Morris Minor Owners Club

I am rebuilding our 1956 4 door. I prefer not to call it a restoration as there is no rust in the body at all and mechanically it's in pretty good order. I am having the shell and panels soda blasted. What do readers recommend for the underbody? I am not going to concours lengths so not interested in a glossy paint job. It now has some sort of dark coating, not very thick, which has done a good job (albeit car mainly lived - and used daily - in dry country Australia conditions after a restoration by previous owner in 1986 and laid up in a garage here in Melbourne for the past 20 years - an easy life).

Thanks...Peter

PS an afterthought. I restored a 1960 Traveller in 1988/89 while living in Broken Hill. Sold it in Melbourne in 1994 to the late Peter Wherrett who later sold it to a young female vet. Was painted Arctic White, red interior with Vineland and Silver City rally badges on the firewall. Has any Australian reader come across this car by any chance??

I've just finished a 1964 MG Midget, I used synthetic chassis paint from a uk supplier, its nearly the same colour as the tartan red top coats, dries very quickly, but it will wrinkle any oil based undercoat paint..

I use commercial chassis black, the company's called manor that I use. £36 for 5l. Its lasting well on my land rover over the last 6 years. I use a red oxide type primer tho zinc primers are probably better. Dont know if you can get the manor paint in Australia but any chassis black should be good. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331380120050? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Thanks for this advice.

Regards...Peter

Note that the chassis black paint is not fuel resistant!

I do underbody corrosion protection as part of my business, but the climate in the UK is very different and so I don't think it is really applicable to your traveller. Corrosion prevention products and methods are also very different for old and new metal.

I believe the key in your case is in the metal preparation and subsequent paint adhesion. It is critical that the surface is coated as soon as possible after blasting, ideally with an epoxy etch primer. After that you can use whatever paint system you like, again applied soon after the primer to prevent oxidisation as primers are slightly porous. This is however going to be less critical too in a dry climate. Careful seam sealing is also very important so there are no possible moisture traps.

I would also recommend a wax based product injected into all box sections and painted on behind all panels.