The warmer weather has just started to arrive and I am in the midst of power washing my chassis etc.
My power washer is blowing the grease - and in many cases - black paint off of the springs axles and frame.
Underneath there is orange paint everywhere. Wondering if it is the primer, a project by a previous owner who owned an orange paint factory, or if this is an odd scenario on mine.
Any thoughts?
Probably just a case of someone tarting up a Land Rover in the past and they thought orange would look " cool "
Thankfully fashions come and go :cheers
Either the PO owned an orange paint factory or crashed into one, but it's not original.
My old 1961 Rover P4 was painted all over the chassis parts with a similar colour paint & it had lasted well as an extra layer . Underneath was the original chassis black. I think the orange was a common chassis paint at the time . Yours is showing the orange paint on the bolts and dampers , which was not a production process , therefore an after sales process by a previous owner .
Back in the day when we were allowed "dangerous" substances one thing not mentioned in our recent topic was Red Lead paint. It was often used as a primer for steel things, such as the Forth Railway bridge.
Red Lead is a darker and duller colour than that seen in these pics.
Looks to me like someone got a few tins of orange paint "free" from work ???
It also looks like it's been applied over unprepared parts as it seems to have been chipped away in patches.
:RHD
When I bought my 11a in early 1990 all the chassis was painted in bright orange, the PO said it was a lead based marine paint, it was in a coastal area.
Over the years it has gone to black paint/black waxoil
Or minium maybe? A PO trying to protect metal parts from rusting?
Richard
The Coolnvintage company built a defender with this chassis.
I quite like it. Would be a conversation starter and maybe even be a theft deterrent as it's pretty identifiable!
A local machinery dealer supplied a number of items in a muddy brown colour. It was reported to be anti-fouling paint. Must have been good stuff, we never had barnacles on our bale sledge.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
Way back when Red Lead was 'banned' we had a new primer for our steel products which was bright orange as per the OP's chassis so I would suggest it's good to last this long.
Dave.
Ah, back in the day that sort of thing was de riguer.
Halycon days when favourite boy-racer colour was grey or red primer, and as LRs dropped down the food-chain all sorts of abortions were a norm. See this on eBay. The herd-choice from the era can be seen with cover-pix for late 90s editions of LRO. It's still happening, the current trend is 'drug-dealer' black, and from the same demographic.
At root has anything changed? Nope.
Was it JLR who predicted "The Futures Bright, The Futures Orange"? ;)
https://www.traditionalboatsupplies.com/index.php?id_category=33&controller=category&id_lang=2
Lead-based paints, fillers etc are still available from marine chandlers, and also I think for use on listed buildings. "Red" lead is not really red, but a kind of reddy orange. Various other lead products, chromates, oxides etc ranged in colour from white, yellows, oranges, almost to red.
That's not to say that the chassis in question isn't just a one-time fashion accessory in ordinary Dulux.
Quote from: Beowulf on Apr 10, 2024, 07:24 AMWas it JLR who predicted "The Futures Bright, The Futures Orange"? ;)
Or JFK in 1962...
Richard
It could well be red lead primer. I don't remember it being quite so dayglow but I'd still be very wary of ingesting any that comes loose.
I used to paint everything with zinc chromate primer. Excellent stuff when it was still available, but the colour was more yellow than orange.
We still had lead loading for joints and contours in steel car bodies when I started work (1964) and the people working using lead were issued with milk allowance as part of the mitigation measures as it is believed the calcium inhibits lead absorption . I gather the efficacy has been somewhat questioned now.
Back in the early 1970's we painted a Lambretta TV 175 with Anti foul paint as used on the oil rigs "acquired" 5 gallons by my friends dad, who was a rigger on the rigs in the North sea at the time. Bright orange and flowed out as if it had been sprayed.
When I bought my S2a the previous owner said it had been "Ziebarted " I remember that was the thing to do back in the day , my uncle had his cavalier done with it. My chassis is covered in that orange stuff so I wonder if that's the Ziebart ?
Ziebart was black. My MGB GT was done before I bought it.
"Ziebart" was a bespoke underseal treatment carried out by one of a chain of places that applied the treatment. I'm not sure that the substance was sold direct to the public.
They had your car for a day to apply it. It was a "thing"m in the '70s.
It was black.
I had a new car so treated, but unfortunately the car was wiped out in an accident and I never got to test how good at keeping then rust at bay it was :'(
I wasn't over impressed with it. My MGB was second hand and I noticed rust patches appeared although a good few years later. I think it had to be inspected annually to keep the guarantee. It just delayed the onslaught of rust.
Whatever it is, it's on there solid, which is surprising considering how difficult it must be to keep any kind of chassis paint sticking to a Land Rover chassis at the best of times.
I've found the secret to getting paint to stick forever is not caring.
you try your hardest and clean everything and the paint will last a few years.
meanwhile you use a sweeping brush to put any old crap on over mud, grease and rust and it sticks forever and won't come off :cheers
So it looks like this orange stuff is some type of red lead then !
Well whatever it might be it's really solid and so is my chassis , it rings when you hit it. I know the rear crossmember isn't original because it doesn't have the hole for a PTO and the front dumb irons have been replaced at some time. Other than that I assume it's the original chassis