The 'E' Type Forum

Looking at my differential, I am pretty convinced that it has been painted black over the red, but the paint is a very thin coat and can literally be rubbed off. Its not oil or grease but paint. It has always seemed strange to me that the diffs should have been left red oxide colour. Anyone ever spotted the same? Oh, and I am pretty sure that mine has never been apart looking at the fixings etc.

Listen don't start on me.

It's not actually red oxide but looks similar in tone. Someone here has the paint code.

Personally I think they look unfinished in red.

Not sure why yours should be black........................Maybe to match the bell housing??

The diffs were painted with red Glyptol on the inside and outside to seal them, probably at the foundry. As far as I know they were then given a coat of black paint by Jaguar but this seems to have 'washed' off fairly quickly probably because it was not a good chemical match. It is highly likely that Mr Arthur Whittaker, Jaguar's chief buyer and trained by Sir William, would have deleted the over paint process so save costs. This is my theory anyway having spoken to numerous people but everyone has a different view and I can find no definitive answer. I keep meaning to ask Andrew Turvey about it but as you are up at CMC shortly suggest you get his view as he has seen and restored more cars than almost anyone I know.

was up there yesterday, but sadly did not see Andrew Turvey to ask him. I did show them my gearbox with black paint remains on the Bellhousing which they confirmed was very strange. They had no idea why it had been painted other than if it had been refurbished. But as they said most gearbox problems would have been solved with an exchange unit, and as this is all matching numbers it was strange. Did Andrew Turvey work at the factory in period then?

Not as far as I know - pity really as given the work he has just done on the Lindner Lightweight engine would have made it far more competitive

What do most of you paint your differential in? Mine is just back from the rebuilders and its time to start building up the IRS. Some have mentioned Glyptol. Any suggestions?

You could try POR15.

Thanks I will take a look. I will use Glyptal if its correct but its a hell of a price and from some ads! Moss Europe for example, it looks a deeper red not like the colour on my diff which is a sort of red oxide. I am assuming that proper Glyptal is the paint one finds inside crankcases and gearboxes etc?

andrewh wrote:Thanks I will take a look. I will use Glyptal if its correct but its a hell of a price and from some ads! Moss Europe for example, it looks a deeper red not like the colour on my diff which is a sort of red oxide. I am assuming that proper Glyptal is the paint one finds inside crankcases and gearboxes etc?

I painted mine with a product called Bondaprimer. Looks close enough to the original to me.

thanks, I have now done mine in a rather nice shade of Hammerite, Not the traditional mottle paint, but one of their normal paints. Its spot on to what came off, Now just got to get the IRS back together. Hope I can remember how it all goes back!

I hesitate to mention this at this stage, but when I stripped my Coupe rear suspension, the diff was painted black. The car was laid up in '72 with 34k miles, and the rear had never been apart. Because it was in Southern California, all the components retained their original finish, under a layer of oil and dirt.

The guy who built the rear suspension was certain it had never been apart, and he was a Jag apprentice in 1954....and worked on Jags since then! He's seen a few of these, worked on E Types throughout the 60s, and was sure that they should be black.

I'll get my coat.....

Lousey pic, but I must have been excited and wobbled!

Oh Great! thanks for that! No actually, I did say that mine has definitely had black on top of the red but it was really a wash coat and perhaps dissolved pretty quickly. I am sticking with the red, as I dont want all the anoraks ( I am secretly one myself) telling me it should be red. Oh who cares, its a nice contrast to everything else which is black and you cant see it anyway! thanks though :D

How funny is that???

If it were April 1st.............

All the digging about "Colour of the Diff" and Mark decides to come clean now

I forgot! It was 12 years ago or so!!!

I was getting the car MOT'd yesterday and examined the underneath in detail whilst it was on the ramp, and spotted the diff and it all came flooding back, 'onest!

And how come my Coupe passed its MOT last year with one headlamp pointing up at 30 degrees upwards and to the right by about the same, whilst the other was ponting down and in by a similar amount??!! It's a pain having to get the trims and headlamp covers off before the tester finishes the brake test so that the lights can be alligned.

I shall be having words :D

Serves you right for stitching Andrew up.

Red or Black. they both look better than Silver.

Your doing a fine job Andrew, I'm looking for a Boy to do some odd jobs at work incase you're interested.

ahaha, thank you gents. I may well be up for some weekend work yet! Anyway, as for the diff, the red colour theme seems to be well accepted as the correct colour, so the black will stay off the agenda for now. And as you say, at least its not silver.

Oh you boys crack me up.