All,
My TR6 body shell came back from the powder-coaters yesterday. All panels
were removed from the car (except valences). The shell was media-blasted
and powder-coated, and the results are spectacular! It turned out far nicer
that we had anticipated, and looks way too nice to put back together again!
As I am painting the car black (the secret is out!), I used 95% black + 5%
grey for the powder. I was advised by the painters not to use 100% black
because of the risk of lemon-peel. The results are a rich, very-deep black
that is almost indistinguishable from high-quality paint. The smoothness
was obtained by baking the car for 30 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just like baking chocolate-chip cookies!
What is so nice about the powder-coating is that all the spots that are
almost impossible for a spray-gun to shoot have been coated (e.g., under the
dash, inside the door rails, under the rear deck, etc).
I would not advise this for the concourse-oriented, but for those that
really use their cars, this might be an option.
Cost? $850 for blasting and powder-coating from American Strippers in
Virginia. I will be painting the external panels of the car, but the
interior/boot/engine bay/inner-fenders/underneath will be rust and
chip-resistant powder-coat. No wheel-well coating on this car!
Exterior panels (fenders, door-skins, boot, bonnet, hardtop) will be
painted.
I welded gussets to the chassis the other day, including:
- front lower-A-arm
- steering-rack supports
- differential carriers
- rear upper-coil plate, for the Revington coil-over conversion
- applied continuous bead to tack-welds
- additional gussets to the trailing-arm beam carrier
The estimate to blast and powder-coat the chassis is $500, and should be
ready by the end of the week.
I'll post pix on my website when I get the film developed.
Shane Ingate in Maryland
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