The 'E' Type Forum

Hi All
Can anyone tell me the correct colour to paint my Diff please?
I've heard it should be red, possibly.

It's a March 1962 RHD OTS

Thanks

Robbie

Hi Robbie,
Do a search on "Glyptal" here on the forum. You'll find loads of discussion of the topic. Including whether some were painted black over red. When Alan Slawson rebuilt my diff he painted it red oxide, as he said that is a closer colour match to the original than the red Glyptal you can get today. As he's an expert and I'm a novice, I was happy to take his advice.

I found the original Glyptal red paint.

It was so expensive it was off the scale.

Luckily red oxide aerosol is almost identical.

Job done.

+1 for red oxide, it was a very good match to the original colour, clearly visible once I cleaned the casing
Jonathan

Mine is painted with dirt and oil. I think it is original!

I mixed Hammerite gloss (Red and Black) to get a red which wasn't quite so "bling" as the plain red. You could also mix their Red and Brown to come close to the original Glyptal colour.

chrisfell wrote:Mine is painted with dirt and oil. I think it is original!

+1 but with lots of oil as it leakes like a sieve

I feel certain it was from this forum that it came as a surprise to learn that the diff was painted in red oxide then painted black and the black disappears over a period of time?

richard btype wrote:I feel certain it was from this forum that it came as a surprise to learn that the diff was painted in red oxide then painted black and the black disappears over a period of time?

I've only ever seen one or two red ones 'in the wild' The four in my garage are flaky black and oil.

My XKE diff casing is red (under the oil) & was imported from the states in 2014 ?

No traces of Black whatsoever on mine...a 63 car imported from the USA

The correct colour is black.. If you watch "Built by Many" on you tube, they visit Barbary Hill and the expert
William Haines ( yes that Haines) states that although many people left it in the red oxide, it was originally painted black
watch it here:

Not quite correct I'm afraid!

The final drive gear carrier casting was sealed inside and out with Glyptal paint. The Glyptal, an Insulating Alkyd Enamel Paint using a resin of glycerol phthalate, first made by General Electric in 1926, was used both inside and outside the diff casting to seal it and improve oil circulation. The idea was to encapsulate any last bits of molding core sand or grit and seal the surface of the iron which might have some pits in it. Glyptal is a 'dipping' paint so the new castings were immersed into a bath of the paint and then allowed to air dry. The bearing surfaces were then machined, covered in grease paper and sent to Jaguar for assembly. Originally black Glyptal was used but this was changed to red Glyptal gloss sometime after the first 500 cars because the black contained aluminium powder. The red colour of the new differential casings seems to have caught Jaguar by surprise as the pressed steel carrier covers had been ordered separately, finished in black. The Jaguar solution was to overpaint the red Glyptal external finish with black. The paint used was clearly not a good match for the (non-stick) Glyptal and literally washed off over time. This is from a 1961 car:



At some point Mr Arthur Whittaker, Jaguar Chief Buyer and cost cutter, must have got involved and insisted the gear carriers be left in their native red and instructed the carrier rear covers be painted to match from the supplier. I have not researched when these changes happened although the chronology is difficult to establish. Some owners claim their diffs are red but have not factored in the fact the black paint, easily mistaken for dirt, is quickly removed when the diff is cleaned with de-greaser. So black initially, red over-painted with black secondly and red finally.