zinc spray (galve spray)

It works quite well - not as good as galvanised but a close second. It's a bit more prone to being scraped off. Brush it on (if you thin it enough to spray it's useless). It's expensive, but I haven't found a better product for corossion protection of steel (we use it for touching up welds on galvanised steelwork) - lifespan in the open near the sea is at least 10 years if it's applied well. It overcoats with most single pack epoxy enamels quite well (my wrought iron gates are finished in 2 coats of cold galv followed by 2 sprayed coats of dark green epoxy enamel and still look like new after 4 years). As always this is IME and YMMV.

if you take it back to bare metal then apply some etch primer first .

the best galv paint i have used is called GALVAFROID , it needs to be mixed well .

there is however no substitute for hot dip galvanising but for this youd need the chassis sandblasting .

Do *NOT* etch prime first. Unless the zinc is in direct (electrical) contact with the steel it won't work properly - it isn't a coating, it's a sacrificial anode that is eaten away rather than the steel.

so ,,,,,,where do i find a supplier of GOOD gav paint, and HOW expensive is it.

ive got a fully galved chassis that took a dent in the rear x-member. so ive got myself a heavy duty x-member got it galved and will be cleaning the galv edges back to bare steel to weld it on, thus requiring the paint over galv paint. i know the inside wont be protected but im gunna squirt about 2.5 litres of wax oil around the weld on both sides. should give it some great protection.

then the chassis will be up on here for sale, fully galved (barring the welded bits) 12 month old. got to be a bargain for someone.

andy

I'm half a world away and 2 secs with google finds me a supplier in the UK - I don't mind offering advice based on my experience but answering (oreven having to read) questions from those too lazy to have a quick look for themselves is starting to piss me off.

Anyway UK online shop & pricing at

Andy,

Having taken the trouble to have the replacement part galvanised, why not go the whole hog, and have the weld zinc sprayed. There are two processes that I'm aware of to do it. One uses a special oxy-acetylene torch that has an air powered turbine to pull a zinc wire into the flame co-axially thus spraying fine globules of zinc onto the part and physically bonding (Metco is one brand of gun). The other process introduces the metal into the flame as a fine powder from a hopper under gravity and is perhaps more suited to smaller parts. I have both sets of equipment but no portable facility to sandblast your weld area, which is needed (and must be fresh) for the zinc to bond.

Andrew Mawson Bromley, Kent, UK