Electrolytic Corrosion Prevention

[retepsnikrep]

The weather in the UK along with the salted winter road over the last 9 years has started to take a heavy toll on the underside of my three cars, the aluminium bodies are fine but the metal suspension components are now very rusty as are some of the brake pipes.

So I'm starting a restoration project which will invole the total removal off all the suspension components at each corner and the rear cross member. All will be totally stripped down, cleaned blasted and powder coated. During reassembly I want to use the original bolts despite all the dire warnings about damage to the dacron anti corrosion coating etc. So i need a compound to put on the bolts etc which can perform that same function and prevent electrolytic corrosion.

Searching the archive found a reference to Mastinox which seems to fit the bill.

http://www.ppg.com/coatings/aerospac...1/mastinox.pdf

Anyone have any experience with this and or any other ideas for a proven anti electrolytic corrosion /seizure compound.

Coppaslip is very popular here but not sure about it's electrolytic properties.

[Kevin Dougherty]

Isn't there anything referenced in the body manual?
BTW, I hope you photodocument this process, I'm looking forward to it!

[Turtle]

IIRC Lotus recommend Duralac for the Elise. It is used for aviation and boats amongst others thing - not hard to get hold off.

Coppaslip doesn't offer protection against galvanic corrosion.

-Brian.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

We have the same problem here in New England. My green future EV insight was used on cape cod, and it is really rusted.

IMHO If I was prepared to do all that work, why not get some new bolts, and powder coat the heads to match or stand out in color with the other components, it would be a shame the have a corrosion issue on the bolts mess up an otherwise nice restoration.

[Rick]

I went through this issue a long time ago when my stock shocks were leaking and I made Honda warranty them. The service manual I had said replace the bolts, but the Honda dealership showed me a document saying you didn't have to. I finally joined the NSX forum to ask and they also concluded you could safely re-use the bolts if two things were done.

First make sure the coating does not look compromised once you remove them.

and two, torque them to the proper value. If you over tighten the bolts the coating will crack off and be compromised.

[MN Driver]

Are they standard steel bolts? With some patience and the right materials you could try to galvanize them. Probably more effort than it is worth.

YouTube - How to galvanize metal (for rust protection)

[retepsnikrep]

I've bought some Duralac so with that and the other advice on this thread that bolt/nut replacement is not always strictly necessary i hope to be OK.