E-Coat and dipping

[Rodcuda]

Anyone have any experience with dipping and E-coating? After this car I am finishing up now I am seriously thinking about having my next one dipped and E-coated.

 

[RGAZ]

Anyone have any experience with dipping and E-coating? After this car I am finishing up now I am seriously thinking about having my next one dipped and E-coated.

I do electrocoating every day at my work. Its for an industrial application but here is what I would suggest:

As a base coat, go with a cathodic epoxy formulation if possible. E-coat is very, very thin ( one forth as thick as powdercoat), but it coats anywhere liquid can get to. So that means inside frames, inside cracks, eveywhere. If you can get cathodic acrylic it will be prettier and have better UV protection, but lower corrosion protection. Epoxy is the best corrosion protection you can get, but breaks down (powders) under UV so must be topcoated.

The key to e-coat is cleanliness. Rust is not an option. Anywhere you go, be sure they do two cycles of alkaline cleaner and two rinses. I recommend you pre-clean the whole baby with mineral spirits or wax and oil remover before the alkaline clean. No silicone oil is allowed at all.

Also, since you are taking the trouble, be sure they use a zinc phosphate pretreatment coating. Iron phosphate will be OK, but Zinc is better for corrosion.

Also, be sure the parts are setup to drain. E-coat needs to drain off.

The curing oven is critical too. 375F until the core temp is peaked.

As for color, you can get anything you want as long as its black. We do ANSI 61 gray here.

Anything else you want to know?

Randy

 

[wingcarenvy]

Wow Randy, thanks for the info. I had my Dart dipped at Paint Stripping Corp in Santa Fe Springs Ca and it had the phosphate coating on it. I left it in bare form for almost 2 years while I was doing the chassis work and it never had any sign of rust. I am very happy with the results that I highly recommend some sort of chemical dip process. I have had a few cars media blasted, and even though it does a great job of stripping the paint you have to hit it with sand to remove any rust. Then there are the areas that you cant see that have been bare metal for 40 years. On top of that there is the clean up of the media that is left in all the nooks and crannies that will forever be dropping on the ground or blasting you in the face while driving down the road. I actually will still use media blasting on some projects since I need to preserve some part of the car or it isn't taken all the way apart. Lots of good options out there, I just wish I had an ecoater in my area.

 

[Rodcuda]

Thanks for the info. It's a lot to consider and won't be simple but I think it will be worth it.

 

[RGAZ]

If it was epoxy coated you could have left it for 10 years outside and it would not have rusted unless it was scratched.

I can't count the number of times I tried to figure out how to hang my car frame in our paint line to see if I could coat it. It just will not fit.

If you want a non-stainless part to last forever, first e-coat it then powdercoat it. You will be dead before it will ever rust.

E-coating is what all modern cars are coated in before they are topcoated. It is esentially the cars "sealer primer".

Randy

 

[bluefury]

best choice...dipping

Anyone have any experience with dipping and E-coating? After this car I am finishing up now I am seriously thinking about having my next one dipped and E-coated.

My current project has been dipped and e-coated and I couldn't be happier. Its like starting with new stuff and knowing that all the caged areas are now protected is worth the extra cost. Some cost is also recouped because not as much surface prep material is needed...(primer/sealer...etc.)

 

[Donny]

I concur, I wish I could could all the media I use out of the rocker panels, I spend hours vacuuming/blowing the stuff out. There's lots of stuff to use that's not sand to get the rust off, I use it all the time since 90% of my stuff is rusty crap.

E coating is the way; concur 100%!

 

[hemlock]

I know this is an old thread, but I have just come to this point in my restoration. On my project the rust repair has been done, but there are still some dings and dents to be ironed out. Should all of the body work be done before the dip/E coat process or can it be done after? Ideally I would love to dip the car, finish the body while it's bare metal, then E coat, but that doesn't seem practical from a rust perspective. Any advice on this?

 

[wingcarenvy]

Chemical dip will remove ny body work you will do so I would dip it before any body work starts but after all the rusty parts have been replaced.