Diff colour

[Malc]

I’m resurrecting an old post from a year or two ago, but I am trying to work out what paint to use on my diff when I put the IRS all back together again (if I can remember how it came apart!). I know that the ‘proper’ colour should be Glyptal and this can be obtained but it costs around £65 a litre which seems a lot when you are going to use only about a tenth of it. I noted that red oxide was put forward as an alternative but wouldn’t this be attacked by the weather as it is in theory an undercoat? What about painting it in red oxide and then overcoating it with matt varnish? Alternatively can anyone suggest any other paints that are close. I note Frost does a ‘Ford Red’ engine enamel and I have also looked a Bonda Primer but this is also pretty expensive.

[Monkeyfinger]

What you suggest is exactly what I did - red oxide and lacquer for a few pounds each from Toolstation. I put on several coats of each. End result is just what I wanted.

[Malc]

Is the Glyptal finish matt, satin or gloss?

[Heuer]

Glyptal 1201 has a low gloss finish: "seals the rough interior castings of engine blocks to help prevent engine damage. Sealing the tiny pores left in metal after bead blasting leaves the engine block interior smooth and clean, and that helps keep oil clean and flowing freely."

[Malc]

Thanks Richard and David. I’ll give the red oxide a go with satin lacquer/varnish and see what it looks like. After all, no one gets really close to it!

[Monkeyfinger]

Here's how mine looked pre install. Personally I really like the contrast with the black, but who will see it under the car!

[ysmalkie]

Should it not be black??

Tadek

[Heuer]

As far as we know the early cars had diffs painted with red Glyptol and then over painted with semi-gloss black. Unfortunately the nature of red Glyptol means it is very difficult to get paint to adhere to it, it basically just washes or falls off. As result many people found they had red diffs and mistook the patches of black to be grease, dirt and oil. Later in production Mr Arthur Whittaker, Jaguar Chief Buyer, probably asked the question as to why they were wasting time and money painting a part that was already painted. After that all the diffs were left red.

More info in our Factory Fit thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2006&p=51895#p51895

[Richardhealey]

Here’s a suggestion Malc, for what it’s worth. I added some black hammerite to red hammerite, to darken and soften the very bright red. It is slightly ‘plum’ and less ‘orangey’ than red oxide (which I believe is slightly less red than Gaylptol originally was), but I think it looks pretty good and will hopefully give a nice level of protection long term...
Cheers,
Rich

[Heuer]

Why not use red Glyptal? It is made to the original formula and readily available.

[Richardhealey]

It’s damned expensive, isn’t it?

[Heuer]

About £65 per litre but why would you risk putting anything unproven in your diff, gearbox or engine? A tin of vinyl matt wall paint costs about £25! On the outside of the casting I suppose anything approximate will do but surely not internally. We are talking about a car with an average value of £100k so why not do it properly?

[ysmalkie]

OK, so I presume it was sprayed black as a unit, with all the bolts, id tabs, output flange?

Tadek

[Richardhealey]

About £65 per litre but why would you risk putting anything unproven in your diff, gearbox or engine? A tin of vinyl matt wall paint costs about £25! On the outside of the casting I suppose anything approximate will do but surely not internally. We are talking about a car with an average value of £100k so why not do it properly?

Quite agree, but I thought we were talking about the outside of the diff and nothing else.
Still, my suggestion was only made with a ‘for what it’s worth’ opinion and I’m happy to be completely ignored

[Heuer]

The diff casting was dipped in Glyptal and dried before machining.