engine painting

[Durant Mike]

I've got some questions on painting an engine. What would be the proper way to paint one. Good epoxy primer then a good urethane paint? Do you have to use a paint specific for engines? What have most of you restorers use? I have to have a custom paint made for my engine as it is an off color used by Durant? Want to know what to have made up.

[Guest martylum]

Hi-I would use a bare metal coating of 1-2 medium coats of epoxy primer followed by 2 coats of catalyzed acrylic enamel in the custom color you will have mixed by your paint vendor. More paint thickness is NOT better on engines due to the expansion and contraction during operating cycles so minimize the thickness of each coat for maximum lasting.

Do have the block cooked or very thoroughly remove all old paint and grease for maximum adhesion of the paint. I usually treat the cleaned block with phosphoric acid for light rust removal and etching for greater adhesion.

Martin Lum

[Guest Albert]

My dad has a 27 Star and as far as we could tell the motor was just engine Black,,or at least thats what it got painted last winter after the rebuild..

[Durant Mike]

Albert

The correct color for a Durant Motor is a Gray/Green color that was used for almost all the Continental motors Durant had. This would also be correct for the later Star cars. Some of the earlier Star cars had a red motor. We think that was because it had a Continental Red Seal Motor. The Durant Motors Automobile site has the motor color posted on their technical section or their web site.

[wcd30]

Every 29 or 30 Durant engine I've had has been a medium gray color.

[Guest]

I've got some questions on painting an engine. What would be the proper way to paint one. Good epoxy primer then a good urethane paint? Do you have to use a paint specific for engines? What have most of you restorers use? I have to have a custom paint made for my engine as it is an off color used by Durant? Want to know what to have made up.

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Take a look at my engine. This is the original paint and is thirty five years old and the factory never used primer. It is getting thin & bare at the front of the valve cover, still though it's thirty five years old. Oh yes, I'm the original owner and the engine has never been apart.

http://www.pismoderelicts.com/photogallery/new%20format%20830/images/p1080789.jpg

[Rusty_OToole]

I saw some discussion of the correct color for Ford Model T engines. They came grey from the factory but what shade of grey? Opinions varied. Then someone pointed out that the factory painted engines, transmissions etc from a big vat of paint and any time they had some leftover paint from some other part of the assembly line, they dumped it in the engine vat. When you mix random colors you get grey. So, the color could vary from day to day.

Wonder if any other factories got rid of leftover paint this way?

[Restorer32]

I can verify that if you mix together a wide variety of paints you will get grey. We cleaned out our paint cabinet a while back and painted a good bit of our shelving with the resulting grey and I even won a lunch bet with my painters as to what color would result from the mixture.

[poci1957]

Wonder if any other factories got rid of leftover paint this way?

Hi Rusty, I read somewhere years ago that in the 1960s Ford did this and used it to paint the underside of Mustang bodies. Don't have a source or any proof, just something I heard. Todd