Morris Minor Owners Club

ello muckers, had a spot of bother finding red oxide paint, but found this ,all sorts of goodies to help keep your moggy rust free, under" "coatings for metal", prices seem ok too, im gonna try some soon,steve http://www.nwepaints.co.uk/acatalog/CoatingsMetal.html

This is the one I'd go for :-

3.5Ltr Type 178 Zinc Rich
Zinc rich metal primer

Surface dry - 30 mins
Hard dry - 2 hours

Nom DFT - 25-80


Price: £46.79(Excluding: VAT at 17.5%)


Trouble is the good zinc rich primers- which are up to 90% zinc dont have a long shelf life. I'm not sure I'd use 3 1/2 l of zinc primer in the year it lasts, unless I coated the whole underside of two cars!

well it could be shared with other moggie owners

just what i was thinking AU ,john ,do u want to split this one between us?£ 19 each http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/s/SIRZINS/

Trouble is the good zinc rich primers- which are up to 90% zinc dont have a long shelf life.

Another trouble with 'good' zinc rich primers is that they don't stick well - many require the surface to be gritblasted before they stick properly (gritblasting giving a surface finish looking similar to sandpaper!). I've seen that stuff used on turned parts and the paint came off in tubes after 18 months as the rust had just spread under the paint

It would be worth to check what keying is neccessary before buying expensive zinc rich primers.

SR wrote:just what i was thinking AU ,john ,do u want to split this one between us?£ 19 each http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/s/SIRZINS/

I guess we could do that. I still have a litre on Unidox that I bought from Grumpys a few months ago, but as I have two cars to do, I may very well need more than the 1 L. and others in the EKMM could use the rest up.

As for the chaps comment above, yes it does need a key- 80 grit does the job. As an experiment, i painted the front rhs wishbone in Unidox 7 years ago (90% zinc), one coat, no other protection and only a small chip and the edges has started to come loose, and this is after 7 years including 6 years daily winter use. I reckon with hammerite to seal it and waxoyle on top it should be fine.

The zinc rich primers are certainly much better than hammerite alone or those rust converters that turn black. BTW, I use a wire brush on the grinder so the surface certainly has a key! Practical classics gave it 5/5, as it was the only antirust primer that actually works.

And as for a rough key needed- you obviously havent seen my welding! or grinder preparation!! plenty of key there

yes it does need a key- 80 grit does the job.

I was just worried in case this one was similar to the one I saw used - if 80 grit is good enough then the paint is probably a lot more user friendly than this 'offshore oil platform spec' stuff which gave no protection at all due to falling off in sheets

I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no perfect rust treatment/ prevention. So I'm going for the belt and braces approach- zinc primer, then hammerite, then waxoyl! (waxoyl applied once per year in the summer). I wouldn't just use Zinc primer as the only protection- as its probably (like most primers) partly porous- maybe why it rusted and lifted. Hence the hammerite and waxoyl on top. When my traveller is finished, I'm going to waxoyle over the hammerite, and after five years of waxoyling, strip off the underside and do any touch ups.

I think me and SR are going halves on spray can zinc, as the spray zinc primer (like weld thru primer) seems to stick quite well.

Eat That, rust!!

BTW, like me, SR is in the thick of it with a restoration-(1950's 2 door saloon) and he's doing a damn good job of it too! I was over at his garage on Friday and much swapping of hints tips and ideas went on!