1914 Cadillac Engine Color?

[TG57Roadmaster]

Below is a 1912 Cadillac Motor, and I have a two-part question. Is this crankcase the correct "color,"

and what is the color of a 1914 Cadillac crankcase? I know there were major changes between the

two years (main bearings moved to upper half of crankcase, and motor mounting points moved),

but need to verify the '14 crankcase color.

Larger

Thanks,

TG

[nzcarnerd]

I don't know if they were ever painted. Would they both just be finished in the natural cast aluminium? Most cars of that era were.

[JV Puleo]

I asked a similar question regarding the aluminum crankcase of my 1910 Mitchell. I presumed it had just been left unfinished but it turns out that many untampered with brass cars show remnants of aluminum paint on the aluminum. When I went back and examined my crankcase in better light... the back end, where it was largely inaccessible, shows not only paint, but runs in the paint. Presumably the aluminum was painted because it oxidized very quickly and any paint other than aluminum paint would not adhere well.

[Ivan Saxton]

The crankcase of my 1913 Cadillac engine, which we picked up in the early 1960s was painted with an aluminium paint. This is the same as originally on the aluminium crankcases of my Napier, Sunbeam, Tipo Zero FIAT, early Lancia, and a 1913 Benz I once had. If you clean carefully on aluminium crankcases of a lot of

cars of the 1920s that have not previously been owned by enthusiasts, you can often find traces of the same paint. This includes Cadillac, Packard, 4 cylinder T-head Stutz, Rochester Duesenberg, and the Rochester Trego 6 cylinder ohv engines of the last Mercers. Gearbox casings were often also similarly painted, and inside the oil- bath clutch housing of my 4 cylinder Napier, formed where engine and gearbox bolt together. I would conclude that the purpose was to seal porosity of these castings, and also to enable external appearance to be kept clean and attractive. The paint I found which matches the appearance was sold only in spray cans as "Bright Silver", by a maker and supplier of high quality paints in Adelaide, South Australia, called PROTEC. They have a web site.

I was told that this product was sourced from USA but it carried Protec label.

Unfortunately, the last cans I had of this came from a stock in their Ballarat, Victoria warehouse that had been there since Noah grounded the Arc, and no amount of shaking could make the material spray without continuously blocking the jet.

If someone can locate a supply of this product in USA (that is not beyond shelf life) I would be grateful for the information.

For interest of those who may be interested but are not aware, crankcases of 4 cylinder Cadillacs were cast iron. ( I have seen Packard cast iron gearboxes of the 1920's painted thus to look like aluminium too.)

Earlier Cadillac fours had the crankshaft main bearings in the cast iron sump; but 1913&1914 had the mainbearings in the crankcase, and used an aluminium sump.

(I have no knowledge of the paint colour on sump and crank case of 1912 and earlier Cadillac engines.)

[TG57Roadmaster]

Thanks all for your prompt responses, it's much more than I could have hoped for.

Some friends in Atlanta with an all-original '14 Cadillac needed to verify

their engine's lower "finish," and this info will help them greatly.

I knew this section of the Forum would be where the answers were,

and have suggested they join up to learn and share.

Thanks again!

TG