28 replies to this topic

[Arthy]

Hi guys!

 

I'm fitting a new heritage rear subframe in the coming months and was wondering what is the way to protect it. My dad says just slap a few coats of hammerite and it'll be good but he would say that as that is all that they had back in the day. I have heard mixed reviews of POR15 but any advice is appreciated. 

 

Cheers,

Arthur

[slidehammer]

POR 15 gets good reviews. The best way to protect it is to give it a good coat of paint (Hammerite, POR15 or chassis black) as they coating on them is really only to stop rusting in storage, keep it clean don't let muck build up in the webbing (hose it down to remove it) let it dry and spray it with under body wax and repeat annually if the car is used all year around.

[sonikk4]

Get it chemical dipped to clean it then either get it galvanised or powder coated.

[1984mini25]

You can paint (or powdercoat) the external bits, But its all the internal nooks and crannies that need the most protection, As the rear subframes rot form the inside out.

[ukcooper]

Take it off every 12 months clean strip repaint/refurb as your supposed to..

[Arthy]

Thanks for your advice guys, really appreciated! 

[Steve220]

The coating that comes from heritage is pants (more extreme expletives are available), yet people still fit them straight to the car. As mentioned, they need chemical dipping first then your choice of product over the top. Hammerite is good for metal benches and gates, not for Mini's. Por15 is only good if you get their silly multi stage product system right. What it needs is zinc priming then either spraying or powder coating. As on gas this is done properly then cavity waxed, it should last for years without disturbing it again.

[slidingdog]

I'm in the same position as the OP, just wondering if anyone has used POR15 or similar without stripping or blasting the subframe? POR15 says it can be applied over other primers if the surface is lightly sanded with 240 grit, would it be possible/sensible to just key the heritage paint and brush on the POR15? Or should I just forget about doing it myself and get it treated professionally? The car will mainly be used in good weather and will be garaged....

 

Thanks,

 

Tim

[KTS]

as mentioned above, the subframes tend to rot from the inside out so regardless of what coating you use (..unless you're getting it dipped..) you'd be well advised to use something like dinitrol/bilthamber/waxoyl etc to get some protection into the areas that won't ordinarily get painted

[sonscar]

I used POR 15 and could not honestly recommend it.The conditions for its use are so precise yet delightfully vague that success is a lottery.Regular use of a wax based product(I use some kind of Dinitrol) has protected mine for at least 18 years so far.If you want a shiny paint finish others can advise.Steve..

[gaspen]

I don't know how good or bad is the E-coat on the heritage subframe but when I dismantled mine and saw how f.... expensive is the new s/f, I decided to re-build it. 

 

At the end of the repair I took both bare metal subframe to a local company for KTL paint, which is the same as E-coat.  After that they painted grey in a paintshop as spanish Minis had this color.

 

There is some good experience with these E-coated subframes from my Mini fellow : they will last forever also on daily driven cars.

 

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Why don't you take it to a paintshop for painting on E-coat and spray some wax oil at annual inspections ?

[surfblue]

Is it a daily driver or a sunny summer weekend car? If its not out in all weather through the winter a painted finish is fine.

[Compdoc]

When you look at the design of the Mini, the rear end has numerous areas that just can't help scooping up muck and bullets. I made an under-tray from sheet aluminium and painted with epoxy. You can take each side of separately to get to the fuel pump etc. Seems to be doing the trick.

 

 

[absx2]

In nearly half a century of mini ownership I have only come across one rusty front subframe due to the amount of leaked engine oil that has splatterd everywhere so you can guess what my daily drivers rear subframe is covered in.

Waxoil goes hard and traps water and powder coat gets chipped and the rot gets in and creaps everywhere. The powder coat never gets into all the nooks and crannies as only dipping will do that. The powder coaters will argue that it`s statically charged and will get everywhere but just look at the back of a Landrover bumper if you can find one that`s not rotton and you`ll find a few bold patches.

The daily had a couple of coats of chassis black about 17 years ago and is doing fine having been used through every winter but that`s down to the waste engine oil.

It would be nice to have one galvanised but great care would be needed to stop warpage, maybe bolted to a heavy steel frame when hot dipping.

[IronmanG]

My local blaster who did my subframes said stay well away from powder coat