodies are ecoated (primer), primer liquid or powder coat primer surfacer, base coat clearcoat optional tricoat clear.
powder and ecoat can be various chemistries such as epoxy (mostly used as a non uv durable corrosion protection), acylics or others. Powder coating is often used on large truck frames, semi’s, and virtually all underbody components are epoxy as they are not exposed to uv, such as springs, sway bars etc..
i am almost positive the corvette frames were dipped in non electrocoat paint as anything it touches,including inside frame rails will deposit some paint.
in general, epoxy powder coating is superior to spray liquid application in final finish. It does require heating but ready to go after cooling.
if i was powder coating a frame after cleaning and or blasting, i would protect all threads during blast and excessive powder with plugs or bolts then chase as needed. I would say often job coaters would preheat the frames to gas off residuals and utilize the heat to hot flock in certain areas tough to get to.
Last edited by interpon; Jun 30, 2023 at 03:58 PM.
From John Z Production frames were painted across the river at the A.O.Smith frame plant in Granite City, Illinois using the cheapest available black chassis paint and were delivered painted to the St. Louis Corvette plant.
From John Z Production frames were painted across the river at the A.O.Smith frame plant in Granite City, Illinois using the cheapest available black chassis paint and were delivered painted to the St. Louis Corvette plant.
A.O. Smith made C1 frames at their Milwaukee Plant, C2 frames at their Granite City, Illinois plant and moved that tooling back to Milwaukee in 1968 to manufacture C3 frames.
The video shown is simple electrocoat used in all auto plants and manufacturers.
it has minimal throwpower to penetrate cavities even if submerged and touching.
car bodies are ecoated (primer), primer liquid or powder coat primer surfacer, base coat clearcoat optional tricoat clear.
powder and ecoat can be various chemistries such as epoxy (mostly used as a non uv durable corrosion protection), acylics or others. Powder coating is often used on large truck frames, semi’s, and virtually all underbody components are epoxy as they are not exposed to uv, such as springs, sway bars etc..
i am almost positive the corvette frames were dipped in non electrocoat paint as anything it touches,including inside frame rails will deposit some paint.
in general, epoxy powder coating is superior to spray liquid application in final finish. It does require heating but ready to go after cooling.
if i was powder coating a frame after cleaning and or blasting, i would protect all threads during blast and excessive powder with plugs or bolts then chase as needed. I would say often job coaters would preheat the frames to gas off residuals and utilize the heat to hot flock in certain areas tough to get to.
Honestly powder coating is just too expensive. If you’re completely restoring to this detail your car I am guessing will never see rain or snow again. POR 15 is a really good product that I have used on my frame post blasting and it looks great.
Paint or powder though you should plan on tapping out every mounting hole on the body and frame. It’s one of those things that takes time but its easy to do and makes a difference when reassembling.
POR 15 looks like garbage on a frame, compared to the finish you get with properly applied powedcoating. I paid $600 to have my frame sandblasted and powdercoated........that is not expensive.
I had this same concern when I recently had my chassis powder coated. Discussed it with the shop, and they plugged all the threaded holes and I had zero issues with reassembly.
Another vote for powder-coating. I had my frame blasted and powder-coated about a decade ago and it still looks brand new. For the ground straps, I drilled the holes out some, and then welded nuts to the frame in those locations so I could use regular bolts and get good contact through the multiple threads. Think I paid about $750 for the frame and 42 other pieces at the time (doubt it's that cheap now).
Just chase the threads with a tap after coating. The sharp edge of the tape will cut it off cleanly.
I am prepping the bare frame to be blasted and powdercoated. I am concerned that the threads of the bolt holes and screws are going to be compromised. How would you guys handle this ? Leave bolts in ? SAE taps are not available here. Melt coating off with butane torch and a bore brush ?
MTIADC3
Typically the powder coater will use foam cone style fillers in the bolt locations for blasting and the results for me were great. As for the interior portion of the frame you can look on Eastwood for their rust inhibitor coating and do it after the powdercoating is finished. All very straight forward and easy. Don't overthink it.
Powder coating is tougher than any “curing” style paint. It has to be to pass the 500 hour salt spray testing for industrial applications.
But, like any other coating, it can be crippled by poor application or poor preparation. I’ve had powder coating that you couldn’t touch with an industrial sand blaster, and I’ve had powder coat that flaked off if you looked at it wrong.
When done right, you have to bake/burn it off to remove it.
Powder coating is tougher than any “curing” style paint. It has to be to pass the 500 hour salt spray testing for industrial applications.
But, like any other coating, it can be crippled by poor application or poor preparation. I’ve had powder coating that you couldn’t touch with an industrial sand blaster, and I’ve had powder coat that flaked off if you looked at it wrong.
When done right, you have to bake/burn it off to remove it.
Thanks for this. I had no idea. I thought it readily chipped off.
Originally Posted by interpon
awesome!! post up results and if you can what powder brand chemistry they used?
No idea. Probably euro products. I’ll ask. They were very friendly and professional. They will blast, “metallize” and apply two coats of powder. No idea what zinc metallizing is.
Probably too late at this point, but if you are really concerned about the holes just have them welded closed before power coating, but then you cannot add a hitch and pull a trailer.
The company I retired from has a large powder coat shop. They plug all tapped holes with high temp plugs that the high temp of the oven will not affect the plugs.
Powder loves a nice sand blasted surface.
Also most powder coat shops have standard powder colors in stock that they use everyday. It can save a person a bunch of money using a stock color.
This is a pic of my 68 C10 with powder coat satin black.
