I know this has been a bit of a popular topic of late but I am just tooing and frowing on this.

I am rebuilding my van at the moment and I am not sure what to do about the subframes.
I have strippedthe rear down, sprayed in Chassis black and reassembled it all. I have donw the radius arms and all the other bits and pieces. I am not 100% happy with the look of it as its a bit.. dull...

Thinking of redoing them and still weighing up between por15 and powder coating. Its a hard choice as they would both be good but both have pro's and cons.

I have been told by the por 15 seller I am speaking to that this is not uv proof. AS the subframes are going to be under the car out of the sun will this be a problem?

I've just done my front & rear subframes with POR15.
I dont think the sun will get to too much under the car.
The outside section of the rear subframe I gave a coat of POR15 Blackcote.

[img]http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo244/cdavies_photo/frontsubframe2.jpg
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1967 Morris Mini Deluxe
1927 Austin 7

i was thinking the same powdercoat or por15 but i think less prep work for powdercoating as they dip it to clean all the crap of the old fram and then redip it in the stuff they powder coat with but i think it may clog threads up.


cheers TUCK3R

If it's just two sub frames you are doing, you are looking at 70 bucks for the POR15, a lot of blasting (50-100 depending on your quotes) and a spray gun which will probably be ruined.

This ads up over 200 at least, well into quotable country for powder coating...that's just my opinion anyway having just gone through this...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I had my subframes and most of the other suspension bits powder coated and they look great, but it wasn't without hassle.
First time they didn't clean the subbies properly and coated over all the grease etc so the powder coating bubbled. The dipshxts also coated all the threads on the adjustable suspension, inside the hubs etc despite me showing them where not to coat. Also I had to get some bits redone recently (at their expense) because the bits were starting to show rust spots - they hadn't been undercoated properly.

They look is certainly worth the hassle but don't assume powder coating is the easy option.

I've had that before as well. I take positive control and masking tape the exposed threads and block off holes. It helps by taking the decision out of their hands.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.