Do you have an original unrestored dodge motor?

[Guest Randy7]

I am trying to figure out what color the oil filler tube was on early engines (1919). The operators manual and the mechanics instruction book shows the side of the engine. Even in black and white photos, the vacuum tank, starter generator, and steering box are clearly black. The oil filler tube is lighter colored. The one on my car is painted white and seems to not have any other color under that paint. Could they have been originally painted the engine green color, or left natural steel? I know most get painted black but I don't think that is correct.

[Guest John1918]

It would make sense it it was galvanised or zinc plated. I seem to remember unpainted filler tubes. Colour for dodge engines of that era was an olive colour

[Guest Randy7]

It would make sense it it was galvanised or zinc plated. I seem to remember unpainted filler tubes. Colour for dodge engines of that era was an olive colour

Yes that's what I am inclined to think. Mine is painted white as was the whole engine wrong of course. The engine had green under the white paint and the filler tube had none. It is galvanized color under the incorrect white paint. Thanks for the reply. Any other ideas anyone?

[Pete K.]

I checked my '25 oil filler tube assembly, knowing the old black repaint job was all scratched and base color shows it was olive green, but it is darker green than the strange yellowish-grey/green of the engine which appears to be original.

[Guest Randy7]

I checked my '25 oil filler tube assembly, knowing the old black repaint job was all scratched and base color shows it was olive green, but it is darker green than the strange yellowish-grey/green of the engine which appears to be original.

Well that's really interesting, do you suppose it was originally plain steel color and got painted the darker green sometime or would the darker green be original? I have never seen or heard that color on one before.

Also I was looking at the book and the cast iron intake neck that the carburator bolts to looks like it is not black either. Everyone paints them black but it seems to be lighter in the pictures. It could be natural iron or engine green? Do you have any thoughts about that piece from your engine? Thanks for the reply that's a neat twist to the puzzle.

[Pete K.]

Randy, I'll have to check into that dark green on my oil filler further for us both to figure this out. I'll try to post a picture later today. The carb neck is supposed to be engine color. Mine is painted black, (my own doing), as I needed the carb back on engine to get it running after I rebuilt it and had none of the odd-ball engine paint at the time. I have seen a few original carbs of that era and they were engine color.

[Pete K.]

Well, here's some photo's of this old engine's oil filler pipe. It's kinda hard to see, but the underlaying green paint under the black has been scratched off near the base and shows sorta like a galvanized finish? I would have to guess to say that this part was painted SOME kind of color. I snapped a shot of the front end of engine to show the light yellow/ green, but the photo came out way too light. This was covered with an inch of grease and grime. "many years" of crud. When I scraped and wiped down my engine splash aprons, there was rust and a trace of black paint here and there, but the finish is definitely Galvanized on the steel aprons.

[Guest Randy7]

Thank you for the pictures, I further investigated my filler tube and it is galvanized metal and it only has one coat of paint on it which is white. Some one painted the engine white long ago so I am pretty sure that is where that came from. So with the information at hand so far I am leaning toward it being galvanized out of the factory. Although your green adds doubt. Thanks for telling me about the carb neck. I have a spray can of engine paint from Meyers Early Dodge and I will change that.