When I painted the engine on my 67 +4 I had a couple of cans of Moss Motors
MG T series red. I wasn't sure how it would look in the car when I was
painting the engine, but after I installed it I was very pleased. The car is
black and the red engine just sets it off with the bonnet raised. I also
used the same paint on the bell housing and the trani.
I know this is not an original color, but after all this is a Morgan. The
factory just installed the engines as they arrived and while I suspect the
majority of the TR engines came in black they would have installed them if
they had been purple. So I say do whatever pleases you. If you like a
certain color then go for it, if you want to be 100% original (whatever that
means) then do it. I think there is a lot more room to play with in a Morgan
for originality since you could essential build them to order as opposed to
say an MG T series. Although I hear tell that if the MG factory ran out of a
certain paint they would just run down to the local hardware store and pick
up whatever was available that day.
Phil Roettjer
67 Morgan +4 (MGT red engine)
67 MGB (with MG maroon engine)
53 Lotus 6 (with gray engine - I don't know what would have been original)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BobTescione [SMTP:mogman@rpa.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 8:40 PM
> To: Vandergraaf, Chuck; morgans@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: TR Engine Colors - Revisited
>
> My recollection is that the TR series of engines were painted black. My
> vanguard engine was black, and is now grey, by my hand. Bellhousing is
> natural aluminum. And gearbox currently is red, again by my choice, but
> was
> a color that I can't remember, originally.
>
> I have several friends with Triumphs and their engines are/were black.
>
> Bob Tescione
> mogman@rpa.net
>
> "Vandergraaf, Chuck" wrote:
>
> > Hmm, the Standard Vanguard engine block in my '52 +4 is sort of cream
> > coloured. Anybody else with a light-coloured engine? I suppose it
> could
> > have been repainted by a previous owner.
> >
> > Chuck Vandergraaf
> > '52 +4
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Michael D. Miles, PE [mailto:mdmiles@mdmpe.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday August 16, 2000 3:42 PM
> > To: morgans@autox.team.net
> > Subject: TR Engine Colors - Revisited
> >
> > Having now reached the threshold of painting the block on my '61 +4
> > (TR-3 motor) I went back to an earlier thread on this list (1996
> > comments on engine colors) to do a bit of research. Sure enough I
> > found as expected that black was the typical color for the TR-2,3,4
> > engines.
> >
> > What threw me however is that in John Worralls book (Original Morgan
> > 4/4, Plus 4 and Plus 8), he mentions that "the Vanguard block was
> > painted black, whereas the Triumph engine was maroon.".
> >
> > The accompaning photos (pp 52, 53) show a TR-4 motor in black. I've
> > decided on black anyway but I thought the contradiction to be a bit
> > curious. Any further comments?
> >
> > The two other areas of color concern are the clutch bell housing
> > (which appears a 'natural' metal finish in the photos) and the Moss
> > gearbox housing. Any comments or suggestions?
> >
> > --
> > "Entropy Happens!"
> > Michael D. Miles, PE Consulting Design Engineer
> > (503) 292-1234, FAX: (503) 292-1105
> > email: mdmiles@mdmpe.com
> > http://www.mdmpe.com/
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