This is a purely hypothetical thread. You see I love my teener, and, I'd like to use it as a daily, cause I'm sure I can get 35-40 mpg from it. I live in northern Utah.... so It would see it all, heat, rain, AND snow, I'll be using a set of the new diamond shaped studded Hakka's for winter. Nokian
I get it, some of you think that this is a stupid thought, but I'm one of those sicko's that loves snow driving, so I'll deal with the ridicule. Have all the fun with me you can on this one, turn it loose. Oh, If you don't think it will work, why?

I love driving in the snow as well, easy to get sideways ...but not in my 914-6.....i went with #1

I love it! Drive it man! That's what it was built for. It bugs the whits out of me to hear all the pussies say "I don't drive it in the rain." The're missing all the fun! The reason they were built was for German weather. I drove mine all year long when we were in Colorado, but they don't use salt on the road. I love driving it when it's slippery, it's just too much fun.
There's one town as you head west of Denver and just get back into the mountains that has ice racing each year. Some of those nuts actually put bolts in the tires for the studs and tear up the ice. I'd always wanted to do that with the teener.
Go for it!

Add some fender 'mud flaps' and pull them each spring to clean out the crud.

really neat idea...i wonder what all is involved in the galvanizing process?? how many tanks, what chemicals and the likes....
I think it would be the cats meow for a serious resto!!

So, whats it worth to you?

Hot dip galvanizing, even if you could find a facility with tanks large enough, will warp the body panels.

That's what I've heard from welding shops that galvanize huge gates.

porsche did it...what type of process did they use?

From this thread on Pelican

Georgetown. I am one of those nuts. Burned up 2 craftsman drills bolting a set of junk yard tires for my old GTI back in the 90's.... GREAT fun! All the events I did in those days were under the SCCA.


Building a "new" 914 would be really fun - gotta have a flared version tho'!! I would pay 3-4k for a totally brand new, galv and primered shell...

I've seen plenty of rusty galvanized metal. On the other hand really well-sealed paint works fine over non-galvanized. The big rust issues 914s had shouldn't happen again because they should be repaired well, painted well, and a modern sealed-battery used so acid doesn't eat the paint and then the metal.

Then keep everything clean and keep a good eye out for signs of breached (scratched, cracked, etc) paint, or rust. If the paint is breached, even galvanized will rust. If the paint is stuck tight on well-prepared metal, it won't rust.

Just my $.02 before exchange rate.

I am curious to know if anyone has ever tried this? The reason i ask is because after a quick google search i find cases of people having hot dipped large chassis pieces of other cars without issue. Now i understand that other cars are not 914's but my thoughts on it are you never know until you try. I am all for experimenting to find new solutions so if you want to do testing on the 75 tub in my driveway its all yours, and if it turns into a twisted pile of at least then we can say its been attempted.

Check out the pic at the bottom of this thread...

http://www.d-90.com/forum/showthread.php?t...lvanizing+frame

doesn't look to warped to me though they do mention letting it air cool rather then quenching it. Maybe there is a trick to it?

Another thread on a lotus forum that might have other options to look into...
http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/elan-f14/a...sis-t19847.html

more...

http://www.landroversonly.com/forums/f7/so...vanizing-23440/

From my thread you will see that the amount of metal that is being put back into my car is all galvanised so i am nearly there...

Any old VW and Porsche was build to handle in the snow. There's plenty of snow to go around in Germany. I learned car-control by driving on snow and ice.

Andy








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Now Andy.... that's what I'm talking about!

We'll be cutting up James 75 to experiment this week. We have a local galvanizer that has the facilities to do a whole car. We'll do a door and some other sections for testing first. The applicator in the town I used to live in has done it to Land Cruisers in the past, and says the finished product was stunning. As far as other options are concerned, I'm not having a lot of luck finding E-coat applicators, any ideas?

If you are cutting a car up. Are you guys interested in selling me the trunk pieces that go between the rear shock towers back to the tranny support? I want some to try to add the box for the starter and turbo but I want to try and use the same suff so it will look the same all over. I think I will use the left side of the floor that is flat to replace the round plug on the right. I want the upright part also the complete width between the towers.

The panels will probably need to be acid dipped first right on the parts you are going to try? Before getting dipped? This is a good idea if it works but I know painting over galvanize is hard to get perfect results. You've seen all the trucks that have peeled to the galvanize right?

I built a gal tin storage shed and found out the specs for the neighborhood called for painted steel so I painted it. About ten years later it is mostly coming off. I treated it with vinegar and used kiltz and then rustoleum but it still didn't stick. As it started peeling it rusted pretty bad where it held the moisture till the paint fell away. Also I stacked some gal tin and it got wet and really rusted bad and was only stacked about 3 months.

You'd also have to cut the longs open, pull out the heater tubes/etc., then galv everything including the longs, then reinstall the heater tubes & re-weld the outer longs back on - cuz you'll want heat driving in snow/cold & they'll fry in there in the galv tank.

While galvanizing seems attractive option, as Charlie & others have said above - it also has it's drawbacks & isn't a perfect barrier to rusting.

IIRC from Sir Andy, that it was not until the 76 or 77 MY when Porsche started dipping the finished unitized bodies into Zinc Phosphate for rust protection, but I believe that was a "cold dip" process, & our 914s missed it since the last 76 MY was built in 75. Read below on this doc from Jeff Bowlsby's site -

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Let's see your test run & how the primer & paint adheres.

My old '73 I drove throughout the '80s was my DD 365 days of the year. Once you've got it down the 914 if FANTASTIC in the snow.

Zink chromate paint would solve the issue ....

I had seen that piece, and I must say the whole thing is quite interesting, particularly, the issue surrounding paint staying
put . I'm in contact with a local applicator to determine all the issues at hand.
-With regard to the sheet metal, pm me if you don't mind.

I used my 73 914-2.0 in the snow to the local SoCal mountains, Mammoth/June Lake, Tahoe Resorts, Park City & Brianhead Utah, Mt. Ashland OR & WA state resorts - granted no salt on our western roads, but mine always started in the cold, ran like a champ & handled excellent in the snow & ice + was warm inside despite the air heat complaints of some folks.

What bad rust issues mine has (if you see the posts I've done) are due to Battery Acid/Hell Hole, warped early style engine lid drip tray & firewall sound/heat pad, & a leaking windshield washer bottle (finally figured that one out re: the LF floorpan @ strut brace)!

Didn't someone say we would one day see a post like this:

"Look what's new from Automobile Atlanta"
New Galvanized Tubs - No Core charge Required

Let's give the Chinese something to build besides Ipads for Christmas!

Funny thought, as if it was a dynacorn project. It would be nice thouhg, an all new steel tub w/e-coat. I still think there are issues with paint on galv, the dodges and fords are perfect examples. I just cant find a local e-coater near me.

electroplate for a fine finish with little heat. this provides a much more uniform fine grained surface (better for paint) hot dip is cruder coating, often very thick and un-even, very large grains)

frankly whay not make a new body out of stainless steel???? the delorefourteen!!!

near as I know the drip tray wnet to the late style well before the fire wall pad was introduced.

your car has both the early style tray and the later style pad??? that is probably not stock.

Nope - early trays up through 73 & part of 74 MY IIRC, while pads came in during 72 MY.

I think there was a later style pad used in 75-76 MY which was sealed on the inside (contact side), but the early pads were open faced sisal on the contact side, which allowed them to hold water/moisture & do the dirty deed!

Mine is an early 73 2L built 8/72, so it has some of the early 73 MY transitional items, such as the "light-late" type doors with late windows/regulators, later front & early rear calipers, banded & diamond embossed air box (later 73-74 were banded, then smooth 75-76), Kienzle clock & wide band OT in the center console, some with Appearance Group vinyl on the A-pillars (yup - that was a factory "experiment" for a couple of months of production), etc.

Lest you wonder if I really know what came on mine, I've owned my "914S" since Dec. 1975 & am the 2nd owner, so I know it pretty well, & there are some topics in the Garage &/or O&H on the first 1000 or so 73 MY 914s' quirks, which make interesting reading if you like that sort of stuff.

Similar paint adherence issues/problems on SS - as some using the SS rockers have posted on here.

Note the positive & negative charged primer in that Porsche paint process write-up which I posted above is the e-plate process essentially, although it differs from s step chrome plating obviously (copper-nickel-chrome).

BTW - Zinc Chromate is a good sprayable rust preventative treatment, but it's hard to get done anywhere in California nowadays.

Other states & the Canucks & Euro-land are following with enviro-friendly paints & coatings, so all of these processes are getting more scarce & therefore more expensive.

Great! .... that will give them somewhere else to dump the sulfur etc., now that they've been nabbed on the corrosive drywall!

Me too. It all depends on how much galvanizing is put on. In the sheet metal business, G30, G60 and G90 are all pretty common. The number refers to how many hundredths of an ounce are on 1 square foot of material. G90 refers to 0.90 ounces per square foot. This means that one side has 0.45 ounces and the other side has 0.45 ounces for a total of 0.90 ounces.

The galvanized coating gets rougher as the amount of zinc increases. Sanding the finish to get it smooth would remove the zinc and defeat the purpose. Paint and body filler don't adhere all too well to zinc. Any welding would require the zinc to be removed or it would burn away in the process.

As others have mentioned, give it a great paint job and keep up with any rust that forms. You're better off investing $5,000 in a lift so you can get the car above you and be able to detail the undercarriage.

I have a parts car scout II that someone put galvanized interior rear quarterpanels and outer door panels on. The panels held up good but the paint peeled off. Also stainless steel is a lot heavier than mild steel. In the early nineties a contractor came to my IBM office and painted all the office furniture in a large conferance room. The paint was a electrostatic paint. I watched them spray it on and it would go around corners to a small degree. I also used zinc cromate on my 63 jeep truck in 1978. It may have helped but it still got repainted again in 1989, that time with two part ppg primers and they have held up well. Stainless and aluminum hold paint as well as mild steel if the surface is roughed up and cleaned well and good paints are used.