C2 rear axle housing refinishing

[Joseph E.]

I've got the rear axle of my '65 convertible I'm restoring completely disassembled and ready to be cleaned and refinished. I was thinking about powder coating both the housing and the rear cover with a powder that should closely duplicate the finish of cast iron. My concern is whether or not the housing or cover will be distorted in any way when the powder coating is cured in an oven as recommended at 450 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes. I've powder coated control arms and other items in the past but never an item such as this. Frames are also powder coated as part of current restoration techniques with apparently no distortion. Does anyone have experience or input as to whether or not it is a good idea to powder coat the rear axle housing and cover to prevent rust and maintain its finish? Your comments are, as always, appreciated. Thank you.

Joe

#45420

[Mark #28455]

depends upon your goal

If your goal is an NCRS "correct" restoration, it will be easily spotted. If your goal is just to make it look pretty, it will be fine, just be careful not to chip it during installation. Also, make sure the hole in the cover into which the spring locates as well as the bolt holes are not changed in dimension by being filled with the coating.

Mark

[Jeff S.]

Re: C2 rear axle housing refinishing

Joe

Powder coat curing won't have any adverse metallurgical effects or cause any distortions in the castings. Holes, threads, mating surfaces and the like would have to be protected from the powder due to the dimensional changes that occur with coating thickness.

I'm not familiar with any powder(s) that achieve a gray-iron casting look. I recently tried Eastwood's new 'cast aluminum' powder on an intake manifold and was disappointed with the results.

[Joseph T.]

Re: C2 rear axle housing refinishing

Joe,
Approximately a year ago, I had rear strut rods and front sway bar media blasted then powder coated with clear by a powder coating facility in CT. called Becker's Powder House. It came out with a perfect cast finish and received no point deductions in judging. Also, no surface rusting of the part after a year.This process should work excellent for the rear axle housing.
Good Luck.
Joseph

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 rear axle housing refinishing

Joe-----

I agree with the others; I really don't think that the powder-coated carrier is going to look anything, at all, like original cast iron. There are a couple of other ways to go that will, in my opinion, look better and pretty much accomplish what you want in corrosion reduction.

First, you could have the case hot-tanked so as to return it to as near-original finish as possible. Then, do one of the following:

1) Apply a product like Pre-Lube 6 to prevent any corrosion. The problem here is that it must be re-applied on a regular basis and can become a real PIA;

2) Apply a thin coating of a satin or low gloss clear. This will prevent corrosion and keep the finish "new-looking" for a long time. However, it might be detectable in judging, if that's a concern for you.

Another thing that you can do if you can't return the carrier case to original finish is to paint it with VHT high temperature cast-blast. You don't need the high temperature characteristic, but I have found this to be the most-like-cast-iron appearing finish. Don't use the super high temperature product---just the regular high temperature. It will be detectable, for sure, but I think that it will look more like original cast iron than any sort of powder coating. Plus, it will provide all the protection you need and cost less.

If you do decide to powder coat, the temperature involved will not affect the cast iron in a detrimental way.

[Tom S.]

Re: C2 rear axle housing refinishing

I used the cast blast as Joe said above. I put it on my 69, and also did strut rods with it. It came out very nice and was barely detectable.Same with the rods. Tom

[Jack H.]

As others have said...

any 'artificial' coating on the surface of parts originally known to have been 'natural' from the factory will probably result in a 20% originality deduction on the judging field (violation of the Finish axis of originality evaluation).

Powder coating is typically thick and obvious. For cast iron components like exhaust manifolds, the 'best' alternative I've encountered is the cast iron, high temp paint from Techline.

www.techlinecoatings.com

You spray it on THINLY (using an air brush) resulting in perhaps a few mils of depth then heat cure it according to the mfgr's directions. It sets up ROCK hard resisting chips, flaking, and deterioration due to handling.

One original application for this type of paint was on the exhaust facia of aircraft jet engines where a solid resistance to both heat and wind abrasion was desired. It's NOT cheap, but it's the best coating I've found for cast iron components you don't want to rust and deteriorate....