Well I must apologize for my ignorance that I may be displaying in this post. lol Someone was telling me about "zinc dipping" cars....basically turning the rust on the chassi back to metal. This sound right to me considering it de-oxidizes it....and rust is just oxidized metal. Anyone ever had this done to their car??? Well I have a 71 malibu that will be getting a resto job...not to original...but just to make it beautiful again....when i'm out of college. :D I was just wondering if anyone could tell me what it would cost to get this done....just a ballpark figure. Or if anyone has any input on a better way to remove all the rust from a chassi, and then protect it, i'm all ears. I look forward to the replies. Thanks a lot.

I dont know about whole bodies but i know there are some guys here that have had their frames galvanized. I think they dip the frame in some type of acid bath or some thing to remove all the rust then there galvanized. every inch of metal gets galvyed so i imagine it would never rust.

i have had several frames galvanized. you cant do the bodies because they will warp from the uneven distrabution of heat as the body is lowered into the molten zinc. you can however get it acid dipped. then you better be sure to recoat inside everywhere, which might be tough. here is my frame: http://hometown.aol.com/smartasreality/page04.html

Yes, there is such a thing as a "zinc dip" ... unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge you can't do it.

The automakers dip your car in zinc-phosphate prior to paint. This is basically the same as POR15 Metal Ready. I believe the process is called Phosphating. Etching primers do about the same thing (I think).

For a chassis I would really support the galvanizing process (non-restored cars). If you could find a place that builds boat trailers it should be dirt cheap, but I haven't found one in the Finger Lakes area yet.

P.S. The information I wrote is to the best of my knowledge. If I am wrong, or missed some information please fill in ... as this is getting a little beyond my "experience".

Yes....I was refering to removing the rust from the chassi.....not the body. Yeah I know I couldn't do it myself Neal....but you have a good idea there about bringing it to a place that does boat trailers. I never thought about that. I suppose they would do it for much cheaper....although I have to question what the quality would be. But you never know right? So what is done when the chassi is galvanized? Can anyone tell me what that would cost?? Just a rough estimate? If that was done you pretty much wouldn't ever have to worry about rust right? Basically what i'm getting at is I want to make the entire car perfectly rust free. So I guess i'm just looking for suggestions on ways to go about it. Perferably something I can afford. :D I realize it will be far from cheap though. Thanks a lot guys......I swear your the best resource for chevelle info. graemlins/beers.gif <---- to you all!

the quality would be the same at a boat trailer galvanizing place. in fact they are one and the same. boat trailer manufactures take the trailers to a genaric galvaniser. as far as cost, it is only around $150-$300 just about anywhere. that includes getting it acid dipped first. they go by the weight. usually there is a 400lb minimum. thats why i took 2 frames and lots of other parts like radiator support, bumper brackets, crossmembers, control arms... you will never have to worry about rust. did you read my postd on how to paint the frame after galvanizing? it it not required but it makes it look better because after a little while the galvanizing starts to look like crap even though it is still preventing rust. http://hometown.aol.com/smartasreality/page04.html

I was going to also add to pegleg's comment ... I didn't mean to say that "you" couldn't phosphate dip your body. To the best of knowledge nobody can. I don't think equipment that large is available outside of the big industry.

I do think that galvanizing makes an excellent choice to rust-proofing a vehicle (at least in our lifetime).

The end product would be my only concern. Hot Dip galvanizing puts on a pretty thick coating (good for rust prevention) ... However I wonder how much of the feature details you lose.

Are stamping serial #'s and p/n's still there? Or do they get filled in. It's not a concern for my application ... but I would think you'd lose some in the "correct" restorations.

there is no guessing, i have done it. it only puts an average .004" coating on and it depends on how defined any stampings are to beginwith as to weather or not they will still be ledgable. no details that i am aware of were sacrificed on my stuff. even any rust pits i had are very visable still. i wish it wass thicker so it would have filled those. so what i'm saying is , you end up with the same surface apearence after as you started with. i did have to run a tap thru all the threaded holes in the frames and radiator supports. but that was easy, i just drilled out the holes with the correct pilot hole for the correct tap size then put the tap in a drill and zipped it in and back out while spraying a little WD40 on it. piece of cake. smile.gif

Can you powder coat over a frame that has been galvanized? it would be great to get rid of all the rust and be able to protect the area's you cannot get to with the powder coat.

Thanks for all the replies. $150-300 isn't bad at all. I was figuring over a grand. Good to hear. :D So it is the acid dipping that is actually removing the rust and then the galvanizing just protects it correct? I was also wondering if doing this would thin out your frame any? I took a quick look through your page FO_FDYFO but didn't have enough time to read everything. However I liked what i saw and do plan on reading the rest in the near future. To add to my never ending list of questions.....I was wondering what it would cost to have a frame bent back to proper specs? I know that depends on a lot of things.....but lets just say if it were only slightly warped,twisted, or bent? I'm just trying to figure out what it would cost to make my frame perfect. Also what's everyones opinion on buying a frame kit instead of doing all the work to the original frame? Wouldn't that probably be a better way to go since i'm not really concerned with originality? Thanks again

whats a frame kit?
just take some measurements from corner to corner to check your frame for squareness. it can be 1/4 to 1/2" off with out a problem. i took one convertible frame to a shop and they checked it and tweeked it for about $300. you probably done need that unless there is obvious damage. no it does not thin the frame out. they put an inhibitor in the hydracloric acid, it only attacks rust. and YES you can powder coat over galvanizing. only you need to do it right away before any oxidization forms over the zinc. they probably will want to hit it with a sand blaster to insure good surface adheasion prior to powder coating.

thanks FO_FDYFO....you've been very helpful. Maybe i'm refering to it incorrectly by calling it a frame kit. Basically you can buy piping that you have to weld up and make a chassi out of. For example....i have a buddy with a 66' chevy II who is making about a 8 second car out of it. Well obviously he wouldn't want to stick with the original chassi for that...and he didn't even have it when he got the car. Am i making any sense here? You know how people can buy tube fram kits? Well i was thinking of something like that but it wouldn't actually be tubular. It's shaped like the original chassi on a chevelle is....more rectangular shaped. Well i hope that makes some sense. Thanks again for the replies. That was all new....and good news at that...to me. graemlins/thumbsup.gif graemlins/beers.gif

I think you're refering to some of the frames that are available for street rods & tri-fives. As far as I know, there is not a complete kit available for a Chevelle ... so you would be back to making a tube frame.

Definitely work with your frame, as opposed to making a full tube chassis!!

just fyi, pegleg smile.gif the frame kits you are talking about are for cars which do not already have a full frame. camaros and novas do not have full frames like chevelles and montes. sure, if you want to tub a car (which allows you to put tires on which would normally hit the original frame) you would add a tubular frame to replace the existing frame in the rear region. i do think someone makes rear frame kits for tubbing. but if you are not going to put 18" wide tires under your car just fix and use your stock frame.
http://hometown.aol.com/smartasreality/images/tubbed17.jpg

yeah....that's pretty much what i was talking about FO. I not extremely knowledgeable about frame incase you can't tell. I probably won't be putting on anything wider than a 295 or so. You need to get some real tires for that car man....those are pizza cutters! J/K that's bad a$$! graemlins/thumbsup.gif How much torque do you think a stock chassi without any extra reinforcements could handle? j/w thanks again

a stock chassis could handle as much torque as you can deliver. the tire friction on the asphalt is the weakest link.