New build question

[702sandman]

I'm currently having a new car built for mostly BITD by Holz Racing. my question is on the chassis, what do the majority of people go with as far as the bare frame ? Do you leave raw and scotch brite it ? Or is powder coating the way to go ? I was also considering steel it maybe. I'm just wanting to get some ideas from some experienced racers. Thanks for any replies

 

[Ottersberg27]

Our new car will be coated with steel-it.


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[Rusty5150]

Steel It is a great option.


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[BiggJim]

From a labor standpoint I think steel-it is a waste. Its expensive as shit and its wet spray like spraying a car..... The ONLY positive I see with it is you can make repairs without having to sand it off and there is touch up paint available. It would have honestly taken us 45 minutes to powder our chassis and been done. There is no telling how many hours we have into steel-it.

 

[702sandman]

It would be nice if you could powder coat steel it....is there any colors for powder coat that show cracks better than others ?

 

[Erik@BRP]

Steel it is awesome!

 

[BiggJim]

There is nothing that shows cracks better than a fresh blast job

 

[Erik@BRP]

There is nothing that shows cracks better than a fresh blast job

Or Rust!

 

[BiggJim]

Or Rust!

True....

 

[dezertracer]

I wouldn't do powder coat unless you know for sure its setup the way you want. I hit mine with a rattle can to keep maintenance down for now. After every race i am changing or adding something. But this mine is a garage build and i'm a first time racer so i'm learning as I go and I've learned that taking paint off so I can weld sucks. I couldn't imagine trying to grind powder coating off. I would leave it raw for at least 1 season so you can make any adjustments without damaging the powder or do steel-it now so it can be welded on and touched up.

 

[Ratoutahell]

So I just coated my chassis with Steel-it and love it! This is my first experience with it as I have done powdercoat in the past. I like the fact that I can weld to it if needed and honestly it was not that expensive. I bought a gallon from Kartek for $175 and bought a cheap HVLP gun from Amazon for $35 and did it myself. It took me maybe 4 hours and I used not quite half of the gallon. As a note I did have it sand blasted before hand but that would be needed anyways.

 

[acme]

We have owned a number of PPT, painted and raw chassis over the years and I have 4 friends who have used Steel It on chassis and I would Steel or paint but never PPT a chassis.

Even if you use Steel It touch up is way easier than trying to grind, weld and blend in PPT. And PPT hides cracks way too well.

One buddy who's had 2 cars done with steel it, just bought a PPT'd 6100 truck. He will be media blasting it after V2R and having it done in Steel it.

Fyi most PPT mfrs like Cardinal and Orbit sell matching rattle cans for touch up on their web sites.

We have used a ton of stuff over the yrs on raw chassis and by far the best rust inhibitor IMHO for a raw chassis is LPS 1. It's dry film so unlike wd40 it isn't wet and isn't a mucky dust magnet.

 

[702sandman]

This is all great info. Please continue to give your thoughts and ideas. Also any more pics of steel it after completion would be helpful.

 

[Ottersberg27]

Some arms I coated with steel-it. Looks great in person

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[jaggedx]

just an fyi.
Powder coat is made from plastic, Plastic will burn. Don't know about steel it but because of the ingredients I doubt it would burn. I have seen numerous powder coated sand cars and race cars(including one of ours) catch on fire and the powder coat burns like a wick, right up the tubing and catches stuff on fire that may have been saved. We have used steel it and it does look nice and work good. High quality spray paint is also a good option.
if you need to clear an area to repair or change you can just wet a rag with some laquer thinner or brake clean and just wipe the paint away and then touch up when finished.

I will say that nothing looks nicer for that first time photo shoot than a freshly powder coated race car though!!

 

[Doug8765]

Whats ppt?


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[acme]

Sorry: PPT=Powder Paint... in text mode. LOL

I like the idea or Steel It on the chassis and even more so on the suspension parts since most seasoned desert racers crack check/inspect those parts frequently and I understand you can mag or spray crack check them w/Steel It and cracks will show. But then our cars used to come down to bare chassis/plumbing and wiring for every race.

On the Canned Ham we have, we opted to paint the cage black to match the OG chassis parts left and will Steel It all the suspension and steering. Side benefit of Steel It or normal Paint as has been mentioned: You can clean it off easier and repaint if you add tabs, make a repair or change things where as with Powder Paint, it's a pain in the arse...

FYI, We had a 16 car we redid a roof on that was already PPT'd when we bought it. We bought the matching Cardinal rattle cans and redid the whole top, front bumper/beam and rear cage with it. It's pricey but another option and it lays down very well and thick.

We've also used the base quality PPG enamel car paint on a chassis and it came out good..

 

[702sandman]

From a labor standpoint I think steel-it is a waste. Its expensive as shit and its wet spray like spraying a car..... The ONLY positive I see with it is you can make repairs without having to sand it off and there is touch up paint available. It would have honestly taken us 45 minutes to powder our chassis and been done. There is no telling how many hours we have into steel-it.

Jim, I was looking at Justin's car at the dealer show and the steel it looks great...have you raced it since coating it ? It looks real durable

 

[BiggJim]

Jim, I was looking at Justin's car at the dealer show and the steel it looks great...have you raced it since coating it ? It looks real durable

No that was all done after the BJ500. Our guys were tired of rubbing it down with WD and Scotchbrite every race. We have customers that have raced on it and it seems durable. For the everyday guy its probably the way to go.

 

[facteryfmf]

No that was all done after the BJ500. Our guys were tired of rubbing it down with WD and Scotchbrite every race. We have customers that have raced on it and it seems durable. For the everyday guy its probably the way to go.

Hows it smell when applying?