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A few detailing questions

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Randy Harris

Randy Harris

Jedi Warrior
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I'm putting a few things right inside the engine bay of my BJ8.
1.When my car came back from a local "expert", having been detailed 5 years ago, the carb bells were painted a satin aluminum color. I doubt they came from the factory painted. My Jag carbs are a simple and nice polished alloy. In the Healey were these SU carbs originally left a dull, satin or polished finish?
2. The exhaust manifold had been sprayed also, an aluminum finish - how, if at all, are exhaust manifolds correctly finished?
3. My windshield spray bottle holder is finished in black. It should be blue. Is there a "correct" blue?
4. The body shop painted over my bump stop boxes in the rear wheel wells. Of course, they should be painted black. Is that gloss, satin or flat black?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.
Randy '66 BJ8 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
Hi Randy,

1. Carb finish is bare, unpolished cast aluminum, dull in appearance.

2. Exhaust manifolds were painted engine color. Some restorers paint the manifolds with high temp silver/alum manifold paint first and then shoot the engine paint.

3. Tudor blue (match the blue on the Tudor bottle silkscreen)

4. I think bump boxes should be semi-gloss to gloss black (my copy of the guidelines just says black). The fastening hardware is zinc plated (although instances have been found where the screws and washers that are visible in the interior were chrome plated).

Cheers,
John
 
Thanks John. I appreciate your concise and thorough answer. Great resource this Forum!
Randy
 
John: That's an interesting comment regarding painting the exhaust manifold. I was thinking about having the manifold ceramic coated in a sort of charcoal black, which will prevent the inevitable rust that occurs when the paint burns off. Do you think that heat resistant paint beneath the Moss engine enamel will preserve the green paint? My guess is not, but it's an elegant solution if it works.
 
I may be pushing my luck here but maybe I can get anwers to a couple more detail items:

I have run a Texas Kooler fan for years. Since it isn't concours-correct, I never bothered to paint it. I know fans should be painted bright yellow, but which bright yellow? Does school bus yellow work?

My horns are correctly painted factory black but show 40 years of faded age. I'd like to clean them up but not make them look brand new. Do most restorers finish the horns in satin or gloss black?

During its restoration my car's original chrome headlight trim rings (w/the rivet at the top) were lost. Mine are Moss repros. Are there any good sources for these original or original-looking rings?

Thanks in advance
Randy
 
Cutlass,

I've heard the Healey green over manifold paint works pretty well. There will be some discoloring near the head where the temperatures are higher .. so the green turns yellowish.

Cheers,
John
 
Randy,

The guidelines called out a "medium yellow" and I have a few yellow recommendations that I gleaned from the Healey list:

Krylon "OSHA Yellow"
Plasti-Cote Old Caterpillar Yellow #1356
Rust-Oleum #7449 Caterpillar Yellow

Horns are supposed to be gloss black but if you paint them a semi-gloss they won't look as "new".

I bought Moss headlamp rims about 3 1/2 years ago and they had the rivet and look very good. I've heard more recent ones from Moss were not correct. Hopefully, someone can help you out here.

Cheers,
John
 
[ QUOTE ]
That's an interesting comment regarding painting the exhaust manifold. Do you think that heat resistant paint beneath the Moss engine enamel will preserve the green paint? My guess is not, but it's an elegant solution if it works.

[/ QUOTE ]

AND the answer is: NO! after the paint burns off the manifolds will turn a pleasant rust brown.- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif---Keoke
 
[ QUOTE ]
I got my head light rim from British Car Specialist and it matched the original (other side) exactly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes TH, I think that is the only place you will get the correct aftermarket trim piece from.---Fwiw---Keoke- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
AND the answer is: NO! after the paint burns off the manifolds will turn a pleasant rust brown.- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif---Keoke

[/ QUOTE ]

I was quoting Gary Anderson and his experience. But he also uses Hirsch paint .. not the Moss rattle can and supposedly the Hirsch paint is higher temp. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Here's what Gary said ..
----
Though often argued about, we've never found any reason to believe that factory six-cylinder Healey engines were ever painted any color other than what we call "Healey Engine Green" which is the light metallic silver-gray green.
(Clausager says it was called "Steel dust grey" for you triviots). The only documented exception were a few of the first 100-Sixes assembled at Abingdon during the transition from Longbridge to Abingdon), which were painted the darker
Morris green.

The Hirsch engine green is actually one of their aviation paints, and is supposed to stay on at high heat; the Moss rattle-can version won't take as much heat. Nevertheless, the best bet for the manifolds is to paint them with a
manifold paint (and silver or light gray is a good choice) that will bake on, and then overpaint them with the Healey engine green (Hirsch paint works very well for this application because it's thick, and goes on easily with a brush without showing brush strokes.
Over time, my manifolds have gradually burned in and are now an interesting gold-green color.

Happy New Year
gary
 
I Know John, but it still won't work over the long haul too much heat.---Keoke
 
I know that it is not "concours" correct, but I've had "black metallic" stove paint on my headers for a couple of years. Hasn't changed colors or flaked off yet. Sure better than rusty metal.
D
 
When I restored my (pardon the cross-polination here) MGB, I had the local powder coater put a charcoal black ceramic coating on the cast iron exhaust manifold. Three years later it looks great. Certainly it wasn't common at the time, but neither were stainless steel exhaust pipes. But all that gets us is into the originality/practicality thing. For this, I'll sacrifice originality.
 
Cutlass, you have one coooooool exhaust manifold. We do that to the Jaguars---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yeah Dave,do not know what they put in that paint but it stands up to the heat.I bought some stuff from Eastwood Guranteed to last for life I didn't get out of town before it burned off.--- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I'm new to the whole detailing thing so I have a few questions that may or may not have been answered. The most I usually do is a good wash with a hand wax.

1: What kind of "start-up" cost can I expect to see from getting myself set up to detail my car? I'm talking about ground-up costs, save for lighting and such, for everything I would need. I don't want to just buy the cheap wallyworld crap either. I'll order from Autogeek or other sites if I need to.

2: In the mean-time, what would I have to spend to get a detailing job equivalent to some of the beautiful work people on here get done?

3: What's the best way to learn how to do the job right and not completely?

Right now I'm deployed and my poor car is sitting in a storage parking lot. When I get back I know it'll need a lot of TLC. I want to do it on my own because I enjoy the little details and all and I want to make sure I do it right. Any help you guys throw at me I'm going to listen to.

Thanks!
 
I'm not a pro, but I had the same questions and have attempted to educate myself. Autogeek is a good start; they have a flow chart here: https://www.autogeek.net/detailingtips.html

I've actually had decent luck with Harbor Freight polishers. Be sure to get one with 'infinitely' adjustable speeds; I don't see the use for digital or LCD RPM readouts, though I suppose if you have favorite speeds for different tasks it would help to set the same speed exactly every time. Don't cheap out on buffing pads and backing pads. Get the type of backing pad that has foam pads that curl up around the edge of the pad (Autogeek sells them, don't recall the brand off the top-of-my-head). The flat pads have a sharp edge and you're almost guaranteed to grind your paint sooner or later (ask me how I know). IIRC, wool and yellow pads cut the most, white is softer and black pads are for applying wax. Meguiar's has a numbered polishing system which is pretty helpful.

Note there is some of confusion--I'm not sure it's unintentional--as to the difference between polisher/buffers, orbital buffers and DA buffers. Some orbitals are advertised as DA; technically, a DA can be rigged to do circular or orbital motion. For serious detailing you want a polisher/buffer.

Plan to spend from $200 and up, depending on how many pads, compounds, etc. you buy. If your paint is really rough, you could start with very fine--2000 grit or finer--sandpaper then go to pads and compounds.

There was a similar thread on this forum a couple years ago; unfortunately it was probably lost when the forum moved to a new platform. One guy, who I don't think ever posted much if ever before or again, wrote a dissertation that was obviously informed and amusing (he compared buffers, etc. to excavating equipment like caterpillar tractors, bobcats, etc.).

Read all you can, watch the videos and practice on your wife's BMW before you touch your Healey.
 
I've been using a DA from Meguires for about 3 years. I use to use a regular polisher or polish by hand. Besides being faster, the DA does an amazing job. I have a BLACK 2011 Audi and I get no swirls or burning and the shine is deep and beautiful. The best way to detail a car is wash with proper soap/cleaner (I use Meguires, only a cap full per 2 gallons) then use a clay bar with liquid spray detailer. Then comes the liquid polish on the yellow foam pad on the DA. Wipe with micro fiber towel. Next re-polish with the black foam pad and wipe with micro fiber towel. Use lots of towels and when you wash them, do NOT use fabric softener in the dryer. Also it helps to remove the label from the towel before you use it.
 
You didn't say, but are you going to replace the texas coolers with the original fan? If not, it won't matter which shade of paint because they aren't original.
 
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