Series 3 Colour choice??

Hello everyone!
I'm about to embark on getting my series 3 v8 back together, after about a millenium of it bits!

Welding on the chassis is nearly done, but I cannot seem to make up my mind what colour to finish it in. As its all apart, now is the perfect time to get started, and I seem no closer to making a decision! As its stands its in horrible nato black and green, and I a bitch to get off even with an orbital sander!

A couple of questions,
1) what grit sandpaper would you recommend?
2) what colours do you guys recommend? I wasn't sure whether to go original colour scheme, or because of the retro fitted v8, go for something a bit more "out there", any thoughts very welcome!!!

I'm in the same position! I'm going with the marine (light) blue classic S3 colour, it's original colour but at some point it was painted over in green. Its the perfect opportunity to make it unique though, even if its slightly different colour to originals. Is it military? If it is I reckon it might look better with a similar color like a good green, I just love the blue (classic looking) ones!

I'm hoping for this in the future


Also love this


And that just looks awesome


A few ideas!

Might be worth giving Ken at http://www.carrestorationpaints.co.uk a call, I remember him saying he'd make up any paints, any color, specifically for any need, for a good price, and he sells the original paints I believe too, as well as everything else you'll ever need. Met him at the Landy shows really nice chap, he'll also help with any prep too, knows his stuff.

Until then as coarse as you need to prep the surface unless you want to go all the way back to metal which can take a while, if the paint is okay then you'll only need to sand it enough to get a good paint over the top, but I'll leave that to you to find out what you want from someone more knowledgeable than me!

Got any pics?!

Wow! Thanks for the great reply! I love the colour in the middle photo, almost looks like a teal colour!?

No pics atm (there's mot much to take pics of tbh!!), but as soon as there is I will add some!
The green seems to sand down fairly easily, but the black is a bugger and I will have to go coarser! I sanded down one wing and it seems yo of been nato blck/green, yellow, a land rover blue, and a bronze green!! Lol, lots of sanding to go yet, but its all good! thanks again!

Gottschalk said:

Wow! Thanks for the great reply! I love the colour in the middle photo, almost looks like a teal colour!?

No pics atm (there's mot much to take pics of tbh!!), but as soon as there is I will add some!
The green seems to sand down fairly easily, but the black is a bugger and I will have to go coarser! I sanded down one wing and it seems yo of been nato blck/green, yellow, a land rover blue, and a bronze green!! Lol, lots of sanding to go yet, but its all good! thanks again!

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Yeah I've always been a blue fan, but seeing pictures like the middle one is edging me over a bit, maybe because its just a little bit rarer...

Just go as a coarse as you can, say 60, to get the worst back quickly, as you can always just go over it again with finer and finer grits until its just right, you'll struggle to go wrong if you start really coarse long as you end fine

There's always something to snap


I spend a while staring at landys on Pinterest app, loads of photos of em looking their best, i think the middle one is off there, worth a look

Are you going all the way back to bare aluminium if so paint stripper might be better.
Will the black lift off with a light warming with a heat gun?

I fancy doing my s3 in navy blue when I eventually get round to doing mine

The marine blue isn't military just one of the standard colours . The middle colour looks like another standard colour called Limestone, I like both. Mine is currently Masai Red, a late S3 colour option. I hate it. Original colour is MB, also tempted by traditional Bronze Green. The MB get the thumbs up from the family so I'm under pressure!

RyanDay1 said:

There's always something to snap

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Here goes then bud!

My my favorite Series Land Rover colour is that sage green like Huey. Looks fab with either a beige tilt or a limestone hardtop. The last of the Heritage Defenders were done in a similar colour.

Blackburn said:

Are you going all the way back to bare aluminium if so paint stripper might be better.
Will the black lift off with a light warming with a heat gun?

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I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go all the way back to bare ally on everything, as it seems only the drab olive paint was put on with out a key, so comes of 'relatively' easily! I guess ill have to put a primer cos on of something that will stop the other colours leaching through?
I know it seems ridiculous to be thinking of paint when the vehicle is I such a pile of bits, but it seems the ideal time to.me to get it done and inspire me!!

Land Raver said:

My my favorite Series Land Rover colour is that sage green like Huey. Looks fab with either a beige tilt or a limestone hardtop. The last of the Heritage Defenders were done in a similar colour.

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Hi bud! Thanks for the input! I had veered away from that colour as it seems very popular at the moment (is this the 'heritage' green?), I do like bronze green as I have a feeling this is what mine was eions ago, but I do like that middle picture colour to! Keep them coming!!

Gottschalk said:

Here goes then bud! View attachment 113757 View attachment 113757 View attachment 113761 View attachment 113762

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Looking good! Looks like you've already pulled it back nicely in one of those, if the paint/primer sticks well, and its smooth, it doesn't matter, long as whatevers underneath stays put,
Sounds like a green of some form is for you, might've already mentioned that Ken does original paints, if you go for any original colours he might even have the real stuff from the factory, its at least half the cost too,
I know of "PaintMan" too but I haven't dealt with them personally
I fully stripped back one of my panels with a wire knot brush, but there wasnt really much point in the end should've just sanded it with an orbital etc.

Going through the paint in patches aint a good idea. Either all off or smooth whats there. Bare ally will need acid etching for the paint to take but etch primer may lift the original paint. If it needs a heavy sanding consider building up with a high build primer and taking back down a few times rather than risk bare patches.

Bobsticle said:

Going through the paint in patches aint a good idea. Either all off or smooth whats there. Bare ally will need acid etching for the paint to take but etch primer may lift the original paint. If it needs a heavy sanding consider building up with a high build primer and taking back down a few times rather than risk bare patches.

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Hello bud thanks for the input!
I'm not to fussed about a pristine finish, its a bit of a 'bitsa' anyway, and I'm just keen to get it all one colour!

I'm sanding off all the nato crap, and then just keying in to the older paint, and smoothing it off, if I need to get down to bare ally on some parts I will. I'll just put a few coats of primer over the whole lot, and then, when I've actually managed to work out the final colour, give it a good going over with!

John S said:

Mine is currently Masai Red, a late S3 colour option. I hate it. Original colour is MB, also tempted by traditional Bronze Green. The MB get the thumbs up from the family so I'm under pressure!

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Ignore John S! Masai red is a great colour, but I am quite biased. I repainted mine last year, and did the 110 this year in the same colour.



I definitely wouldn't take it back to bare metal if you can avoid it. I also wasn't bothered by a pristine finish and left all the dents in place. I just rubbed it down, gave it a full coat of etch primer and then two coats of top coat enamel, all applied with a roller. You have to be fairly close before you can see the roller finish and once it has faded in a bit and has some mud on it you cant tell. But that was the finish I wanted, I did not want to erase the history of the vehicle by going back to showroom condition like the ones pictured at the top of the thread. So it depends on what you are looking for. The whole thing for me took about a week, and the included stripping it down to individual panels (wings, rad panel, etc) painting and replacing them. If yours is currently still in pieces now is definitely the time to paint it although you will then be very precious of it and kick yourself every time you leave spanner on the wing top and scratch it.

dag019 said:

Ignore John S! Masai red is a great colour, but I am quite biased. I repainted mine last year, and did the 110 this year in the same colour.

View attachment 114056

I definitely wouldn't take it back to bare metal if you can avoid it. I also wasn't bothered by a pristine finish and left all the dents in place. I just rubbed it down, gave it a full coat of etch primer and then two coats of top coat enamel, all applied with a roller. You have to be fairly close before you can see the roller finish and once it has faded in a bit and has some mud on it you cant tell. But that was the finish I wanted, I did not want to erase the history of the vehicle by going back to showroom condition like the ones pictured at the top of the thread. So it depends on what you are looking for. The whole thing for me took about a week, and the included stripping it down to individual panels (wings, rad panel, etc) painting and replacing them. If yours is currently still in pieces now is definitely the time to paint it although you will then be very precious of it and kick yourself every time you leave spanner on the wing top and scratch it.

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Hell of a photo, might have to save that for a wallpaper!

@dag019 great post mate, and fantastic pic! Not taken in the Uk I presume?
That's the kind of finish I'm looking for, it's for a fun second vehicle. Ok I take on board about not going down to bare metal, I do have a compressor so I will probably have a go with a spray gun, but I'd be equally be as happy to roller it!

Do you think one coat of etch primer will be enough? Cheers

For me, something original or classic and not something over the top.
Bronze green or marine blue would be my choices, possibly the original sage green as mentioned above.

P.s, yes only one coat of etch primer needed, it only needs a light dusting.
Too much too fast over old paint can cause issues and peel/wrinkle the edges up.

Gottschalk said:

@dag019 great post mate, and fantastic pic! Not taken in the Uk I presume?
s

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Was taken in the Picos De Europa in northern Spain this summer, 30 degree sunshine with snow on the top of the mountains. I would recommend to anyone to go there, especially in an old land rover.

Gottschalk said:

Do you think one coat of etch primer will be enough? Cheers

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Definitely only needs one coat of etch primer. The one I used only took about an hour to dry (water based) so made for a very quick base coat before moving onto the enamel. The only thing that will need different treatment will be the bulkhead as that is steel. But if you have everything apart I would send it off to be galvanised, and just paint it with t-wash before an etch prime and paint.
It should only take a week at the galvanisers if you go direct to them rather than through a finishing company and they charge by weight so wouldn't cost too much. My local hot dip place in Birmingham charges £750 per ton which makes a bulkhead very cheap.