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MG MGA - Frame color

What gloss should the frame and related black parts be painted on a coupe, guess it would be the same for the roadster, but u never know...I have learned a lot on this site..can't assume anything....thanks,
Mike

Mike, the photos in my Clausager show that both the coupe and roadster frames are the same black color. Looks to be a gloss finish, certainly not matte or flat.
Bill Young

Original frame color for the MGA was "Chassis Black". A reasonable match is "Satin Black" (with a short "a") which is closer to flat than gloss. Semi-gloss looks nice, but not original.

Gloss Black is very commonly used foe restorations. To me it looks as badly out of place as lots of chrome on the engine, but for most car shows it seems to gain grace with the public, and concours judges are not likely to deduct points. It's one of those "detail" things like painting the exhaust manifold and polishing the copper heater return pipe. Some things seem to demand to be "better than original" to be acceptable in a car show.

I personally have no objection to any shade of black you like. There are enough of these cars around to allow anyone to "modify" them for personal taste and still preserve a few in original condition for museum purpose. Of course when I see one with the frame painted pink or white to show off the underware I may have some concerns about the owner.
Barney Gaylord

I agree with Barney. We usually have chassis parts powdercoated at a 60% gloss and the powdercoater calls it satin black.

If you go very glossy with your chassis parts, you'll find that the gloss makes every pit and nick stick out like a sore thumb. The sagin black is a nice compromise and hides imperfections pretty well.

--Carl
Carl Heideman

Rather than powdercoating, I used a product called Zero Rust. It's an alkyd enamel specifically for such applications. I sand blasted the frame and treated the freshly blasted metal with Picklex 20, a primo phosphoric acid treatment that will in and of itself prevent rust in an indoor environment. I'm delighted with the results and have a finish that may be touched up with a minimum of effort. All of the normally satin black elements were done this way. If I needed gloss, I simply overcoated the Zero Rust with gloss Rustoleum.

I chose these materials based on the archival information found at the autobodystore.com forum, archive and salt exposure test results.

The only downside I'm aware of is the Zero Rust fades under direct sunlight.
Regards,
Doug
D Sjostrom

This thread was discussed between 05/04/2006 and 06/04/2006

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