air bag instalation

[rdbishop]

Hi Everyone!

Has anyone tried putting a thin layer of the permatex form-a-gasket on an air bag before the install?

Richard

[kyle4501]

what for?

[rdbishop]

Well Kyle,

The plates that they mount on have some pit holes in them and I didn't want to have to weld and grind and all that stuff.

Richard

[kyle4501]

From the first question, it sounded like you were talking about coating the whole bag & that didn't make any sense to me.

So, you're just wanting to put it on the bead where it seats on the mounting plate.
I wouldn't think it would hurt anything, but, you are still gonna need to have the mounting surface clean & free of scale.

May not last as long as welding & grinding, but we probably ain't gonna be the ones changing that airbag 20 years from now. 

[JohnEd]

Richard,

In my experience epoxy has incredible strength in compression.  I would first grind and brush off the surface.  Spread some epoxy on it to fill the deep pits then run a straight edge across it to get it level.  I think there is a rubber gasket that goes betwen the bag and the plate.  If not, the epoxy will give you a superb surface and seal with any of the standard gasket dressings.  Pits are the pits and a PITA.

John

[gus]

Richard,

First make sure the corrosion is actually at the air bag sealing area which is inside the bolt holes. I have 9 old plates given to me that are corroded where they contact the air beam and at the bolt holes, but none at the inside sealing circle because that is a rubber to metal contact and not subject to much corrosion, if any.

Carefully clean the sealing surface of the plate. It is anodized so make sure not to use a heavy abrasive that will remove the anodizing.

Clean up the corrosion as best you can and give it a light coat of zinc chromate paint, no need for a thick coat, thin coating actually gives better protection.