Re: Galzanized bodies

["Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt@nwonline.net>]

Quiet...whisper it....."Not."  We who own these cars don't like to
broadcast it.  

Zinc-rich primer, yes. Three times as good protection as domestic cars of
the same era. But they are in the process of rusting out. Had my rear
fenders and passenger side doors down to bare metal and there is no
galvanizing there. And found hundreds of pin-head sized areas of corrosion
developing under the primer. Body man said the vehicle had.... maybe 5 more
years before they started to bubbled up seriously. I treated about 15 of
them that came up since the body work, 2 years ago. Just little pin-head
sized paint bubbles at first. Kill 'em while they are babies.

Some parts of the 4000 chassis might be galvanized, like a few sub-frames,
but none of the sales literature at the time of production touted it, and
the zinc primer theme was given lots of space in the pre-sales brochures
and slicks. Bragged about something like 12 coats of protection.

The 5000 production line got the dies for the full double-sided galvanizing
treatment, and manufacturing spread the die costs over more than ten years
of production of the big platform, up into the early 90's.  And they waited
until 1988 to bring in that feature to the small platform line, with new
stamping dies for the 80-90 series. It just wasn't worth it to build new
dies to stamp out the last few years of the 4000. It was all they could
manage, to tool up for the big platform and the new small platform.
Galvanized panels don't stamp the same as plain steel sheet. Now you know.

That's why I treasure my 87 5000cstq, and expect my 86 4000q to go to the
recyclers in the next 5 years or so. I think the 5000 will be good for
20-30 years unless someone hits it.

Think about an 80 or 90 from years 1988 on, if you want the small platform.
They received the galvanizing. 


Doyt Echelberger
86 4kq
87 5kcstq
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 10:44 PM 1/31/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>On Mon, 01 Feb 1999 01:14:45 -0500, Doyt W. Echelberger wrote:
>
>>If I were you, and I lived where rust is a possibility, I'd consider a 5000
>>rather than a 4000 for long term ownership, because the 5000 has an entire
>>body made of steel that is galvanized on both sides.
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought '86 and '87 4k's were
>galvanized.
>
>