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Did LR galv any Defender CSW components?


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I'm doing a total rebuild of my 1991 110 CSW, and my query is prompted by the condition of the horizontal cross components beneath the rear floor panel, Part No. MUC8949.  After wire brushing the surface mud off, there is absolutely no rust on the steel (checked with a magnet).  There appears to be a thin layer of off-white material - primer/paint - and a very thin black coating of something beneath this.  Could this black layer be the result of using T-wash on galvanized steel?  I need to know so that I apply the correct paint system, since certain metal primers must not be used on galv., and if it is galv, I'm certainly not going to power-brush it all off!

However, the aluminium floor panel and the longitudinal aluminium ribs, again checked with a magnet, also appear to have this two layer finish, ie a very thin black layer on the bare metal with a thin off-white on top.  I am puzzled :unsure:!

I have the lower tub section stood upright on its right side, to give me access, see first photo.  The other two photos below show, firstly, traces of the off-white layer with the black layer beneath it, and the seond one shows, just below the centre, where I have scoured through both layers and bare steel is exposed.

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Any views on the possible original galvanizing will be very much appreciated.

Mike

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AFAIK the only components galvanised on the 110 station wagon were: body cappings and front bumper and they stopped doing that after a couple of years, sometime around 1986.

The components you have unearthed have never been galvanised by LR on any of their production vehicles, not even in the halcyon days of series production

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Thanks for your views, guys.  I'm totally baffled as to why there's not a hint of rust on these items.  Yes, the body cappings and front bumper were not galvanised, but they are now:D

Is there a readily available non-destructive test for galv steel?

One piece of info that I missed is that this is/was a Middle East spec vehicle, whatever that was in 1991.  I bought it in 1995 while working in Kuwait.

Mike

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5 minutes ago, Troll Hunter said:

Is there a readily available non-destructive test for galv steel?

One of my inorganic chemistry lecturers at university said that zinc tastes chalky if you lick it. I've never tried this myself but I have just looked it up to confirm and it seems to be true (step 4 in the link). So give it a clean then lick it!

https://www.hunker.com/12450505/how-to-test-to-see-whether-steel-is-galvanized

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Hi, western,  no, I bought it in 1995, so only four year old, and as far as I know it hadn't had any body work done, and in Kuwait nobody was worried about corrosion, so it wouldn't have had any enthusiast getting odd components galved.  I doubt that there is even a galv plant in Kuwait, components would probably have to be sent out of country, possibly to Saudi or Jordan.

Thanks for the additional info, Eightpot, but neither my chassis nor bulkhead had been galved.  They are now, though:D.

I'm following the link monkie provided and have a salt solution soaked rag on a part of a rib to see if it develops any rust.  I haven't got round to licking it yet!  I'll update tomorrow when I see if any rust has developed.

Mike

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Well, no rust visible this morning, but the once bright bare steel surface has dulled a little.  It's fairly cold in the shop overnight, about +5 Deg C, so corrosion would not be very fast.  I'll have the wood burner alight again today to warm it to a reasonable working temperature and I'll continue with the salt solution soaked rag for another 24 hrs to see what happens.  Will update in due course because this seems to be an anomoly in LR fabrication.  Perhaps there are other forum members who have "Middle East" spec vehicles and could comment.

Mike

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I have to say that the idea of making a Landrover rust deliberately is funny, odd, ironic and very weird. I spend too much time trying to stop mine from returning to iron ore!

G.

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One must do what one must do!  As a contrast to the totally non-rusted sections beneath the rear floor I've just taken a photo of the part of the underside of one of the sill channels.  Both channels were in this condition for their entire length, but the sections between the horizontal braces have been wire brushed.  The underside of these channels have been exposed to virtually the same environment as the under-floor sections.  Compare it to the second and third photos in the OP.  Why the difference???

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Mike

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Looking at the photo below, from Soren Frimodt's current post, link below, there's a huge difference between the rust of Simon's under body supports and mine.

Simon's web site here:

Still no resolution to my question, but it appears that some items on my CSW were originally galvanised by LR

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