Steam Clean & Raptor Coat

[jay_guess]

Morning all,

Is the anyone in the Newcastle / Sydney region who offers a proper steam clean of the chassis, and rust treatment / raptor coating? There seems to be plant who offer this in the UK - are the experienced Oz base companies - or are my options strictly DIY?

I figure a raptor style coating my last better long term, and may aid in the re-importing of our 130 in the very long term.

[Dorian]

Hi,
Personally I'd be looking at the tectyl type products rather than the Raptor stuff.
I've seen (with my very own eyes) a ute tray rust away in about 3 years, because the Raptor stuff didn't stick properly and they got a heap of crevice corrosion. Not the result they were looking for.
Downy Street Lubatorium do a great job up here in Brisvagus, but probably a bit far.

Cheers Glen

[prelude]

The problem with a lot of these product is that they harden when the dry (tectyl included) and cracks start to form which allow moist in and rust to occur.

For the inside of the vehicle I can recommend something like mike sanders, it's a wax like product that remains soft, if that's available down there. The outside something like RX-10, it contains stuff that reacts to/with rust and thus forms a really strong bond.

Cheers,
-P

[ThorneGator]

If it helps, I have Raptor coated mine twice, it wasn't steam cleaned, but it was pressure washed and scrubbed to showroom clean. In the end, the Raptor coat just hasn't held up on the metal, especially in areas that get hot (including the firewall). Shrinking, cracking, and flaking have all happened. When I called the Raptor 'guru' at their HQ, he gave me a line about controlled drying environments.....Unfortunately, what he described as an ideal drying/curing environment was a humidity controlled painting studio......I don't have one of those.

I am just one case, I know, but I cannot recommend them. If you do go ahead with it, I wish you all the best, and keep my fingers crossed it works better for you.

[jay_guess]

So if raptor is not the go - what are people doing to protect their chassis? In an ideal world I would strip the chassis, sandblast, hot dip Gal, then powder coat - but I am not stripping my chassis, so need an on vehicle solution.

[scarry]

We use Tectyl on all the vehicles.Paint it on where you can,messy job i know,then use spray cans where you can't reach with a brush.
Or if you have a spray gun,it can be sprayed on,inside chassis rails,etc.Painting it on is easy to apply it thicker,where the spray cans give a thinner coating.
I had The Bump Shop spray the D4 when it was new,and i have touched it up over the years,particularly at the rear of the vehicle,where the sand and stones blast it off.

It seems to dry with a wax sort of coating,but sticks very well.

Needs to be checked and touched up every year or so,depending on what type of driving you do.
If doing a lot of beach work,more often.

[Wicks89]

To avoid rust Galvanising is really the best option.

The more sticky stuff you put on it, the more stuff sticks on it. I tublined my internal floor. So so much regret. Impossible to clean nicely as dust and **** just sticks to it.

[jay_guess]

To avoid rust Galvanising is really the best option.

The more sticky stuff you put on it, the more stuff sticks on it. I tublined my internal floor. So so much regret. Impossible to clean nicely as dust and **** just sticks to it.

How much time do you think would realistically be involved in removing the body from a 130, and stripping the chassis to send it off for galvanising? Anyone know of companies in NSW offering this service?

Could be a good opportunity to get the motor bored to 2.8 and fit a striker crank at the same time??!!

[Wicks89]

Could be a good opportunity to get the motor bored to 2.8 and fit a striker crank at the same time??!![/QUOTE]

Wow ok that is a big step! Haha, still cool idea.

I reckon to do a really good job of it and strip everything in an orderly fashion you could do it in a week solid work.

The thing that will hold you back I reckon is all the hoses and wires (fuel and brake lines etc).

Then budget to replace a few of them, get a bunch of new body mounts, engine and trans mounts, bushes, etc.

Those ancillary items will probably cost you enough (few grand).

Then factor it may take a couple of weeks to get the galv work done. Then I reckon to put it back together just use weekends.

If you set a dead line you will rush it. You want to ability to identify something going back together and replace it while everything is apart.

Big job, not to be taken lightly. But will give you pretty good peace of mind.

I believe there are other threads on here about galvanising the firewall, which was far more finicky.

Good opportunity to get the firewall and floor panels painted with lizard skin or another product.

If you are absolutely made of money you could just buy

[jay_guess]

Thanks for your input. If I had a garage and the space i would consider doing it myself. Lots to think about

[prelude]

My experience with hot dip galvanization is that it tends to warp whatever you hot dip unless it is really rigid. The results with chassis of friends of mine were variable, some got warped, some did not. Over here it is difficult to do since the chassis number is stamped in somewhere and the zinc layer makes it unreadable and you are not allowed to redo it yourself, ie. you can throw your car away!

For inside the chassis tubes a wax like product will work fine since it does not matter that stuff sticks to the outer layer, the beauty is that everytime it gets hot in the sun or whatever, the stuff dilutes and crawls into every single spot to seal it. For the outside I can not recommend anything that is tar-ish based like tectyl. It cracks over time and then you get the opposite of protection: water en muck get into the cracks and accelerate the rust process.

I agree that stripping the vehicle to get it done would be a week's worth of work, no rush, just done properly. If you have the option and want to keep the car for a long time go for it ;)

Cheers,
-P