3X8s and rust

Here you go! http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268663

 

Anyone know more about the process that Ferrari used?

Internet information about ZINCROX is sketchy, some pointing to a spray on process using a zinc dust and others discussing electroplating. I'm really curious whether Ferrari bought materials which had used this rust-resistant process or applied it at the factory but dunking or spraying the car.

And I note that zincrox is only rust resistant and not a rust preventative. Which to me means with age the process might loose efficacy and that simply breaking the surface layer with a light sanding during a repaint might destroy the protection. I believe that repainting with today's excellent primers might be more of a rust preventative than an experimental process 30 years ago.

Bottom line, I wouldn't make zincrox a deal breaker on an otherwise great car. (Said by an owner who garages my car, doesn't drive in the rain, and has no winter street salt.)

 

I looked at a bunch of 308s before I bought one. I went in thinking the Jan 84 build date for rust protection was a requirement. What I found, in my limited search, was that the 84 date didn't have much impact on which cars were rusty and which weren't. Where and how they were driven and stored made all the difference. Some older cars had no rust while some 85s had lots of rust. The same places seemed to be common to the older and newer cars: wheel arches and bottom of the doors.

I ended up buying a Dec 83 build date QV...but it did have rusty door bottoms.
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The Ferrari warranty on my 89 328 explains a bit of the rust proofing process used at the factory - "some" body panels were zincrox to begin with and the entire body was then dipped in an electrophorese bath prior to painting. This insures that the paint gets to all areas, including crevices and other areas where the paint would have difficulty flowing. This was followed by "Tuffcoat/Dinol" coating in various areas, including the internal sections of the "box frame". There is no mention of the specific body panels that were/were not zincrox.

Tuffcoat/Dinol is effective BUT it depends on how it was applied. It is possible to create a rust problem that wouldn't have existed without the coating. This is quite common on the aftermarket when amateur appliers end up blocking the drain holes in frame members or creating pockets where moisture can accumulate.

One would HOPE that the factory did it right.

 

+1

I said this very thing in the "when did galvanising start" thread. Of all the 308's I've seen, judged at FCA regional events, and owned, it doesn't appear that galvanising/rustproofing seemed to have a huge effect, at least not 25 years later. I see 84's and 85's with it as much as I see earlier cars with it. Maybe though the earlier cars are more likely to have already had at least one respray though, thus eliminating their rust ... for now ??

Art

 

Thanks, Mike. Exactly the explanation I was seeking. Sounds like Ferrari made a sincere effort to cure an obviously universal problem.

 

They made the effort, but they all rust at this point. They are old. Keep them out of the rain!

Birdman

 

This is true of any and all galvanization; galvanizing is, in simplest terms, plating the entire car with a very thin "sacrificial anode". It's agonizing to see people on Porsche forums bragging about their "bare metal resprays" on their post 1976 Porsches (which are all galvanized), as they are sanding off the very protection that has kept their car in such good shape all these years.

It's disappointing for me to read the comments in this thread that the post-1984 308s rust, too; What a shame Ferrari still didn't get it right. It's absolutely ridiculous that they can dip a car and still have it be rust-prone. Oh well, I'm now that much more content with my 1980 GTBi.

 

Well...my 328 spends several months per year in the parking lot of a marina on the Chesapeake bay. It get's rained on regularly and washed as well. So far there is no evidence of any rusting at all and I have had it up on a lift as well as routine inspection. Maybe it will show problems down the road but so far it appears to me that Ferrari pretty much had it sorted out by the 328 period.

 

I can count on one hand the number of times, in the past five years, my car's skin has gotten wet by nature or man. Within the past five years, the bottom edge/seam of the door skins has started to rust-bubble as a result of trapped water between the bottom door ledge and the outer door skin where it wraps around the door frame. My car is an 84, and factory rust-preventive coating is everywhere inside the door - yes, Virginia, they will rust eventually.