Powder coating

I gave up finding a good used and bought a JC Whitney windshield frame. Has anybody ever powdercoated one of these? Took it by a place today, and told me it would only be 85 dollars for frame, dash, and glovebox door. Unless they have to blast the new windsheild frame. Also do I have to worry about tolerances for the rubber and glass?

 

Never had a replacement done but I did the oem '68-'75 style one I put on the '6. It came out beautiful! I had the upper hinges done at the same time along with some other parts. Cost was about what you were quoted. I had no issues with the clearances on anything. The upper hinges scraped as they went into the frame but I expected that and it's not visible. Will still be much better than paint. I put new glass and all rubber in and had the wiper motor cover done also. I also used stainless steel fasteners. It really came out nice in my opinion. The powdercoat is gloss black instead of semi gloss that I had done as I wanted it shiny.
I would test fit everything before you have it coated to make sure no "adjustments" are necessary that could damage the powdercoating.

 

It shouldn't be so thick it affects the seal and as far as the glass goes a shop will cut it to the frame size. My guess it'll work quite nicely, w/ one caveat. Any flexing of the frame (ie., laying it down on hood) could cause powdercoat to stress crack. It's something I've seen in other things, never seen a WS frame done that way. YMMV:v6:

 

most of the holes will loose their original diameter
the powder coating can fill in the hole and make the holes smaller
you might have to run a file or drill thru them to open them back up
this is a minor inconvenience IMO

 

In cold weather the frame rots from the inside-out. Warm moist air is pumped up into an icy cold frame. Moisture condenses inside the frame.

Powder may be better than paint on the outside but if it's preservation you're after you should have the inside Ziebarted after painting/coating. I think the aftermarket frames are likely electrocoated, where they're dipped in a water bath of ionized paint molecules. I'm planning to paint the outside and Ziebart the inside.

 

Has anyone sloshed POR15 through the inside of the windshield frame? Something I've consisdered doing when I get to the point of refurbishing my frame. Any drawbacks to this?

 

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to go for it. They did offer a bake test for free to see if the powder would stick or not. It is a garaged jeep, so I'm not to worried about moisture. I hadn't considered putting everything together before final assembly, so I will do that. (of course part of me just wants to take off the old one an not worry about replacing it!)

 

They were actually able to coat most of the inside of mine too. Not saying the best solution but it's much better than what came from the factory. Where does one find Ziebart and what is it? is it a soak in solution or what?

 

Zeibart is a brand name for undercoating. I don't even know if they're still in business. In the 70's and 80's it was a household name. Now that car bodies are galvanized I guess it's not as popular. I think modern stuff is a clear, sticky material sort of like rubber cement. I don't think it's the black tar-like substance of old, though that's still around I'm sure.

 

Cavity wax is what you need. A couple of years ago when I was finishing up Pete I purchased some Waxoyl cavity wax and did the inside of the windshield frame w/ it. Can't find the place where I bought it from a search but there appears to be a lot of US companies making it now. A search a few years ago resulted in mainly British links. Search for "cavity wax" and you'll find everything from spray cans to injection kits, it'll do what you need.:v6: