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

Dear me John! Don't get your knickers in a twist
This was just a bit of normal TM thread drift following on quite naturally from concerns about corrosion. Personally I am in no position to comment one way or another about the efficacy of zinc plating as against the new corrosion protection system. I can, however, attest to the poor quality of fasteners used in some places and my surprise that stainless screws had not been used in exposed places and where they could be subject to corrosion. Sooner or latter I will fit a few marine quality stainless screws.

As for mentioning the end of zinc plating and the change to autophoretic black chassis I think that quite interesting.

That's an awful lot more than I paid 10 years ago




Nice, but no Stanley

Nice shot Budster and a good investment by the look of it so that £20 was wisely invested.

That paper is quite damming of this system, and I am not surprised.

Basically all ferrous metal treatments or coatings are used to prevent rust of the substrate and most of them depend upon a very strong adhesion between the substrate and the medium.
I may be wrong here, as my knowledge of the paint industry is about 5 years outdated now, but no water based system has yet come anywhere near rivalling solvent based coatings in this respect. However the EC directive on VOCs has effectively outlawed them from mainstream applications.

Various systems have been tried and only electrodeposition has shown any real performance, and that is incredibly expensive and only really viable for large scale production facilities, and even then it does not really rival solvent based coatings.

Galvanising is of course a chemical treatment which changes the surface of the iron/steel substrate, but the inertness of the coating renders it almost impossible to re-coat, (hence it being plastered in underseal by MMC)

There are some new technologies based an nano molecules in the wings.

My Morgan suffers with that

Perhaps the solution is a nice alloy chassis?

Or an ash one?

Is this a hint that you are moving up to a V8?

Land Rover only galvanised the prototype chassis in 1948, they have never galvanised them since, however the aftermarket chassis available are generally galvanised.


I galvanised my 1956 LR Series 1 chassis 25 years ago and its had a fairly hard life on and off road since and its still in great condition.

My new Morgan chassis I had galvanised because of the experience I had with the LR chassis even though Terry Foxon did not recommend it. Galvanising can distort metal sections especially if of thin construction and not braced and perhaps this is just part of the very slow development in Morgan production in combination with a cost saving initiative. Porsche started using zinc coated steel for the body in the 1970's to alleviate corrosion. I think if I was buying a new Morgan to keep forever I would have preferred to have it galvanised. The move to aluminium bulkheads may also be a retrograde step especially if they don't have some barrier between where the bulkhead sits inside and is bolted to the chassis as I can see the aluminium corroding quickly if moisture is not excluded.

I suppose though as several people have said, will someone new to Morgans be that bothered if the chassis is galvanised or not?

I suppose though as several people have said, will someone new to Morgans be that bothered if the chassis is galvanised or not? [/quote]

Surely the big picture is the percieved quality of the Morgan car for people new to the brand? Things like a galv chassis and other improvements like painting with the wings off, dripping the wood etc all give the impression of a well build quality product. Quality is so important as its this which is remembered long after the price is forgotten. Expensive yes but good value given the high quality build.....
Morgan trade on this and must deliver that promise. Im pleased to say that my new 4/4 matches the promise of quality. I am very pleased its got a galv chassis but if it wasn't i would have likely still bought it. However if the new coating isnt as good word will soon get round and the damage is then done. Fingers crossed its a good coating and not just an attempt to save a few pounds on material cost.