Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Galvanised chassis

Yep , wire brush , screwdriver , hammer and light chisel , try not to damage plastic body , give chassis a good spray with anti rust fluid and then put waxoil on with pressure sprayer , 390se and seac 450 !

It's not powder coating though and will not act in the same way. That said, reports suggest that the coating is easily breached and areas such as the gearbox crossmember which is easily caught, would worry me.

BUT.....for the purists....a non galvanised chassis is more in keeping with a traditional Morgan!

BUT.....for the purists....a non galvanised chassis is more in keeping with a traditional Morgan! [/quote]

can we look forward to a side valve engine and cross ply tyres then?

Id want a galv chassis if there was a choice.

Peter, not particularly worried as I am not likely to be able buy one every 10 years, so for me quality of what's in the basic car is important. Part of my reason to change to a car with Stainless bulk head and few other better bits. Also as I get older I suspect I will be less able to crawl around under a Morgan to make sure it's protected and doesn't need treating.

Jays, as far as I'm concerned this is a step backwards, just because it's an older design it does not have be made using old or poor processes. The cynic in me suspects penny pinching and profit line are what is the agenda hear. If I wanted originality and was a purist I would go and buy a flat rad or an early Plus 8, I did consider the Orange +8 at Williams. But can I face all the work needed to keep it up and also probably worry more about when and where I use it, no. I like to use my Morgan and want the best build I can get to meet my needs, not a sub-standard quality new car for £40-55k.

Quite apart from the fact, as Jay has pointed out, that autophoretic coating is not the same as powder coating, it's also important to remember that there are different types of powder coat.

Most people know powder coat as that horrible thick shiny stuff that does indeed flake off if the surface preparation and application is not perfect.

But other forms of powder coat are much more suitable for use on chassis. My new chassis (made by Terry Foxen) was powder coated with a much thinner semi-matt coating which is guaranteed for 15 years, it is the only coating that Terry recommends, and it's also approved by Kevin Vernon. Those guys know more about keeping Morgans on the road than I ever will, so I was very happy to go along with their advice.

And if I remember correctly Tim your chassis coating has a 'self healing' property, I would not be surprised that if you had a follow up coat on forward facing surfaces after 10 years that chassis wil outlast the pair of us! It's a beautiful finish, I remember having a good look when it was on the ramp the day you collected it, very impressed!

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

If Morgan are so interested in quality and longevity why have they not started using stainless steel bolts and nuts.The next we will here is that they no longer use zinc plated nuts and bolts because plating is environmentally unfriendly.
I don't doubt for a minute that this paint process is very good,but Morgans penny pinching will reduce the quality and hence the protection of the chassis.
From my experience with this management at MMC I have totally lost faith in any of there recent decisions.I am looking forward to the comments of new AR P4 owners if they ever get there cars.
Davidg

Use of Stainless Steel nuts and bolts has its own problems, if high grade Stainless is used(rust resistant) then these can fracture and fail under stress whereas mild steel will stretch. Also ensuring Stainless nuts and bolts remain done up is harder to achieve, although not impossible. Stainless could be used in most places on a Morgan but I would shy away from any major nuts and bolts retaining suspension, brakes and mounting brackets.

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.