Marlin jigs.

[Mike Cole]

What happened to the tooling. Does the chassis jig exist. It's a pity the Cabrio was not offered in Stainless steel as an alternative to powder coated steel. Has anyone have views on this.
kind regards Michael.

[MOC Chair]

Kevin Richardson should have the jigs and drawings for the Sportster, Cabrio and Exi and is able to manufacture parts for these models.
Regarding the chassis, they were originally painted not powder coated. Some of those that were powder coated have given trouble with the coating lifting to allow water to get behind and causing the chassis to rust.
I don't think stainless Steel is the ideal material to make a chassis from. It is difficult to work with and may not stand up to the forces exerted on it. Stainless Steel bolts are not suitable for high strength applications.
l hope that this answers your questions.

[Patrick]

The powder coat on my Sportster is of poor quality. I've been on and off grinding it off, cleaning it up, and repainting since 2016. It would have been great if they'd had an option to galvanise it.

[greyV8pete]

If they had been zinc dipped they would have lasted forever!

[dave_kitson]

While I agree that hot dip galvanising would have been the best option, even that has its problems. For a start you need a very big tank to do a whole chassis. The heat involved can introduce stresses, which in the worst case, may mean the chassis needs straightening out afterwards. Galvanising is not very attractive and is very difficult to paint; it needs weathering for a long time and/or special etch primer to have a chance of paint staying put. Just think how many times you've seen someone painting the gate to their drive time after time! Maybe the ultimate solution would be galvanising followed by powder coating?!?! But think of the cost. All academic really, but that's my two old pennies on it. Dave

[andyf]

Retropower use a zinc metal spray to protect the underside of cars that they build. Its not a pleasant process but has less drawbacks than galvanizing