THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Well with the engine completly appart and awaiting the diagnosis from the machine shop, and a chime in on the oil issue, I decided to drop all my tin off for powder coating. They indicated it will be $110 for everything including the air cleaner. So my question is does anyone produce water decals of the writting on the air cleaner, so I can replace that once it is done?
Also any known concerns with powder coating the tin? I do this to all the VW engines I work on but always wonder about other cars.
Thanks in advance.

a lot of them get powder coated with no issues. I have never seen reproduction stickers for the tins.

I LOVE Powdercoating and use it for most non two-pack coated surfaces, and have used it on vehicles etc for the last 30 years or so.

The big thing nowdays is to plate the metal first then powder coat over the top (not all parts can be plated...springs etc).....this gives a better surface/substrate to coat too, an extra "layer" of protection (as some powders are slightly porous), gets to places powder coating doesn't always reach and provides added protection if the powdercoating is chipped or damaged!

The tins were only meant to channel the air; retaining or dissipating heat really was not an issue, so Powder Coat away.

Peter, Nice start to the 718 restoration.

Miles

As far as the decals are concerned I can tell you what I have done in the past. When I restored my BMW R100 motorcycle I had vinyl decals made. Granted, my brother made them at the sign shop where he works, but I would assume that you could convince a sign shop to do it although I am sure they will shoot you a real high price just for the inconvenience of it being such a small job. On my bike, I had two types of decals made; cut vinyl lettering on the side covers and then also printed vinyl data labels that go in various places on the frame and under the seat. All in all, I would say the quality is about 98% as good as original for the printed vinyl and 100% for the cut vinyl. The printed vinyl could have possibly been better, but we were working with scans and pics of the originals that we had to photoshop because they were so worn, dirty and damaged.

Check the parts manual towards this back, there's several pages of decals you can order to replace missing or damaged ones. Check with EI and SAV for availability. Good luck!

Peter

Do you ever find any problems with plating under powdercoating? I am talking about bubbling or anything like that. it is just I am having some tinwork and some rims done and the powdercoater is reluctant to do it over plating as he said it can be problematic. Is it Zinc you are plating under your powdercoat?

I would much rather do it this way as I can see it offers a lot more protection that just powdercoat on its own.

Sam

Sam,

I have a bit of knowledge in this area.

I Zinc plate everything i powder coat...But yes there is outgassing that causes imperfections. I have been doing this on automotive parts for 20 years and it works very well. However if you want a perfect finish (something you never get with powder coat anyways) its not recommended. On all my pinzgauer parts i use a texture black powder that hides everything anyways so its not a concern for me. If you are gloss powder coating a large flat surface you might have them apply a zinc rich powder first and then the color, not as good as a zinc plate but it will last a good 250 hours in a salt spray test environment. The zinc plate and powder will double that.

Hope that help

Bernhard

Thanks Bernhard

That explains a lot thanks.

Sam