'41 engine compartment details

[valk 161]

Does anybody know of a good source for '41 engine compartment details? The carb bases, for instance, are painted black in some pics and left unpainted in others.  

Thanks,

Peter

[carbking 1,130]

Carter carburetor bodies were painted black. Stromberg throttle bodies were Parkerized.

 

Jon.

[Roadmaster71 61]

If you need additional details I recommend the book Restoration Facts, 1941 Buick by Anderson.

Here is a link to the author's website: https://www.andersonautomotiveenterprises.com/publications/booksandcds.htm

 

Anybody who owns a 1941 Buick should have this book.

[valk 161]

Thank you!

[valk 161]

Been cleaning stuff up a bit under the hood - horns are next. 

[Lawrence Helfand 153]

Buick painted the motor compleatly assembled with masks on carbs etc and fuel lines were also painted red when everything was spray painted

[kgreen 1,729]

Does the underside of your hood have an insulation blanket?

[Matt Harwood 10,086]

I don't believe the '41s used insulation under the hood. It was just painted satin black.

[valk 161]

Yea, it has insullation on the underside of the hood, maybe to minimize engine noise. My concern is that it may cause overheating so I'll keep an eye on it.  So the fuel lines are red?? Don't think I've ever seen that.  Here are a couple more pics, comments more than welcome.

[valk 161]

That bent fuel line is driving me nuts - got to fix that....

[Lawrence Helfand 153]

45 minutes ago, valk said:

Yea, it has insullation on the underside of the hood, maybe to minimize engine noise. My concern is that it may cause overheating so I'll keep an eye on it.  So the fuel lines are red?? Don't think I've ever seen that.  Here are a couple more pics, comments more than welcome.

My unrestored 41 Century still has its red paint on the fuel and vacuum lines on the right side and its mostly gone on the left side. 

[valk 161]

Good to know. All the restored cars I've seen don't have painted fuel lines so I guess leaving them unpainted is acceptable. 

[Matt Harwood 10,086]

They should be natural. I'm not sure how they would have been red at the factory since lines, accessories, fuel pump, carburetors, etc. were installed after the engine was painted. Is it possible that your car, Larry, had its engine touched up at some point? Painted fuel lines don't make sense just from a production standpoint. The little vacuum and oil lines, possibly, especially the one that feeds the rockers in the head, but I can't imagine that they'd leave fuel lines hanging on the engine during paint.

[neil morse 1,352]

11 hours ago, valk said:

Here are a couple more pics, comments more than welcome.

 

My only comment is that you should definitely consider getting a spark plug cover.  It really cleans up the look of the engine.

 

[Guest]

Yes and of course you will also need the two "S" shaped sheet metal pieces that go on the stud B4 putting on the spark plug cover, cuz those are what helps secure the spark plug wires inplace inside the spark plug cover!

[Lawrence Helfand 153]

I do 

10 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

They should be natural. I'm not sure how they would have been red at the factory since lines, accessories, fuel pump, carburetors, etc. were installed after the engine was painted. Is it possible that your car, Larry, had its engine touched up at some point? Painted fuel lines don't make sense just from a production standpoint. The little vacuum and oil lines, possibly, especially the one that feeds the rockers in the head, but I can't imagine that they'd leave fuel lines hanging on the engine during paint.

I am positive my under 30K mile motor was never repainted having not been owned by a collector but by an elderly woman and had been in neglected but regular use until 1968 and then stored away for 45 years before I got it. It was caked in decades of dirt from unpaved oiled roads of the Northwest somewhat preserving the original paint.According to Anderson the motors were assembled  for testing and then painted with masking covers over exhaust manifold carbs fuel pump distributor etc. The lines on the right side of my motor are all painted all the way up and over the water pump after which they appear to go natural showing no previous paint. All the original un restored motors I have seen like the one in my Century parts car were exactly the same in this regard. Cant see Buick removing all the lines before painting so all fuel and vacuum lines close to the block got painted and those protruding from block to carbs and advance got masked and remained natural.

[valk 161]

 Thankfully, I have both the cover and the plug wire clip - I just like the look of all those plugs.  Not sure what to make of painted fuel lines, never seen any and I've been scouring pics on the internet.  And seems to be a lot of extra work covering manifolds, fuel pump, distributor, etc to paint the block. That said, this is not settled in my mind and worthy of future investigation. 

[Lawrence Helfand 153]

53 minutes ago, valk said:

 Thankfully, I have both the cover and the plug wire clip - I just like the look of all those plugs.  Not sure what to make of painted fuel lines, never seen any and I've been scouring pics on the internet.  And seems to be a lot of extra work covering manifolds, fuel pump, distributor, etc to paint the block. That said, this is not settled in my mind and worthy of future investigation. 

I suggest you get a copy of Restoration facts for 1941 Buick by William C Anderson and read page 37 . You will also find many of the answers regarding your questions about what is factory correct for your 41. 

[valk 161]

Thanks Larry, I intend to do just that. In the meantime, I'd like to see a pic of a restored or original '41 with painted fuel lines if you can find one. 

[Guest]

On 7/23/2019 at 12:49 PM, valk said:

Does anybody know of a good source for '41 engine compartment details? The carb bases, for instance, are painted black in some pics and left unpainted in others.  

Thanks,

Peter

Notice sign in front of 41 Century. It reads 4,600 actual miles!

Edited July 30, 2019 by Guest (see edit history)

[valk 161]

Well there you go - thanks Greg. Only engine with red lines I've ever seen. Maybe I can get Lawrence to tell me what else is on page 37!

Wonder why most restored engines don't paint there lines. I think leaving them natural looks better, but usually originality trumps aesthetics. 

Thanks all, mystery solved. 

Peter

[1940Super 81]

Here is a photo of an early 1941 engine restored by Bill Anderson. So they only painted the fuel lines on the red engines?

[valk 161]

Wow - lots of differences from my engine. And the top of the rear carb is painted black??  And what's that box next to the oil filter on the pushrod side cover?  

[Matt Harwood 10,086]

I don't know why the carb is painted. That seems odd. The box is the crankcase breather, which was superseded by the valve cover tube to the air cleaner (which was in turn superseded by a service bulletin instructing dealers to remove it).

 

I have to admit that I'm shocked by the sloppy work on the low-mileage car above and am a little skeptical of the mileage claims given the many obvious replacement parts on the engine and the curious way the lines themselves are painted (lines are painted but somehow fittings are not). I'm not saying painted lines are wrong, only that I think they look crummy and that those on the original car look especially crummy. That said, I understand that it's a production car and that hastily hand-bent lines were probably the norm (I recall several fellow members shiatting all over me for making nice, straight fuel lines with crisp bends on The Car Which Shall Not Be Named). I'm inclined to believe my friend Lawrence that they're painted because he knows these cars well, but I can't bring myself to look at painted lines as correct. It doesn't make sense from a production standpoint, never mind an aesthetics standpoint.

 

My suggestion is to do it the way you like. Doug Seybold's cars win every major award you can win and his lines are always bare. Anderson's cars are obviously the same. I don't chase trophies, but I will be entering my Century in judged competition when/if it is ever done and it will have bare lines simply because I like how they look. They'll also be bent with a tubing bender and be perfectly straight because that's how I like it. Right or wrong, sometimes I bend the rules in favor of personal tastes simply because the cognitive dissonance caused by crooked lines with flaking paint would be too much to bear.

 

 

[valk 161]

Matt's opinion mirrors mine in every way - well put.