My mk1 resto

Nice one Carbs! Is that zingazolve stuff high temp too then?! 8O

Yeah should be fine.

Blimey, one tin suits all then!

Nah mate i'll be putting enamel engine paint over the top - the zinc just means the metal won't rust underneath and start flaking..

Nice one - some really good resto tips in this thread as well as pics   .

What are you going to use to paint the head, or are you going to just clean it up and leave it as is?

In fact does anyone know what the engines would have been painted with (if anything) from the factory?

Carbs4ever said

Nah mate i'll be putting enamel engine paint over the top - the zinc just means the metal won't rust underneath and start flaking..

I meant that one tin suit ALL rustproofing - didn't think you'd want to leave your engine light grey!!  

Chris, dont think the heads were ever painted - only ever seen unpainted castings

Hairyarse said

Chris, dont think the heads were ever painted - only ever seen unpainted castings

Thanks Hairy - anyone got any tips for protecting the head once cleaned up - do you just stick a light coating of oil on there and hope for the best? I'm guessing a newly cleaned head will get surface oxidisation pretty quickly in everyday use….

@Hairy - oh get you now! sorry! ops:

Yeah its great for lots of things - i did my front hubs, rear axle etc stuff that usually starts rusting quickly… but sure I won't even have it out on a bad day!!   but least it will keep it right as I intend to hold onto it.

Re the head - I just gave it a good hot power wash and that lifted most of the grease.. don't think there is anything that you could put on it to stop oxidisation??

I'd just give it a light spray of WD40 to keep it clean

Carbs4ever - when doing the power washing how do you seal off the head / block so that water doesn't get inside and the jet from the power washer doesn't pull any masking off?

ChrisB said

Hairyarse said

Chris, dont think the heads were ever painted - only ever seen unpainted castings

Thanks Hairy - anyone got any tips for protecting the head once cleaned up - do you just stick a light coating of oil on there and hope for the best? I'm guessing a newly cleaned head will get surface oxidisation pretty quickly in everyday use….

The head is ali isn't it? Wont rust?!!

Manufacturers often put some sort of wax coating over engines to protect them when new - I know BMW do - or did!

Yeah, sorry wasn't really clear on that - I know its ali, but with exposure to moisture and road grime it does oxidise getting a fine white powdery coating on it.

Was just wondering if there was anything available that you could spray / paint on to keep the bare ali look but prevent the white oxidisation setting in.

cheers,

chris

ChrisB - I washed the block and head without it taped up - the idea being to give a real good clean - water cavities etc - then dried it off and wd40 the bores etc and taped it up for buffing the exterior to stop the rusty dust getting back in.

Ah OK - I'm with you now. I guess as long as you use a hot pressure wash and detergent and then dry off straight away afterwards the chance of corrosion in the block is minimal?

Thanks for the tips.

Correct! 8) Just liberally use the wd40!

Manufacturers often put some sort of wax coating over engines to protect them when new - I know BMW do - or did!

Sure I'd hear that Mk1s had such a coating on the block and that jet washing the engine over time usually blasted this off. Might be why some original blocks seem a lot more rusty than others?

Cheers

More done so a few more pics

Took apart the pedal box - cleaned and painted the pedals put on new pedal pads and painted the column


Took the hubs apart - got the rust off then zinc'd them and then painted them also new bearings and modded the back plates (can you spot the mod) so they can be taken off without having to split the hubs



Then got the GPC gear linkage repair kit - best ?2 you could spend! Stripped the whole linkage and painted/laquered it all and then replaced the bushings, new protective boot and new heat shield.


The gearbox was lookin well sad so off to the car wash! sprayed it with degreaser and took into it with the hot washer - good results just need the wee bits of oxidisation removed - also gonna get it rebuilt..

Still looking good!

See you cut your backing plates out a bit more!

Back on the Zinga topic, I spoke to their tech guy today about using it on engine blocks. He mentioned a few points:

- as Zinga is high percentage zinc it will not withstand hot oils, etc. So make sure a resistant top coat is used
- the surface must be grit blasted first, the cast iron is not good enough and the Zinga can flake off (15 micron minimum)
- Zinga is not compatible with any solvent based enamels, so check your top coat spec carefully with them first

This has kind of put me off a bit as I don't want to risk doing the job again. I am leaning towards POR 15 again now as at least this is tried, tested and easier to prep.

Cheers
Rajan

You could put some effort in to your resto' Carbs! :wink:  :notworthy:  8)

Rajan You get a full tech sheet with the package which is handi! -

Block was easy to prep and even with POR 15 you would need to remove most of the rust to kill it off- I chipped a fair bit of corroded flaky metal from the block with a chisel which helps alot then buffed it clean after that.

I get your point about hot oil - but hopefully I won't have any leaks

Already used solvent based paints over the top of the zinga on other jobs and it has been fine.. imo :?