Classic cars need classic restorations
For most contemporary automobiles, repair involves obtaining readily available parts and supplies and finding a good mechanic. Classic car restoration and repair, however, is a much more complicated process. Many classic car, hot rod, low rider, and antique auto parts are rare or irreplaceable, making pot metal repair and restoration an essential skill-set for any classic car enthusiast.
Pot metal is known by many names: white metal, monkey metal, and zinc die cast. If you’ve ever tried to repair that classic trim or fix a grille, you’ll know that working with pot metal can be a challenge. Though it looks great when chromed or painted, the material is shabbily soft and breakable thanks to its makeup of melted manufacturing scraps.
In the past, to keep the manufacturing process cost-effective, welders combined whatever scraps were on hand, meaning the alloy you’re working with today may contain everything from iron and zinc through to cadmium – all of which are notoriously difficult to weld and repair.
While inexpensive and commonly used, pot metal does have some unfortunate drawbacks. The main issue when restoring and working pot metal today is soldering it. Due to the combinations of metal employed in making the pot metal alloy, it can often be unpredictable in how it reacts to soldering heat.
Another potential problem: it can be very easy to overheat your joint, due to the relatively low melting temperature of pot metal. Rods that melt at 700℉ can damage the pot metal even before soldering begins–causing it to bend, break, and pit. Pot metal pitting caused by oxidation is a common issue in antique auto restoration, and it is the number one challenge most classic car restorers face.
Without the proper tools, problems like these could leave you with a melted mess where you once had a beautiful body panel.
So, what’s the remedy?
Here at MuggyWeld, we stock high quality metal restoration kits suitable for restoring pot metal, and therefore perfect for classic cars.
Super Alloy 1 is a multi-metal solder with a working temperature of 350℉ – far lower than modern soldering methods and inexpensive metal restoration rods. Its unique properties make pot metal welding and repairs more effortless than ever. The rod and flux work together and ensure that your base metal is as strong as ever.
Super Alloy 1 can bond thick and thin materials and join different metals, including copper, brass, and bronze. The non-corrosive honey flux is designed to guide you to the correct temperature and turns as brown as root beer when the base metal reaches 350℉.
Super Alloy 1, available to buy at MuggyWeld.com, is the only product on the market suitable for use with pot metal and antique car parts. The plateable, polishable and coatable product has been used for over 30 years to keep cars original and get that perfect finish.
No matter what project you are working on, using Super Alloy 1 will keep your priceless automobiles going.
For more information and video tutorials on repairing pot metal and Super Alloy 1 restorations, be sure to visit our YouTube Channel.