Originally Posted By Eric Gill Sans
I had a very frustrating hour trying to research the comparison A-coating vs. Galvanising and it's hard to find any straight answers

From what I can gather there are pros and cons for both but in terms of anti- corrosion suitability, A-coating is being used extensively in the automotive industry and on truck chassis so I can't think that it is too much of a retrograde step for longevity

The big advantages with A-coating are

Environmental
Cost
It produces a very consistent controlled thickness and can be used on mixed material parts and permiates every nook and cranny (technical term)

I don't know what the thickness of the A-coat on the Morgan chassis is but if it's around 1mm it should be pretty tough as it is chemically bonded with the ferrous ions


Hi Stewart

There are two things to consider. Firstly the car industry generally consider that a cars life is around 10 years, not necessarily applicable to a Morgan. Secondly lorries and commercial vehicles undergo very strict road safety checks nowadays and after reaching a certain age to continue to be used virtually require strip downs to chassis and full check over and re-paint or retreating as necessary. This is not something we as Morgan users would like to undertake and certainly I would not want to until the car was around 30-40 year old. Yes you may be correct A-coating may be cheaper than galvanised, it would be interesting to find out the costs, I may look into this. Putting this to one side if we look at any engineering application that has a piece of steel put out in the exposed elements for prolonged periods(years) and longevity and minimal maintenance is required then generally one of 2 options is used either Stainless Steel if it can meet the engineering design requirements, or if cost or design restrict its use then generally some form of galvanised steel is used. Of course if Morgan were to move to a Carbon fibre chassis then corrosion would not be an issue, but the chassis might be a bit stiff for the current suspension set up, and the cost might be a bit high.

Adrian

Buggered Off, to a modern none leaky car, heart's still ticking