Bill:
There are some people over here who would like to know which "Moss
Distributor" led you to the following belief:
>>Checked with my local Moss distributor, who told me that Moss seems to
be
under the impression that later MGs (after the T series) had their
engines
painted this horrid orange colour.<<
Any kind of a color problem is news to us, and we would be very happy to
follow up on any cans that come through in the incorrect color.
Moss has sourced this paint from the same company for lo these many
years and as the flurry of e-mails verifies it should be the correct
deep Maroon color. The T series paint is a brighter Red color. In both
cases the paint is a high quality material designed specifically for use
on engines and is made to the factory paint code.
There have been some complaints that the color pigment will not hold up
under hot anti-freeze, so we have been talking with the manufacturer
about improvements and there are plans to make up some test panels to
check durability.
To my mind, there is a limit on how much time should be spent detailing
an engine. Engine Paint is not a high temperature product and will
deteriorate in hot areas such as the thermostat location of the head and
behind the exhaust manifold. Hot oil, petrol and antifreeze are highly
destructive to any finish, so any leaks are likely to damage any paint.
For best results a good primer should be used first, then the color
coat. As earlier stated the factory used a brown colored primer, though
in many cases there is not much evidence of care in it's application. A
protective coat of gloss clear over the color coat may reduce any
chances of damage to the pigment, though this is probably overkill for a
street engine.
Oh, and I believe that all MGB engines should be painted Maroon. Just
because the factory ended up painting the engines black is no reason to
slavishly follow their design. THE FACTORY WAS NOT PERFECT!!! That is
almost as bad as not fitting a sway bar to the 1975-76 MGB, because the
factory didn't! Sorry, my personal biases slipping out. I
personally believe that any MGB after 1967 should be built as a "best of
all worlds" MGB. Choose the high points of factory design and build a
car that is 100% MG, but as the designers would have liked to build it,
rather than as the penny pushers allowed.
Kelvin
I love the look of a freshly painted engine. But hate the chips when it
swings against the motor mounts.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net] On
Behalf
> Of WSpohn4@aol.com
> Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2005 1:30 PM
> To: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Engine Colour
>
> In a message dated 29/01/2005 1:00:12 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> battanhr@comcast.net writes:
>
> I just had my MGA engine rebuilt, and it was sprayed with Moss 'Red',
> which
> is more of a maroon. Definitely not orange. I also bought some of the
> Moss
> paint, (220-540) and it is the same color (red/maroon) that the
engine
> rebuilder used.
>
>
>
> I suspect that the Moss paint is probably OK and I got some lighter
stuff
> from the 'dealer' in error.
>
> I'll find out why they said that the MGA/B colour was oranger than the
T
> series and will try to figure out which is closer to original.
>
> Kelvin - you out there> Give us the benefit of your wisdom.
>
> Bill
|