93 replies to this topic

[Winstar]

oK so what are the best/freely available bolts to use in aluminium? Just all the bolts I have a re stainless which was a group buy some time ago.

Are you talking about the JimH kit for the bodywork most of that doesn't actually come into contact with the Ali tub and are none structural. The structural bolts should all be zinc plated steel

Looking at the space available then there should be plenty of scope to create a better solution than the lotus as it will have been done down to a cost and for a 10 year deisgn life.

Does anyone know what grade of ali is used in this section? Ive got a copy of 'BS 8118 Part 1 1991 Structural use of aluminium' here and some time to kill on a trip to see a client in aberdeen later this week.

[simsy]

http://www.lakesidee...20Corrosion.htm


these guys have been fixing this problem for years..

Road dirt sits between the aluminium and the steel washers etc and the galv type corrosion happens.

To prervent, just power wash the area and wd40 type stuff every 6 months....

lake side have removed many of their photo's of the repair process, and use 316 stainless for the washers to reduce corrosion....

Edited by simsy, 11 January 2012 - 10:50 AM.

[LMP1]

Does anyone know what type of alloy is our chassis made from? I mean, is it 6000 series, 7000, or something else?

[LMP1]

Does anyone know what type of alloy is our chassis made from? I mean, is it 6000 series, 7000, or something else?

I ve just found it. It has some intresting info about corrosion

http://www.sandsmuse...cal/asauto.html

[Tail slide]

Useful to know this; had fingers crossed after 50k / 10 years with winter use too, but just checked while adjusting ride height and was some dirt built up in a few places but thankfully no corrosion or pitting evident when dirt scraped off.

So cleaned it off a bit and soaked with ACF50 most of the way around, which will keep it sorted until the next suspension upgrade.

[robin]

Been giving the car a winter clean and if your doing a suspension refresh then i really recoment to clean all the ali around the mounting areas, if you have dirt caked on to the ali and looking black and hardish then you really need to get this off i recoment using a brass wire brush to get it all off as underneath this is where corrosion starts, i just spent a good bit of time cleaning one side compleatly so is super clean, even took front shock off and the top shock bracket off to clean underneath it as had a little corrosion here, well worth doing then treat with something like ACF50.

[JG]

ACF50 , its quite incredible stuff.

[robin]

Acf50 is great should be in every vx owners tool kit ive sold and used it for ages and worth every penny imo.

[ghand]

Acf50 is great should be in every vx owners tool kit ive sold and used it for ages and worth every penny imo.

What is Ac f50 ???

Do I have anything like it in my stock pile of crap

Edited by ghand, 27 January 2012 - 11:42 PM.

[Anarchy]

The guy seems a bit dramatic to me and a bit contradictive. One minute he says its on a ten year old car and can be repaired but will happen again (so another ten years later I pressume) then he seems confused about which is worse MS or SS in contact with Alu. If it was that bad most cars are driven in the rain and there are plenty 10+ year old cars so we would see more of it. Its not a good situation for sure but I think he just had a beef with Lotus and he did not get what he wanted. Aren't the VX mounts MS anyway, well the front ones are I think? So if there is galvanic corrosion it would be between the mount and the chassis not the bolt boss. I could be totally wrong, what do I know.

Edited by Anarchy, 28 January 2012 - 03:01 AM.

[robin]

Your probably right that lotus told him to take a run and jump. But its defintaly worth checking as i have a little bit of corrosion on my car nothing like in the pictures. I really think its worth checking all the same. Acf50 is a anti corrosion spray that they use on aircraft they normaly spray it into areas that may get damp etc do a google search

[alanoo]

Second post robin pasted here is mine, it's the wife's 111S...

[alanoo]

Ok back from shopping so I'll explain my point of view as this past year I saw quite a few cars with early symptoms of this... It is indeed clearly galvanic corrosion, As JG stated, the glue would stop it between the inserts and the chassis. I do believe in fact the glue does its job, even on the cars pictured, and that the cause is simply the dirt/moist/ accumulated in the zone being slightly conductive. Fact is, the zone is almost impossible to clean correctly with a pressure washer and/or with the wishbone in place. For the same reason it is impossible to spot the early signs with the wishbone in place, and that's why I'm sure, it's a much much more common issue that we think (and that I thought a year ago...). To be fair, I also know a few of the early 96/97 year Elises with no sign at all...

[Harry Hornet]

Been giving the car a winter clean and if your doing a suspension refresh then i really recoment to clean all the ali around the mounting areas,
if you have dirt caked on to the ali and looking black and hardish then you really need to get this off i recoment using a brass wire brush
to get it all off as underneath this is where corrosion starts,
i just spent a good bit of time cleaning one side compleatly so is super clean, even took front shock off and the top shock bracket off to clean underneath it
as had a little corrosion here, well worth doing then treat with something like ACF50.

For a "nerd" that only kicks his tyres, check the coolant and oil now and now and again..are there any pictures available for the area that I should be looking at..9 1/2 years of living out (not me the Vx) and dirty muddy tractor lanes around my way I thinks it time I start checking up on stuff...or is there a thread ..Thanks

HH

[robin]

Ive taken some pictures on mine ill post tommorow, i just cleaned mine so is nice and clean, and yep have a few bits of corrosion but nothing too bad.

[robin]

some pictures off my car
the dirt you can see stuck onto the ali next to the suspension fixing point.


then a picture of it cleaned off and you can see some corrosion on the ali where it used to be.


i cleaned this off with a small brass wire brush takes a little time but it worth it.
while at it i gave rest of ali a clean

[alanoo]

Nothing too bad here ! I still hope we'll get a good solution to limit it as I am 100% sure it will write off loads of chassis in about 5 years time

[JG]

Mine, i think i'm ok













/End of gratuitous suspension pics posting

[robin]

Thats because yours is in a show room! You must not get out much polishing the tub )

[JG]

that is true but it looks good