Engine colors

[MarkH]

Just read an informative thread on this in the Darrin forum.

Same question here, what's engine color, black & natural on an Aero 161 F-head?

[Barnum]

I've never figured that out either My current car is as bone stock as it could be. On it, the block seems to be natural.

[MarkH]

I'll be digging into my engine/trans/overdrive soon and may find more traces of paint on rusty parts or under the dirt/grease crust. Gray is my engine color & seems to be on other engine block parts I have except for the cylinder head from Brazil which is a nice green color.

I found this post from quite a while back by Aeroman that's very similar to the Darrin post but not as extensive, and wonder if the Darrin & Aero power trains were painted the same in their respective colors:

Peripherals: Black for valve cover, starter, generator, air cleaner.
Natural metal: distributor, carburetor, exhaust manifold.
Engine color: timing cover, oil pan, bell housing, crankshaft pulley, harmonic balancer.

I can add that my throttle linkage is black.

Speaking of black, some of what I've found under hood is gloss and some semi/satin.

[joefrazer]

My 51 Jeepster with the f-head 6 had a grey engine block. I've seen them black as well. My 54 Aero Eagle Custom with the 226 had a silver painted block.

[ldladyvt]

Our '55 Willys Custom 226 engine is painted silver.

[vettelang]

Silver paint on the 54 Willys Aero Eagle Custom. I basically painted it like an engine plant would without any of the assembly plant applied brackets and accessories. Most of those were chassis black, coil bracket was zinc plated. The vertical throttle bracket and rod bellcrank were painted black as an assembly.

These are the details that should be readily available on published judging guidelines.

[joefrazer]

About 30 years ago I had the privilege of attending a KF retirees luncheon. I sat with a group of guys whose job it was to assemble the drivetrain for KF vehicles. I also spoke at length with several gents who did the under hood work - dropping the engine in place and bolting down the dog house. I learned a lot and immediately started detailing my cars to match what they told me. Given that this was many years ago, quite a few cars still had their original paint and components so it was easy to see how what they said lined up with what I found.

Fast forward to several years ago at a national meet. I had my car there and several attendees wanted to know how I knew the correct colors and components on a car. I explained my meeting with the KF retirees and before long I was conducting a parking lot clinic with a group of about a dozen members. I discussed in detail the assembly process and how things were painted, when components were gathered for an assembly, and when they met the chassis/body. Someone at the meet took notes and said they would publish them - I've yet to see them in print.

I have my Darrin engine compartment torn down at the moment. Perhaps this would be a good time to start documenting the process as I paint and reassemble everything. I think I see a Youtube video in my future!

[Fid]

When my dad purchased the '51 Kaiser I have, it came with spare engine that was pulled from a Willys in 1960.  The head said "Willys Hurricane" on it. I believe this is the original color in this picture.  Looks like silver/light gray???

[Gordie]

These engine color details for all K-F and Willys  products would be great information for the new judging guidelines!

[Thomasso]

My 1955 Bermuda is all original and the 226 is silver.

[MarkH]

Here's a shot of a 161 F-head lifter cover I cleaned & sent to TCP Global for color matching. This is a '52 engine, another '52 cylinder head and my '54 (leftover '53) F-head engine are the same color.
The right half of the cover has some baked in oil staining, left side is the right color. I'd have described this as more of a cream color than gray but the book says gray.
From the looks of the splotch on top of the quart of enamel, TCP did a nice job matching it.

[Aeroman]

Mark:
F-head colors:
COLOR - BLOCK:   Blue – low altitude export (below 5000 ft)
            Lt Gray - high alt export & low alt domestic
            Yellow - high alt domestic

COLOR – CYLINDER HEAD:      Blue – low alt export
                  Black - high alt export & low alt domestic
                  Yellow - high alt domestic
                     1952 & 1953   only
                     1954 & 1955 not documented

COLOR – PERIPHERALS:         Black – valve cover, starter, generator, air cleaner
Natural metal – distributor, carburetor, exhaust manifold
Engine color - timing cover, oil pan, bell housing, crankshaft pulley, harmonic balancer

Can't remember where I got this info from, either Service Standards manual or a service bulletin or the parts manual or a supplement.

[MarkH]

Just power washed 3 transmissions & my still assembled '54 bell housing & trans. Cast bell housing is gray engine color with a stamped inspection plate, black. Transmission ('s) castings definitely not engine color, seem to be either natural or a thin coating of black in places. Rubbed one of the black places with an alcohol soaked shop towel until it wouldn't pick up anymore color, then used an acetone soaked shop towel which stripped the black right off, just like other original black painted pieces. Stamped transmission inspection plates held much more paint, definitely black.

[Barnum]

So what will your final colors be ? Looking forward to seeing the assembled engine

[MarkH]

Going with original colors as in Aeroman's post above as well as black inspection plates.. Already have color matched gray engine paint.
At this point I'll probably try a couple more solvents to see if I can confirm some black paint on the transmission, probably going to end up going black anyway but it would be nice to know for sure.
One thing for sure, if any were painted assembled to the bell housing, they lost every trace of gray from the mating joint back while the bell housing retained complete coverage.