The 'E' Type Forum

I am getting close to paint my 3.8 S1 '63 and I am trying to figure out the paint underneath the car.

From the photos from the Factory Fit section, I gather the following:
- the inner wheel arches front and rear are painted BODY colour over rubber coating,
- the front inner wheel engine shields are painted BLACK over rubberized coating, (the other side is black, too but no rubber coat),
- the floors are painted BLACK over rubberized coating,
I presume that the demarcation line is along the sill panel (sill panel, obviously body colour).
- the rear suspension cradle space is painted BLACK over rubberized coating,
- the boot floor (underside) is painted body colour, the seams are partially filled with a filler (is there any specific place the filler ceases?..)

Could anyone confirm or correct these assumptions?
Is there any other place where rubberized coating is used?

Tadek

- the inner wheel arches front and rear are painted BODY colour over rubber coating,

Just body colour on the front; no rubberised coating. The rear is coated and painted.

- the front inner wheel engine shields are painted BLACK over rubberized coating, (the other side is black, too but no rubber coat),

just satin or gloss black, no coating

- the floors are painted BLACK over rubberized coating,

Inside is coated and painted body colour, underside of the floor pan, area above the IRS and rear wheel
arches are body colour over coating

I presume that the demarcation line is along the sill panel (sill panel, obviously body colour).

Correct; there is no coating on the sills.


- the rear suspension cradle space is painted BLACK over rubberized coating,

There is no coating on the IRS cradle. We usually powder coat it satin black but you could paint it

- the boot floor (underside) is painted body colour, the seams are partially filled with a filler (is there any specific place the filler ceases?..)

About 2/3 of the way in but I don't have a car to take measurements on at the moment

Could anyone confirm or correct these assumptions?
Is there any other place where rubberized coating is used?

Many thanks Andrew,

However the photos of the cars in the Factory Fit section (which I picked for this topic) show different on the underside of the car:
- front wheel arches are rubber coated, same for the engine shields,
- floor black (on white the car).

Do you think they are not that original after all?

Tadek

Few more shots, this time though of the unrestored 4.2s:



















Tadek

Tadek,

if you are going for a car that is to be driven rather than 100% concours, I' d strongly recommend not to use the black stuff on the underside or anywhere else. I did use it in the first instance and found rust developing in some places between panels and coating that became brittle, making it necessary to remove it by dry ice (C02) blasting - not funny on a fully assembled car. Even less funny to mask off everything and repaint . In the end I painted the underside of the floors body colour (2pack), the wheelarches received 3M bodyguard anti stonechip coating (ref 08868) before painting. This coating is available with coarse and flat texture. All painted panels have the advantage of being cleaned easily and showing any damage readily.

Hi,
My bodyshop recommended U-Pol Raptor, which is a urethane based protective coating that can be tinted to match paintwork. It has a textured finish and provides rust inhibitor protection as well. Might be worth a look.

Many thanks guys,

However, I would prefer to restore the car as original :-)

So, if anyone can shed more light on it, I would be most grateful...

Mark, I (or my painter, actually) never overdo the rubber coating - a thin layer is perfectly sufficient and it does work well, provided it's _thin_. If it's so heavy, hard and inflexible, it just looses its purpose..

Tadek

Original is all very well if you don't plan to use the car much, but you might be making a dreadful decision if you do. The U-Pol is used for pick-up beds and is exceptionally tough, and you can't see the difference once the top coat is on. I rest easy knowing mine has this treatment. Just my take on things.