Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

I'm cleaning up my DS brake drum and have got some high-spec black VHT coating to put on it - not so much for originality but more for whatever small increase it will give in the rate of heat dissipation.

Can anyone tell me which faces of the drum can be painted?

(Obviously not any part of the inside, I'm guessing )

Here's a pic:



D and F are the top and bottom faces, respectively, of the lip around the top of the drum. H is the outer face of the drum, where the screws hold it on and the hub studs come through.

Cheers for all advice,

wibble

Theoretically a-z as long as none of them are the actual braking faces.

I tried a VHT a few years ago just on the Rad but it didn't last too long (mind you I'm a tight wad so didn't pay decent money for it )

Thanks paul

paulk wrote: I'm a tight wad so didn't pay decent money for it

Nor did i! this stuff says it is good for up to 700 degrees C though. (bizarrely, the stuff Frost sells for brake drums is only good up to 150 C. Huh?? )

S'not Halfrauds was it? Mine was and it was Pants.

Big pants.

paulk wrote:I tried a VHT a few years ago just on the Rad but it didn't last too long (mind you I'm a tight wad so didn't pay decent money for it )

If it's the same stuff I've used, you have to heat it to a very high temperature to cure it otherwise it'll practically rub off, and I'm not sure you'll be able to get a radiator that hot without running the risk of melting the solder. Ordinary matt black paint should be good enough for a radiator because they don't get much above 100C in use.

I recently did my Riley 1.5 drums with a cheap spray can of "barbecue paint" from Wilkinsons, then cured them with a big propane blowtorch.

I agree you should be able to paint everywhere except where the shoes rub against them, but it's only really worth painting the outside.

Hi Wib!

Yes, I'd say a->h was fine but I have only ever painted drums with hammerite before and it seemed to work ok but I'm not heavy on the brakes!

Probably best to use high temp stuff though.

cheers guys

the stuff i've got is Sperex VHT - made by Simoniz

Cheap n cheerful i suspect

and yeah you have to cure this VHT stuff - painted my manifold with some very spec stuff a while ago but still have to cure it, my oven doesn't go up that high it's waiting in a box for me to have a bright idea

With an exhaust manifold, just try not to scratch the uncured paint off when you first fit it, and the heat of the exhaust gases should cure it for you. If it's the combined type and you've painted the inlet half too then I suppose you'll have to use a big blowtorch or stick it on a barbecue or something.

wibble_puppy wrote:yeah you have to cure this VHT stuff ...snip... it's waiting in a box for me to have a bright idea

Know any potters ro someone that works in a Techinical college? Kiln it ;)

I'm thinking brake caliper paint may be useful. What ever you do don't paint face 'E' !

Probably me being dense but what does DS stand for.

Les, why not paint face E ?

Cam, Nice to see you are still with us. You must be getting on top of job now. if you now have time to post on here.

Can't answer the first point, the second is me being silly, thought it was quite quaint indicating with arrows all the outside!

Hello Cam, so you've finally removed your finger from that dashboard
hole!!

wanderinstar wrote:Probably me being dense but what does DS stand for.

Driver's side. Never can remember which is the offside and which the nearside. It's like port and starboard - just can't get the hang of it

Cheers les - "quaint" is one way to describe it

Lee - yeah that's the kind of thing I'm thinking of. It needs qute specific curing though - some time at one temperature, followed by another time at a different temperature, and then a final, long blast at a very high temperature. I can do the first two but not the final one. Will be pondering this - but there's no urgency

Near side = nearest to the pavement Trite, but it works - in GB, anyway...

bigginger wrote:in GB, anyway...

It works in any country, silly. The nearside is the nearest to the side of the road, no matter which side of the road you drive on.

So in general: the driver always sits on the offside.

Goodness, you're so right to call me silly. Thank you, as ever, for your valuable insight.

JimK wrote:

bigginger wrote:in GB, anyway...

It works in any country, silly. The nearside is the nearest to the side of the road, no matter which side of the road you drive on.

So in general: the driver always sits on the offside.

So..... ignoring the fact that I had thought it was the other way round - how can it be sensible to describe parts of a vehicle as near side and off side, if they will be different sides in different countries?

I strongly suspect that people who have to worry about that will use the scientific terminology "left" and "right"

JimK wrote:I strongly suspect that people who have to worry about that will use the scientific terminology "left" and "right"

... which is different depending on whether you're sat in the driver's seat or looking at the front of the vehicle. Perhaps we should use port and starboard instead