S1 3.8 plenum - paint finish

[stephen.mather]

Hi Everyone,
I am restoring the air intake plenum chamber and trumpets on my series 1 3.8 FHC (no. 860671). Having removed the top layer of paint it seems inside and out the plenum was sprayed with hammered silver enamel.
Was the plenum chamber originally sprayed in hammered silver, or was it smooth? The header tank is in a hammered finish, so one would think they would match, but the header tank may not be as the original finish would have been.

Also, are the trumpets to the carbs painted the same as the plenum, or should they be smooth silver? Mine have been repainted several times, but stripping takes them down to red oxide on the steel. No clue as to the original finish.

Many thanks
Steve

[Heuer]

The plenum should be smooth (no strengthening ribs visible) and spray painted hammer-tone silver e.g. 'Hammerite' or 'Rustoleum Hammered'. The intake trumpets should be the same. It is a very light hammer finish bordering on smooth and not the traditional heavy hammer you see when it is brushed on.

You will find many original plenum's had the grooves filled in before painting so you can do the same if you use a repro. They were prone to cracking because people leaned on them to check coolant levels etc so Jaguar changed the design to include strengthening ribs fairly early on. For the 4.2 cars they did not bother to fill in the grooves.

[stephen.mather]

Thanks David,
The plenum seems to be made of GRP or similar. I mended some cracks with epoxy resin, which seems `OK.
What do you recommend for filling the grooves? Is polyester body filler OK or does it need something special?
Hammerite spray finish seems to be slightly finer than that from a pot, as you allude to, but still coarser than other finishes I have seen on some header tanks and carb trumpets.
However, the "smooth" might be too smooth. Would Rustoleum be preferable to Hammerite?

Steve

[Heuer]

Steve

You can use any body filler for the grooves. I prefer Rustoleum Hammered aerosol spray but either will do. They also do the dark grey hammer for use on the fan and wiper motors. Trick is several light coats as the heavier the coat the more the hammer effect becomes.

[PeterCrespin]

Hammerite spray finish seems to be slightly finer than that from a pot, as you allude to, but still coarser than other finishes I have seen on some header tanks and carb trumpets.
However, the "smooth" might be too smooth. Would Rustoleum be preferable to Hammerite?

Steve

Hello Steve. Sounds like a nice car. What book or photo reference do you have? My thinking is that if you want to get the finishes of various parts original and you seem uncertain about two of the most visible parts, you may not have much reference material. Two useful sources would be the JCNA Judging Guide for your car and a look at the biggest register of E-types www.xkedata.com . If your car's not on there with the other 16,700+ cars recorded, please put it on and browse the photos to your heart's content.

Enjoy the car however you decide to finish it.

Pete

[Heuer]

Sorry, a bit of a miss-direct there - just checked both my cars. Whilst the plenum is hammered silver the intake trumpets are a smooth silver finish. I checked the JCNA judging guide and it says hammered but the list of paints on J-L say smooth :? Have a look here: viewtopic.php?t=951

Here are some pictures of my FHC:



Here is a picture from our 'Factory Fit' thread of a known original car showing smooth trumpets and hammered plenum which kind of settles the question:


There are a couple of other cars there you can use for comparison - the OBL green OTS and the ODB FHC.

[stephen.mather]

Thanks to David and Pete for all that useful info.
On stripping the trumpets, the paint did look smooth, while the plenum is definitely hammered finish on the INSIDE, suggesting it is original as the rivets for the brackets have not been painted, so the GRP plenum was painted before the brackets were riveted on.
I did check the judging manual but obviously I did not pick up the info. I will check out the register you suggest.
My car was in a register published by the Jaguar Driver's Club (not JEC) some years ago. I have not spent a lot of time researching the provenance yet, except I know it was supplied to a member of the armed forces in Germany in 1962, then brought back to Britain. It is original RHD (860 -- serial number)It does not have a "date" registration, being 348 FUH. This may be a pre-64 plate ("A" only having happened in London I believe), or it may be a transferred plate.

Cheers
Steve

[christopher storey]

"A" prefix registrations were used by quite a few registration authorities ( local councils in those days ) certainly including Lancashire . However, an A plate would only be issued to a vehicle first used in 1963 , so your plate may well have been issued to the car on its repatriation . Incidentally, the old 3 letter/figure combinations were used as late as 1964, I had a June 1964 Sunbeam Alpine which was SCM 469 , so not even a reversed combination ) and AFAIK it was only from 1.1.1965 that prefixes ( C by then ) became universal

[PeterCrespin]

Suffixes, but yes, that's my understanding as to the 64/pre-64 situation.

Pete