# Chassis restoration/protection



## Ben_W (Feb 15, 2009)

Guys,

You may or may not have seen my 306 Rallye restoration thread in the projects section. Ive been fairly busy on bare metalling the chassis but i do have questions about the correct order of products when building back up.

It needed baremetalling as there were bits of the factory underseal/stone chip which had failed locally and let water in under the underseal/stonechip. From the outside, it looked fine but i knew it wasnt, hence removing it all.

Im ready to start building back up the layers of protection. The prodcuts im using are:

Bilt Hamber Electrox zinc primer
Bilt Hamber Epoxy Mastic
3M flat finish stone chip
A seam sealer of some description
Paint!

So, once the chassis was bare metalled, it got two coats of Electrox zinc primer. First coat was thinned with 10% Xylene as per manufacturer instructions to make sure it got inside all the panel joints/seam etc. Second coat was straight from the tin.

Next steps are now my questions. Seam sealant first, then epoxy mastic, or mastic then sealant? Flat finish stone chip followed by paint are then my plans but want to be sure ive got things the right way round. The mastic can also be thinned for info....

Any ideas guys?

Cheers


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## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

Ben_W said:


> Guys,
> 
> You may or may not have seen my 306 Rallye restoration thread in the projects section. Ive been fairly busy on bare metalling the chassis but i do have questions about the correct order of products when building back up.
> 
> ...


Ben,

On the E Type, the order on the remoter bits of the body (with the least fresh metal) I think we're going is POR-15 nickel oxide metal prep coating and then the POR-15 flat/matt chassis paint - then seam sealing - then Lizardskin (two layers, one for sound and one for heat protection)- then paint (not decided yet and likely to be different under to in) and then cavity wax and then wax oil on/in the bits that will hold it.

Steve is a fan of epoxy and I'm a fan of POR-15! (But Steve restores cars for a living. I don't!.)

I think it boils down to level of confidence you have in having cured all the rust and having really clean metal. On slightly rusted metal, I think POR-15 would be better than epoxy. On really, really clean metal, I'd suggest the epoxy. POR15 will not adhere properly to smooth, unscratched metal.

For the E Type, where we are restoring a car which has had significant rust issues, I worry a bit about relying on epoxy only.

I've friends near Boston (Mass rather than Lincs) who restore Alfas which live in the incredibly salty Cape Cod air. Again, you'll not find a rust-free Alfa (says he with some understatement). I and they have seen epoxy'd restored cars rust quickly but have not seen POR-15'd cars suffer even a decade later.

Best

Peter


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## VeiRoN (Oct 3, 2016)

Ben_W said:


> Guys,
> 
> You may or may not have seen my 306 Rallye restoration thread in the projects section. Ive been fairly busy on bare metalling the chassis but i do have questions about the correct order of products when building back up.
> 
> ...


Isn't the electrox spray already thinned? Only the tin form needs diluting depending on application,on mine I went with the electrox first,seam sealer and then epoxy.


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