Bill,
First of all, remember that powder coating is just paint that is applied dry,
electrostatically, and then baked on versus sprayed on in liquid form. No
mystery here.
Roger Moments gold level BN1 has had the majority if not all of its
suspension podercoated. Roger even has the Eastwood powdercoating system, sent
to him
for evaluation, and does many of the small parts himself. Additionally my car
which is being restored to Concours standards will also have most of the
parts powdercoated.
Roger uses Cardinal Brand black in an 80% gloss and I prefer the same brand
in a 60% gloss. Both very close in sheen. The parts on the Healey were
originally a gloss black that faded very quickly, so gloss is the way to go.
The
one nice thing about Cardinal is that they also sell spray cans in the
appropriate gloss levels (40%, 60%, 80%) for those small jobs.
The powdercoater that I use, Small Parts Powdercoating in San Marcos, CA has
a very nice process. After they bead blast the part they run it through a
phosphate coating machine for rust protection and then apply the powder while
cold. Many other vendors apply the powder to an already warm/hot part, with
the
results being that the coating tends to be a bit too thick. Using the Small
parts method the powdercoating ends up being about 5 to 7 mils thick, the same
as paint This leaves a lot of the detail in the parts intact. Outstanding
results in my opinion.
Hope this helps,
Curt Arndt - AH Concours Committee
Carlsbad, CA
'55 BN1, '60 AN5 :{) '72 RWA Midget
In a message dated 11/18/05 7:36:22 PM Pacific Standard Time, WWSCPO@aol.com
writes:
<< The conversation regarding cermaic exhaust coatings has me thinking.
Anyone
try powder coatings rather than paint on suspension parts, rear axle, or
any
other under parts exposed to road debris and dings? BTW, whats the finish
for those parts, ( painted or powdered); gloss, semigloss, or flat black?
How
does all of this effect originality?
Thanks for your reply,
Bill Schumann, BJ8 38046
Nahant, MA >>
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