Suspension Parts Colors and Paint Recommendation

[bob walker]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum. I have a '59 3000 totally apart in my garage (all that can be done know is grind off welds), and I am slowly doing the rust repair and bodywork prior to the mechanical rebuild and painting.

In anticipation of being ready to put things back together, does anyone have photos of the underside of the car, detailing the rear end and suspension so I know what color to paint what, and verify how the lines route? And can anyone recommend a source of those paints with appropriate paint codes and sources.

I did annotate with pictures and drawing what was where, but my poor little car was a junk yard special (no seats, half the trim gone, no bumpers, etc), and I have removed all the old bondo so I can repair the body correctly.

Does the concours guide cover this in enought detail, and describe what was hand painted and what was sprayed?

Then it's on to the Norton...

Many thanks in advance-

Bob Walker

 

[John Loftus]

Hi Bob,

Welcome to the forum!

The concours guidelines is one of the best sources for detailed information such as 'brush stroke vs. spray' and suspension color differences, etc. between the different models. The Moment/Anderson book (Austin-Healey 100/100-6/3000 Restoration Guide is another great source along with The Mechanical Service Parts List that has exploded views and hardware info for the entire car.

Another possibility is to check with British Car Specialists. They have picture sets for sale which show frame up restorations. For the BT7 they have a 140 picture set for $84. www.britishcarspecialists.com

Btw, most of the suspension and rear end parts are spray painted black. I plan to media blast or chemical strip down to the bare metal, prep and use a high gloss black polyurethane paint which is extremely durable. For the parts that should be bare aluminum like the front shock bodies and idler I will media blast and use a matte clear coat to protect.

Brush painting was done on only a few areas of the car. Off hand, I can only think of the black X cross bar behind the grille and the red fan blade guard on the radiator. Can anyone think of other brushpaint areas?

Cheers,
John

 

[richard s]

john: the vertical strip where the rear shroud is rivited below the gas tank is hand painted black; cited in the Momment book

 

[bob walker]

John and Richard,

Thanks for the quick reply, some comments:

I have the books cited, and they are good, just looking for more, I think the Moment book is in B&W so not so easy to see. I tend to be a visual learner, pictures are more helpful than description.

Also, I use under the impression that most of the frame underside was brush painted. When I had my little car sandblasted, they did a poor job underneath, so it is mostly just cleaned up from road grime. It looks like the underside of the trunk floor, and the underside area where the rear axle fits is all brush painted (the rest is lost to the sand blasting). Doubt I'll go to that extreme, but I am curious as to what the little car looked like originally.

Bob Walker

 

[richard s]

i believe the frame and panels were spray painted the same color by Jensen.

 

[richard s]

an idea: see if you can find through the local AH club one that was restored as original; use the Moment book to double check the accuracy of any benchmark Healey. I thought mine was unrestored and 100% original but odds and ends keep turning up to be a shade off.

 

[John Loftus]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by bob walker:

It looks like the underside of the trunk floor, and the underside area where the rear axle fits is all brush painted <hr></blockquote>

Hi Bob,

My BJ7 also had heavy brushmarked surfaces in the rear end tunnel walls and underneath the trunk floor. Since the car had been painted many time (but never fully disassembled) I wasn't sure if it was original. I just checked in the Concours Guidelines and found the following:

"Frames, floors, and sills were painted body color with a smooth glossy finish. Many seams were caulked to seal gaps prior to painting, inside and out. Some Mark IIs and BJ8s had a brushed-on sealant applied to the underside of the floors before paint application. The brush marks are easily felt and visible."

I also found the reference to the black brush painting of the rear shroud bottom lip. It was done on Late BN1's onwards, for cars finished in lighter colors, particularly Healey Blue, Florida Green, Carmine Red and Ivory-White.

I am disappointed with the quality of many photographs in the Moment/Anderson Book. It would have been better to have a larger format, color pictures, etc. but I hear the publisher nixed that idea to keep the costs lower.

I'm a visual person too but still find the Concours Guidelines to be very easy to use. The descriptions are generally very precise.

Cheers,
John