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i know this has been discussed many times here, but looking through past posts, there seems to be conflicting opinions of whether the whole unit should be painted or not. as i am putting together my 1071 engine (june 64 build) can someone finally put this to bed please! thanks ian.

There may be conflicting opinions, but only one is correct. ALL the engine should be painted BMC green.

Anyone who suggest otherwise is simply wrong.

M

So, to think this through from a manufacturing point of view..

The engine would be assembled, then mated to the assembled box, end covers put on, clutch put on, flywheel housing put on. The rocker cover would be on, the tappet chest covers would be on. The output shafts would be in place.

Would the distributor, dynamo and the starter be on or would they be fitted later? I presume it'd have a water pump fitted.

Both lower engine mounts would be in place too?

Then they got sprayed in a coat of green engine paint? Meaning that everything in the spray guns sight would become green. Gasket edged, bolt heads and screws. If so, was the underside of the sump painted?

Presumably after that point, manifold and carburettor, radiator, shroud, fan, drive belt and pulley would be fitted (and hence would be black and yellow) and the whole lot dropped into a subframe prior to meeting a body coming along the track, which presumably already had among other things in place, a clutch slave cylinder and an upper engine steady bar attached to it.

PS. would they have been painted with plugs fitted too..?

there is plenty of evidence of how the engine are assembled and painted on that colour youtube video of the factory production line

the manifolds where painted green, then the carb was fitted afterwards

mk1 wrote:There may be conflicting opinions, but only one is correct. ALL the engine should be painted BMC green.

Anyone who suggest otherwise is simply wrong.

M

Yes and no.

Yes - all the early up to about 78 - 80-ish (sorry, I don't know the exact year) were all painted.

No - from that period on, only the head and block were painted.

Well I'm "wrong" then I paint all the cast (and most of the steel) ingredients green and leave all the ally bare. I'm too tight to buy more paint!

I can remember pulling virgin 850 mills out of cars in a past life here in oz and the whole 'shebang' had green all over it including engine mounts and manifolds, slave cylinder et-al.........
Cant be sure on rear wheel drive stuff though although I have seen untouched MGBLs with black all over the bell housing but not the whole gearbox.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing "wrong" with painting the iron & leaving the alloy, its just NOT how they were done in the factory in the 60's.

I know later engines were done like this, but as the question was about a MK1 I didn't see the point in complicating the issue.

Look at this video,

http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.u ... austin.wmv

Check out 1.48

Not a great version of the image.

M

And again at 8:40 too where the only non painted bits on the engine as its lowered into the frame are the coil and the rocker cap.

I love this film - and I've picked up a few tips on working on my cars from the order they assemble stuff, especially the subframes. Shame it doesn't show any tips for those hateful jobs like master cyl clevis pins etc!

No sign of David Bowie in it though......

gs.davies wrote:So, to think this through from a manufacturing point of view..



Then they got sprayed in a coat of green engine paint? If so, was the underside of the sump painted?

YES

Seconded. Yes.

M

Kind of envisaged it on some sort of pallet, presume they were suspended by some means then

They were hung from the two hooks attached to the rocker cover bolts.

My 1981 HL had the whole lot painted black, block, head, transfer case, gearbox, alternator, starter, water pump & as it was previously owned from new by an old lady, I am sure that's how it left the factory.

Regards, Rich.

850man wrote:They were hung from the two hooks attached to the rocker cover bolts.

And then they strapped the pallet to it?