When I was doing my Series 3 20 years ago I used POR15 on anything that I didn't galvanize.

 

TRIARR11, buy it and galvanise it. Surface waxoyl/painting doesn't penetrate internally but will cost nearly the same in the end. It's a good buy for the dosh provided you have somewhere to swap the chassis over.

 

This is a last minute arrangement and I do have a strict budget. I will consider my options. I called afew places as Paul recommend but they would need to see the frame to measure it, get weight and also they would have to sand it down first which would add to the $$$$. I will consider it though.

 

A media blasting specialist should be able to strip it down for around $100. At that point you can coat it however you want. To get the whole thing down to bare metal by yourself would equate to some ridiculous man hours and a TON of wire/flap wheels for the grinder. Plus you will never get the rust out of the pores of the steel by yourself.

just want you to have a game plan. If you rush the matter and don't give the entire thing it's due diligence then it's just going to be a rusty mess in a couple years.

I'm not sure if LR ran any wiring or tubing on the inside of the frame rails, but if not, and I had a bare frame, I would cap the ends of the rails. Biggest weakness in the design is the overlap between the two pieces of C channel that LR used to make a box. Water gets inside and rust starts in the crappy porous weld.

 

I will look into getting it blasted then (at the least). Before the frame is installed I will talk to my mechanic about the exposed ends and the possibility of fitting caps. Thanks for the suggestions! I hear you about being diligent vs rushing. Im trying to tackle bigger projects with this build and learn as much as possible. But I dont want to worry about a rusted out frame ever again so......

PS: I may be buying a cheap late model P38 HSE in the near future. In the beginning she will be my daily driver while my D2 is out of commission for the frame swap. Could take 3 weeks... Not sure if I would keep the P38 afterwords or sell it.

 

I wouldn't worry a bit about that surface rust. The frame looks to be in great shape (coming from a Coloradoan where we have very little rust on our trucks). You can see through the hole that it's not heavy rust. Maybe bring a probe camera with you just in case to look at the interior of the frame.

 

X1 ....... Good thinking

 

I guess you didn't buy this frame because I did. It's on its way to MA from NC now.

 

Is there any coating on the inside of the frame from the factory or is it bare metal? If not, then is it ready for galvanizing once you blast the outside? I can rent a sandblaster locally for $80/day. I just blasted my equipment trailer a couple years ago. If there is a coating on the inside, how do you prep it for galvanizing?

 

I once did a complete rebuild of an FJ40 Land Cruiser. I had the frame acid dipped. That was 30 years ago. It came out good