Is there any place in the NY tri-state area that dip strips and E-coats parts? I need to have a pair of fenders and the decklid done from my '71 GTX... If not, what company is recommended?

there was a place in Illinois,haven't heard of one in NY

there is one here in Romulus (metro Detroit) right near the airport but the price to dip & e-coat just a shell was $2,700 they wanted $700 just for strip. kinda hard to believe that the 2 or so gallons of e-coat that would be used would be worth $2000. I would gladly pay the $700 for the strip but can't afford the rest. I haven't asked if they would do just the bottom 20" or so like the factory did

last time I looked into alkaline stripping and e-coating,it would cost close to $5k to do a 55 Porsche 356 ,so $2700 is way too good to be true, you need to understand that they actually submerge the shell into a tub to coat it,not spray, none of the inaccessible areas would be treated and will rot in a hurry if someone stripped by dipping the car and just spraying primer ,Also there is a big difference between acid dip and alkaline dip to strip and that's probably where you got your $2700

Stefan, you may be right on the acid vs. alkaline.... I didn't ask. As for the e-coat, I know it's dipped but the total amount of product that winds up attached to the entire body can't be more than 2-3 gallons. so what does that amount of product cost ? looking at a labor standpoint, I would think the strip to be much more labor intensive (and hazardous) requiring at least 2 dips, one for strip and one for neutralize, then a wash of sorts (this is the process they told me over the phone). plus then there are the rumors of seepage for years. what's a guy to think ?

There are quite a few "restorers" that chemical dip/strip the bodies without a final treatment of some kind and in my opinion, like yours, without a dip treatment the car will rot from the inside out. that's why my 'Cuda is still sitting in the garage in 1,000's of pieces awaiting it's turn in the checkbook line-up where it's been since '91

I figured a 20" deep e-coat (like the primer dip at the factory) would at least get all the floors, frame rails, rockers, etc. the rest could be sprayed with a decent primer/sealer. I've also heard most paint guys recommend removing the e-coat on all panels that will receive paint.

What's your stance on all this ?? 'cause some day, my shell and other parts will be on the trailer heading to a stripper of some kind.

Todd

I have provided an ecoat service for 3 of my customers(all B-Bodies) and they have spent 5-6000 for an alkaline dip and ecoat on the entire body. The ecoat process is about 12 steps including a 45 minute bake at 390 degrees and takes 3.5 hours. There are multiple clean and rinse steps. It is not a perfect product(the ecoat itself), but is the best way(IMO) to coat inside and out for maximum corosion prevention. Along with a rust inhibitor after the body is painted.

Brad

Just think about the cost in shop utilities to preform that process.....nat. gas to heat a hot alkaline tank the size of a small swimming pool ,for day. The gallons of water it takes to do a clean rinse....twice. Gas again to bake( dry out)in a oven the size of one stall garage. Run a air compressor to blow out all of bad spots.....also sometimes the shell needs to be plastic media blasted cleaned first before it goes into hot alkaline tank .....cuts down on contaminats going into tank .....I could go on and on

I paid international to strip and e coat a frame for me, the ecoat didnt stick, why ??? International doesnt do the ecoat there they haul it to indiana to have it coated, well they only take it down when they have a good load so my frame sat around in bare acid dipped metal and was allowed to flash rust then ecoated so 6 months after they "dipped it" During reassembly the frame started to peel. I called international and they basically said "not possible" I emailed pics and was told they would redo but I was out of luck on the 500.00 I paid for the powdercoat. They redid the frame and guess what it still has bare spots where the ecoat didnt cover and its rusty. Now lawyers are involved My 2cents stay away far far away from those hacks I can send pics if anybody wants to see them

hi, i used a company here in wisconsin to dip and ecoat my 71 RR. picking it up friday. ecoat is not perfect process but imo the best chance out there for protection. Dave is very helpful.
Restoration specialists.
414-529-1515

Had my T/A Ecoated at Mayflower Vehicle Systems Norwalk Ohio. They did the hole car for $2000.00.
No small process at least 8 to 10 dips in different tanks. They Ecoat only had the car strip at American Metal Cleaning.Some pics

2

3

4

5

6

7

why did you ecoat with fenders on?

I had International in Romulus do a pair of fenders and a door for my RR and wasn't real happy with the results.
The fenders had a couple spots the e-coat didn't cover because of an air bubble or something but that was no big deal.

My door however is another story. After they stripped it and they e-coated it the door looked Good. After the bodywork was Done about 3 months later the door seam on the bottom is starting to expand. Electrolisis is the term I think they call it but now my door is JUNK.
There is no way to stop the seam from expanding because they didn't get the chemicals rinsed out good enough it will continue to expand.
They did offer to redo the strip and e-coat but all the paint and materials was not covered.
I am Not Happy with this as the door was an excellent original, no rust, no damage door.
Now I have to do another door and hope we can get the metallic paint to match the car.

I will just do it the old fashion way for now on.
David

Dang David that really blows> The problem with using them guys up in Romulus is the fact that they use a two step process for the stripping. First they bake all parts in ovens that cook all of the junk off @ something like 850 degrees. Afterward they then run the parts through a tank of solution that takes away the remaining ash and debris. This process is fine for doing heavy gauge items such as castings but it is terrible when done on sheet metal parts such as doors, fenders, etc. I have cut open seams on doors done a year before and found this seam is still wet! There is basically no way to prevent the electrolisis from happening because the steel has been burnt and it changes the chemistry. Anytime you have a pinched weld seam and get it wet there will be this reaction once something corrosive is added to it. Now the actual redi-strip process is different since the parts aren't pre-cooked in an oven before they are submersed in an alkalyn solution.