Brilliant Idea

[RogerH]

Hi Folks,

whilst playing with a few little  rust problems on the 4A I hit upon a brilliant idea. A moment of genius.

On the front of the offside inner wing there is a small section that goes down to the very front lower corner.

I found this rusty about five years ago and so cut it off and welded a new piece back in. 

This was mild steel, coated with BondaRust, gloss coat and waxoyl.   

Even with a wheel arch liner it is in a very exposed area. Any way the repaired section was very rusty.  Easy enough to replace but it will go rusty again.

Now for the brilliance - you'll be mighty impressed - honest.

I thought why not replace it with a piece of stainless steel.  I know you can weld stainless and mild steel but I did not know about the long term issues.

Onto google - you can weld the two. Preferably with a Stainless filler but mild steel filler will work OK.

Now my mind got racing   How about all those other areas that traditionally go rusty in the blink of an eye.

Bottom edge of the front/rear valance, bottom inch of the sill lower inner section and the outer section. Or even to take it to an extreme the boot lower edge

I wonder If I will get an award to industry for this

 

OK come on tell me where I'm going wrong.

 

Roger

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by RogerH

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

Sounds good.

but

You will just pi** off the tin worms and after they have complained through there elected representatives they will take direct action & attack the joint between the stainless and mild steels with renewed vigour.

Peter W

 

[Rob Salisbury]

Or replace the whole body with stainless, you wont even have to paint it then!!

Rob

[stuart]

Only problem being stainless is a bugger to work into a shape.

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Hi Peter - sod the tin worm

 

Hi Rob - so that

 

Hi Stuart - except for the boot lid (and I'm sure that can be done) all the areas I thought of are flat.(ish)

 

Roger 

[foster461]

I have welded stainless using regular MIG wire. As predicted the weld rusted.

[DavidBee]

tin worm will then complain to the EU

[Lebro]

When my Stag was repaired by Foundry Classics of Dorking (no longer there unfortunatly) he let in repair sections into doors & wings &he always used stainless steel.

I have done a fair bit of stainless welding (mig) using stainless wire when the job was all stainless (sidescreen frames for my Hillman), if joining stainless to mild, then no point using stainless wire, but the two join perfectly. I find the "standard" gas mix of Argon, Co2, & oxygen works well for both.

Bob

 Aerominx sidescreen frame    after covering.

[ed_h]

It's a brilliant idea, especially for areas that don't require much shaping.  I think I'll borrow it.

Ed

[RogerH]

1 hour ago, foster461 said:

I have welded stainless using regular MIG wire. As predicted the weld rusted.

Hi Stan,

the mild steel weld will rust so it needs as much protection as possible.

I was hoping somebody may mention the speed of galvanic corrosion v  environmental (weather) rusting.

I still think it is a good idea if one is prepared to go to the TRouble

 

Roger

[ChrisR-4A]

Roger, I'm sure you could convert the 4A doors to Gull Wing  and you will have the first--       Delorean-Michelotti - IRS. 

This could look good on the boot. 

DeLotti 4A-IRS

Chris

Edited May 16, 2020 by ChrisR-4A

[Hamish]

27 minutes ago, ChrisR-4A said:

Roger, I'm sure you could convert the 4A doors to Gull Wing  and you will have the first--       Delorean-Michelotti - IRS. 

This could look good on the boot. 

DeLotti 4A-IRS

Chris

Go for these hinges easier than full wing I’m sure you could sort it Roger 

 

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[RogerH]

I think I have plenty of work before we go truly esoteric

 

Roger

[PaulAnderson]

18 hours ago, stuart said:

Only problem being stainless is a bugger to work into a shape.

Stuart.

Isn’t that why the forthcoming Tesla truck is so angular and hence hideous to look at.

Paul

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

43 minutes ago, PaulAnderson said:

Isn’t that why the forthcoming Tesla truck is so angular and hence hideous to look at.

Paul

Surely you have to consider the target market?

[RogerH]

Sha

51 minutes ago, PaulAnderson said:

Isn’t that why the forthcoming Tesla truck is so angular and hence hideous to look at.

Paul

Shaping stainless is easily done with the right equipment. 

Just like the difference between OEM and repro panels; the OEM is thicker  - but needs heavier more expensive presses to work it.

Shaping stainless by hand is much more difficult than mild steel but can be done. Hard work though.

 

Roger

[john.r.davies]

I don't think you can blame the stainless for the looks of the Tesla.   The DeLorean was all stainless, and had a fair few curves. 

  The waist strake ridge was fashionable at the time - an Esprit  had them because they were built from two GRP shells that met at the waistline

[Parkerscottages]

On the subject of Waxoyl, how much would one need to cover all the inner wheel arches, sils, etc, I am wondering to go for the larger 5ltr can or can one make do with 2 aerosol tins?

Tks

[RogerH]

12 minutes ago, Parkerscottages said:

On the subject of Waxoyl, how much would one need to cover all the inner wheel arches, sils, etc, I am wondering to go for the larger 5ltr can or can one make do with 2 aerosol tins?

Tks

Go for the 5Ltr. That way you will surely have enough. It will keep in the tin and will need re-applying in 2 - 3 years time

The aerosol cans are very good for doing in the inside of the sills and chassis section. 

Dinitrol 3125HS for inside the box sections will extend the gap between re-application.

 

Roger

[Parkerscottages]

Reading around it seems that you can heat the wax to liquify, poor some into a cheap garden sprayer and then spray rather than the £40 Waxoyl sprayer, would this work?

[Lebro]

In my experience you need to heat it (and / or thin with white spirit) to spray it, especially if you are pushing it down a tube to get inside a box section.

Bob.

[stuart]

For applying Waxoyl use one of these Waxoyl gun

Stuart.

[Stagpowered]

A few years ago I found tin worm in the bottom of the sills on my TR250 where the clips push on that hold the bottom of the front wing.

Since these clips tend to scratch the paint off when they are fitted, I decided to make the patch out of stainless.

Just used ordinary mig wire and argoshield

The first set of manifolds and exhaust system I built for my Stag engine conversion were made from stainless tubing migged with ordinary mild steel wire. I think they lasted about 17 or 18 years until the welds started rusting through.

As the welding process fuses the two different metals together it must mix the chrome in the stainless with the mild steel, so although all the joints were butted up before welding, the rust was about 1/8th of an inch wide which made re-welding the rusted joints more trouble than it was worth. I ended up making a complete new system using stainless wire this time.

Neil

[Lebro]

6 hours ago, stuart said:

For applying Waxoyl use one of these Waxoyl gun

Stuart.

I have a Schultz gun like the one above. I found it sprayed waxoil direct from the gun OK, but struggled to push it up the long tube.

I now use a different type which actually presurises the container, thus pushing the waxoil out rather than sucking it out.

Bob.

[stuart]

11 hours ago, Lebro said:

I have a Schultz gun like the one above. I found it sprayed waxoil direct from the gun OK, but struggled to push it up the long tube.

I now use a different type which actually presurises the container, thus pushing the waxoil out rather than sucking it out.

Bob.

Thats funny as the one I have which is similar has never had a problem with the wand and its had gallons through it, its not quite the same as the standard Shutz gun as the pickup pipe is twice the bore size, thats the difference for a waxoyl version. Do be careful using a pressurised container as they often arent properly pressure tested and can explode.

Stuart.