http://www.ruststop.co.nz

Their products are bound to be available in the UK as they say they were
tested by a UK university.

Steve and other Land Rover fans and fanatics:

The last few days we have been having fun kicking around the idea of
cathodic protection in another thread over at sci.engr.metallurgy.

The idea of automotive cathodic protection is a fatally flawed
concept, since you don't have a good way to protect the surface unless
you almost completely coat it (which is what is done with zinc on auto
body steel panels). See specifically:
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Car/carCP.htm

which points out that you have a nearly impossible task to get the
current to go everywhere you want it to, unless you keep your car
buried in damp soil or dunked in salt water.

You also could start at the more general Corrosion Doctors heading of
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Car/Car.htm
for a longer discussion which will tell you that what you want to do
is to

1. keep the drain holes clean
2. keep the little nicks you can see on the surface coated
3. coat the inner surfaces you can't see (if you know what you are
doing!)

In fact, your aluminium probably is helping to sacrificially protect the steel
but you wish it would not. If you coat with an inert barrier, then you
had better coat the cathode (the steel) as well as the aluminium (the
anode). Otherwise you may wind up with a small anode area and a large
cathode area, which is not a good situation.

Texas Instruments spent a lot of money doing research on automotive
cathodic protection years ago, and wrote up a technical paper saying
that cathodic protection was not practical. If it had been, then they
would gleefully have sold all the auto companies heaps of integrated
circuit control systems and impressed current anodes to do it (and made
even larger heaps of money).

Pittsburgh Pete
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likewise

THEN....

There ya go ! :)) ......Thanks for the info P.Pete.

I was going to drop into the local place where I buy it to find out some
'background' info in the light of the probs outlined above.... but you've
covered it.

Sorry about the confusion Bob and Hirsty. It hadn't occurred to me that
'Penetrol' might have a 'name change' when sold in your part of the world
!!

As well, there's a product sold down here in Oz called "Lanotec" ( made in
QLD)..... it's based on 'lanolin' (from sheep's wool) . On accounts I've
heard it _is_ fantastic for corrosion protection, but it's about _four_
times the price of 'Penetrol', so I've stuck with the Penetrol. And, as
I've related, ( for me) Penetrol _works_, over a long period.---- I might
add that I live just a short walk from coastal salt water which crumbles
roof gutterings in just years !!  ( Took all my guttering off years ago, a
few little modifications for drainage and I got away from that one !!

well !!

Good luck with your stuff ( of whatever name in your part of the world !! ) .

.... frodo.