The 'E' Type Forum

In the midst of freshening up my beautiful 1968 2+2 series 1 1/2 and struggling to find the correct paint for the cylinder head?
I have tried VHT high-temperature caliper paint that’s wrong and also “POR 15 old gold”which is what you see in the picture but that doesn’t look right?
The “Bradex”paint that people have recommended in the past is no longer available.Help!

Can't help I'm afraid, but as an aside, shouldn't the head on a '68 be painted silver?

I thought the change from gold to Unpainted aluminium was around 67....however for pumpkin and gold paint See similar topics below.....Steve

I use plastic model paint available from model shops, brushed on . The cyl head temperature is not very high and it lasts well . I can't remember the manufacturer but it comes in a glass bottle of about 50 -75 mls

porsche911sse wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:21 am

In the midst of freshening up my beautiful 1968 2+2 series 1 1/2 and struggling to find the correct paint for the cylinder head?

Your car's head should be unpainted aluminium.

mgcjag wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:27 am

I thought the change from gold to Unpainted aluminium was around 67....however for pumpkin and gold paint See similar topics below.....Steve

My December of '67 build OTS had silver paint under the head nut washers and silver paint residue elsewhere in the valley.

Hi Doug..did you have the car new from the factory.....as far as im aware the heads were never painted silver...it was just bare aluminium...Steve

Pretty sure mine’s painted silver. No idea if it’s original or not.

They were not painted, bare aluminium - Mr Arthur Whittaker (Jaguar Chief Buyer) reducing costs.

Andrew Bowie I’ve PMd you
Mine appeared to be painted silver/aluminium but being an Aussie delivered S2, they also painted the bonnet chrome, eyebrows and headlight surrounds.

My May 1967 Australian delivered FHC had an unpainted head. Plain aluminium.

If it was my car, I would have the cylinder head treated with Iridite NCP or similar. This will provide an almost colourless corrosion resistant finish that will stop that annoying furry build up that we're forever cleaning off aluminium parts.

It looks only very slightly different to raw aluminium and Its not a difficult or complex process for DIY.

Regards

Mines unpainted (68 S1,25). A good squirt of ACF50 also keeps it from getting furry, as with anything else that’s aluminium.

To add to the confusion
:-

Mine is a 68 series 1.5 with an originally unpainted aluminium head. I prefer gold so painted it !
Also changed the cam covers to the smooth type - should have bought a series 1


Tim

tim wood wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:32 pm

To add to the confusion
:-

Mine is a 68 series 1.5 with an originally unpainted aluminium head. I prefer gold so painted it !
Also changed the cam covers to the smooth type - should have bought a series 1


Tim

I think this happens a lot, which leads to confusion with new owners.
When I bought my car, it had a gold head. The head had been done by Rob Beere. I rang him to query, and he agreed it shouldn't be gold, but the owner had apparently said he wanted it painted gold.
It's now silver (not unpainted, but closer to original)

"Hi Doug..did you have the car new from the factory.....as far as im aware the heads were never painted silver...it was just bare aluminium...Steve"

Hello Steve,

Please pardon the delay in responding...
No, I'm not the original owner and I wasn't the original owner of my early cars either...
They did have the original old gold paint or "pumpkin" as Dr. Haddock referred.
That color was the subject of much debate years ago and the factory (according to some) disavowed it's existence and only claimed to have used Bradite Old Gold.
No other variant of gold anteceded it's use it was stated.
Of course we now acknowledge that is not correct.

I think that most of us who have taken apart these cars over the years, and have done so forensically, know what to look for regarding original finishes and condition. My Dec. of '66, model year '67's engine was seized due to a failed head gasket and took me considerable time to disassemble carefully and without damage. The head had never been skimmed as the pads that cantilever the block were not machined. I purchased the car from the second owner who abused everything but the drivetrain.
It really doesn't matter to me whether it was originally painted silver or not. I'm just reporting what I found and what I believe to be true.

Further down thread Andrew Bowie mentioned that later series 1's were just left natural aluminum.
That agree's with my old March of '67, series 1.25 primrose coupe.
I bought that from the second owner in 1976 and it had an unpainted head.

Personally I like the Bradite color however I plan to leave the head natural as I think it dissipates heat better and it's the general consensus that unpainted is the correct finish for this cars vintage.

I stand behind my assertion though. I believe the head was originally painted silver.

Cheers!

Doug Buchan wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:15 am

They did have the original old gold paint or "pumpkin" as Dr. Haddock referred.
That color was the subject of much debate years ago and the factory (according to some) disavowed it's existence and only claimed to have used Bradite Old Gold.
No other variant of gold anteceded it's use it was stated.

The original cylinder head paint was produced by Bradite and Jaguar records show it was 'Gold' although as it was to BS381c standards it was known as 'Golden Yellow' in the paint industry. Those same records do not show a different colour paint used after 1961 - it is recorded as 'Gold' throughout XK150S and 3.8 production.

Confusion was caused by Bradite supplying Gold metallic (known as Bradite Old Gold) to Jaguar from mid 1961 onwards rather than the solid Golden Yellow used previously. We do not know whether this was a request from Jaguar after supplies of Golden Yellow were exhausted, a clerical error in the order process or production problems at Bradite which forced the change. The early cars non metallic paint has retrospectively been called 'Pumpkin' by the Americans who know what that vegetable is but a puzzlement to us Brits (we don't have Pumpkins - Turnips, yes but also a different colour!).



Even today many paint manufacturers have a solid paint in their range that is called Gold (e.g. Crown has 'Tivoli Gold' trade paint which is very close to the fabled Pumpkin). If we go back to basics and consult the British Standard paint charts in use during the 1950's/1960's we find BS381c-356 'Golden Yellow':


BS381-356 'Golden Yellow' is the correct period colour for the cylinder head for the early cars. Hex value #F2A600. Bradite do produce a heat resistant paint called 'Fastrac Heat Resist' and it appears to be available in BS381c colours.

If you really want the gold paint I would recommend Ken & Lyn who usually frequent the Stoneleigh shows. I used their gold cyl head paint 12 years ago on my ser 1 and it still looks good. They are based in Buxton.

If you don't have pumpkins then what do children carve for Halloween ? My heart bleeds for those poor British children carving turnips and in a pinch parsnips or large radishes.