Engine and Rocker cover paint colours

[grovesa]

Hi,

I have a series II 1955 minor, in sandy beige. I am looking to do some work to the engine over the winter, part of this will be re spraying it. Does any body know what colour the block/sump and rocker cover should be? At the moment my rocker cover is just a rusty colour, and my engine block is red....

any suggestions would be much appreciated

[Matt Tomkins]

should be MOWOG green i think -- BMC engine paint from ESM

[brucek]

Just a word of caution - not all Series 2 engines were painted in Morris Green. There seem to be quite a number of colours used and it does stimulate some discussion among the afficianados. I had an early grille S2 Traveller (July 54) whose engine was a blue-grey/green colour. If you have access to the Original Morris Minor book by the club secretary, the S2 pickup on p109 is very close to that colour. Some of the later S2's and early 1000's were painted with a bronze/muddy green colour (nearest appears to be Land Rover Mid Bronze green).

Try to find an original part on the engine if you can to see if that gives any clues. I found my paint match from the cover plate on the dynamo. Of course, if the engine is painted gold then you have a 'gold seal' factory reconditioned engine so you may struggle. If all else fails then Morris (or MOWOG) green will look great.

[grovesa]

Hi,
thanks for the quick replies, after further inspection and grease and grime removal my engine seems to be pillar box red, so im hoping thats the orignal colour, will have to look further into the rocker cover colouring. But at elast now you put my mind at rest as what little paint is left doesnt look very green on it!

[IaininTenbury]

It could well have had a recon engine at some stage in its life, so the red could well be whatever enamel the machine shop used on their rebored blocks, rather than factory. There's some odd and random colours about from that source.
Factory engines were painted in one built up unit, so everything including rocker cover except distributor and carb tended to be painted whatever colour they used at the time. Its normal for the paint to fall off the block over the years but to stay on the rocker cover better as its cooler. The fact that yours isn't like that indicates some non standard attention possibly...

I would expect a '55 car to have a green engine. The bluey grey colours tended to be earlier, but no hard and fast rules. The shade of green changed over the years as its wasn't a critical part of car manufacture to have the engines to a certain colour code!

[lambrettalad]

does it matter?

[grovesa]

my engine is the original engine that was fitted to the car. its just the sump and side of the enigne block that is red. The rocker cover is just plain rusty, so that was why i wasnt sure about the colour.

and no it doesn't really matter but I'm trying to keep him original as i possibly can so don't want to go changing it to the wrong colour if i don't have to!

[grovesa]

from looking through the interne tat other 1955 cars the engine block seems to be red in a lot of cases, its just the rocker cover, which seems to range from a vary pale blue through to green. Is this colour connected to the body of the car? it seems that the grey body cars have a blue ish rocker cover, mine is sandy beige does anybody else have a similar age and colour car?

[brucek]

For most original cars the rocker cover will be the same colour as the engine - whatever colour you choose to paint it. Red, when used as an engine colour tended to be an MG colour - and quite late too - A+ (Metro, late Mini onwards) I think. Old 1275 Midget engines were firstly Morris Green, then light green/almost metallic green (very similar to MGC engine colour), then, at the end of their run, they were black.

Not an expert by any means on S2's but can't recall seeing the engine on any show cars painted red. Maybe a call to the archivists at the BMC/BL Heritage Centre at Gaydon will help you resolve this?

[Neil MG]

Originally almost all MG engines were painted red, even pre-war. A tradition that continued up to the late 1960's. The A series Midgets being an exception. That may have been due to sharing identical engines with the Austin-Healey badged variant.

I suspect it may have not been uncommon in the 50's and 60's for owners to paint the engine red to associate with the sports models.

[grovesa]

I have now checked my engine number which makes it an early 803cc engine.
After much degreasing it looks like the rocker cover has been painted a very pale blue colour... i am awaiting the a reply from the BMC/BL heritage people thank you very much for all your help! and pointing me in the right direction

[IaininTenbury]

Like this one?[frame][/frame]

[grovesa]

Like this one?[frame][/frame]

yeah the rocker cover is about that colour! maybe a touch darker

I expect the engine was re painted at some point for some reason

[IaininTenbury]

The colour on that engine was matched up as close as poss to the faded original. Though obviously some scope for variation over the years. Actually it was Land Rover Marine Blue if I recall correctly - maybe some help possibly.

[rayofleamington]

yeah the rocker cover is about that colour! maybe a touch darker

That's what I'd expect for a SII based on 'the norm' at shows - the darkening is likely to be an age-related effect (not that you should judge a colour from a PC screen anyway ). Iain's is more than likely done to a paint code, giving it the colour when new. As many have already said, there were a few variations. I'm glad to hear you found something to lead you to a decision.

When helping rebuild a sidevalve earlier this year it was a 4 week job for the owner to come to a decision It was eventually painted with something fairly similar to the paint under the grime, as their appear to be even more variations on the flatheads!

[grovesa]

thanks everyone for your help.

I heard back from the heritage guys today, and they said the engine and rocker should be a blue/green colour, not mowog green. So it seems likely that someone before me has painted the sump and block red.

Thanks for the landrover colour, i will look into it!!
now to start work on the engine

[MarkyB]

I suspect it may have not been uncommon in the 50's and 60's for owners to paint the engine red to associate with the sports models.

I'd keep it Red, it's like a period accessory, not unlike "go faster stripes".

[Neil MG]

I suspect it may have not been uncommon in the 50's and 60's for owners to paint the engine red to associate with the sports models.

I'd keep it Red, it's like a period accessory, not unlike "go faster stripes".

So would you keep "go faster" stripes too?

[IaininTenbury]

More likely its had a rebore at some stage and the machine shop painted the block in their 'standard' red, then the owner refitted the original ancilleries including the blue rocker cover.
You'd have to be a bit keen to paint the block a dif colour just for the fun of it, and even if you were, you'd do the rocker cover first....

Incidentally I read somewhere that a 50/50 mix of white and black smoothrite gives about the right grey for early sidevalves, thoguh I've not seen a good enough original one to confirm, it looked OK when I tried it.