Mud-club
Vehicle & Technical => Range Rover => Topic started by: Muck on January 08, 2008, 22:24:44
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Having just shelled out for welding on my rear cross member I want to make sure the full chassis on my 1988 RRC gets some TLC this year. Anyone got any special hints or tips and preferred treatment for protecting the chassis - Waxoyl, Hammerite , rust killer etc??
I don't fancy shelling out for a Before N After Treatment!!
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Rust is my mosted hated enemy :twisted: I do anything and every this to slow it down. The best and most cost effective way I have found it to use 50/50 wax oil (hamerite, comes in yellow 5 litre tins) and old engine oil stored up from all the engine oil changes a V8 loves. do it in the summer as if its cold you will strugle to get the wax oil to flow, heat the wax oil and old engine oil useing a blow fan heater, the hotter the better mix together, and spray using a spray gun with compessor, or if you don't have a compessor the hand pump spray kits that Waxoil make work quite well. make sure you jet wash off the underside first and spray in all available in the chassie useing an exstesion pipe to reach further. dont worry too much about geting it on the exhast as it will burn off when you start it up (very smokey for the first 5 mins do not drive till all has burnt off on tickover) Cover all brake and air surspension bags using masking tape and news paper.
Its a dirty smelly job but Your Range Rover will love you for it I tend to do mine once a year and have no weld scars yet!
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Zinc, Zinc, and more Zinc.
Galvanising is best but not practical for a repair; you can get high zinc paint to slap on, the more of that the better. You can do that then Waxoyl or whatever you prefer but the more zinc there is the longer it will last.
As for using Engine Oil it gets very questionable; if you go through a ford and get the oil in the water course it's not good.
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Thats a very good point about the oil coming off in water, I have noticed it when washing off the underside on my drive but it has got less, to the point where it is hardly noticable..... but that means I have been washing it off down drains up untill now. The only reason old engine oil was used was to cut down the cost of buying waxoil so probable best to just stick with wax oil.
Sorry for poluting will switch back to just wax oil as well, not so bad when oil runs onto my own drive and into my own soackaways but not aceptable in streams puddles etc on green lanes.
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I would steer clear of hammerite from personal experience.... bad idea round here as the flint / gravel has a tendency to chip it off leaving small areas where water can then creep and do even more damage.....
Try here...
http://www.bobtail.org.uk/ninety/rebuild/ninety_7.htm (http://www.bobtail.org.uk/ninety/rebuild/ninety_7.htm)
Saves me typing and linking loads of pics etc :)
Cheers Steve
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A HIGH ZINC BASE RED LED PRIMER, I PREFER TO GALV, ONCESET ITS UNTOUCHABLE, AND CHEAP TO BUY, YOU CAN GET 5 LTR TIN FOR ABOUT 30 ISH, WE USED TO PAY ABOUT 22 I THINK FOR QUANTITY.
IF YOUR LOCAL YOU CAN POP IN AND I HAVE A 50LTR DRUM I DONT USE AND CAN TAKE A POTFULL OUT OF THAT.
AND WHEN APPLYING DONT TRY AND MAKE IT LAST, JUST SLAP IT ON AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
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i buy all my paint from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fascinating-Finishes-Ltd very good and with some red oxide and zinc that keeps the rust at bay a bit
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When I attacked the underneath of my Rangie I did not jet wash it as their was not a lot of crud on it. If I was going to use a jet wash I would prefer the weather to be warm and leave enough time for everything to dry out after.
As I did mine in December I wire brushed where I could see it needed it then used an airline with a blow gun to get into all the nooks and crannies. This was quite effective as it lifted loose paint and blew moisture out from the many moisture holding spot welded joints on the bodywork. Just one point to note - if you are using compressed air, make sure you need a moisture filter/trap in the airline!
If you are going to paint it use a zinc rich paint with a high zinc content. The two pack paints are the best as they dry harder and as such are more resistant to being scraped off but their may be health and safety issues with two pack so only use it if you know what you are doing.
After painting cover the chassis etc with waxoyl inside and out. If you can, get a good spray applicator. The one I used had a flexible tube add on which had a spray nozzle on the end. This was good for getting inside the chassis as their are quite a few holes in it anyway. I had to open some up slightly to get the tube in. I also drilled 3 or 4 holes in the sill's to do the same with them.
I used a few litres of underseal on mine also. This was on the underside of the body and on the chassis but I must admit I regret this now (not that I have had any problems) as if the underseal starts to come away from the steel it is a moisture trap.
One thought I also had was to mix some zinc powder with the waxoyl. This would not have the "zinc effect" until the waxoyl was displaced but that is the point when you would want the sacrificial properties of the zinc. I would imagine it would need a thorough mixing and the product would need to be very warm to ensure it flowed well. I have not tried it so I do not know if it would work - anyone else have any thoughts on this? You can buy zinc powder off ebay!
Good luck with it mate.
One more point - I was lucky enough to have a friend that let me use his ramp and compressor etc. I you do this on your drive it will be very hard work. I used about 15 lts of waxoyl and approx 3 to 4 lts of underseal. I also came away looking like I had been "daant peeyt" so dress in disposables, use a old hat and have the water on so you can have a looong soak afterwards!!
Regards
Mick
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I dont know what has been done to mine but they made a complete hash of it ! :evil: Everything had been spray painted underneath, spring's etc but now ALL the paint has come away leaving what looks like the underside of a rangie that went down on the titanic and has just been brought back to the surface. MOT guy assures me that it looks worse than it is, but I get the feeling that I'm going to need alot of optrex and knuckle plasters in the summer by the time I've finished
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I waxoiled mine when i bought it and i will do it again just before the MOT and do it once a year as i know i missed loads of places :oops: