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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Bill Hirsch engine paint - photos

Painted the block and trans today. I used Bill Hirsch MG Maroon. I ended up doing the whole thing with a badger air brush hooked up to my framing compressor. Working pressure was in the 50-60 range. It was handy to be able to get that close with low paint feed (especially at the spark plug pockets). However, on the larger surface areas, it was REALLY hard to keep a wet edge. All in all it worked out okay.

From a painting experience perspective, I can say that the Hirsch paint was VERY forgiving, and covered very well. It flowed nicely and settled out to a nice smooth finish. The first start up will be about two weeks away, so I won't know how it performs yet till then.

One thing I can report is that you can spill gear oil on it, and it when it's still freshly drying and it does not run the paint! I forgot to fully empty the gearbox and painted it vertically. When I tipped the box forward to paint a lower surface on the back, oil spilled out the breather hole in the filler plug. It looked pretty much like it had just rolled down a finish and dry painted surface. We'll see tomorrow or Monday if it effected the paint at all. I may need to do a bit of touch up there.

Alex

Alex Waugh

The Transmission all painted up. Will paint the flange black when the paint is dry enough to apply masking tape.

Alex Waugh

Sorry about the fuzzy shot. My cell phone cam is hard to keep still enough to take a photo.

NOTE: don't worry, the engine number plate is masked. I did also note that the engine number is "hammered" with number punches directly over the octagon plate. That would be a good way to see if someone was fibbing with the numbers. However, if it has been painted a lot it would be pretty hard to see.

Alex Waugh

Excellent product report Alex.

Is anyone thinking the colour is a bit close to brown?

Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

Like a lot of paint colors on our cars, which were fresh so many years ago, The proper colors are always hard to determine. I painted my engine and transmission Duplicolor Dark Canyon Red. Looks nice, but probably not close to the original. PJ

By comparison, Mine on left;






P Jennings

I've used Canyon Red as well and think it is a perfect (?) match...there again, red and digital cameras with or without flash never look quite the same as in real life.....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Brings back fond memories of last winter Alex. I used the same stuff. It smells "real nice" the first few hundred miles but it's still all there. I also spilled some oil on the tranny and the paint did not adhere. Touched up ok though.
efh Haskell

I've found that it the color looks different depending on what light your shooting it in. When standing there in person, it looks pretty maroon, but not purple. However, I've noted the brown that Matthew speaks of shows up often when the picture is taken.

I personally like the brown quite a bit as it seems vintage in a way. I don't really like the purple maroon color that the B's seem to have on their blocks. It just doesn't seem period in a T.

What I assume to be the orriginal color for the motor (or at least what was on mine) was an orange red. That color is one I wouldn't want in my T even if it was period correct. It looks a little to agrarian to me (see photo - look specifically at the area where the drain plug is).

I went out last night and took a quick look at the place where the oil spilled on the trans cover and it did not effect the paint at all! It probably helped that the air brush takes so long to lay the paint down that the color had a chance to dry before I got round to the back where I tipped the trans forward.

All in all, I'm pleased with the outcome. It was REALLY hard for me as I was concerned about the final result. The block was not completely stripped, and it had been sprayed with the moss rattle can (which I wanted to remove first). I finally had to stop fiddling with it and just spray. It turned out okay. And when I'm blasting through the curvy bits, I won't be thinking at all about the presentatin of my block paint! WOO HOOO!!!! So close to start up.

Alex

Alex Waugh

Very nice job and great color Alex. Looking forward to seeing it person soon.

John
John Brickell

Ok

One question. My engine is red, My transmission is red, but my bellhousing is aluminum without paint. Should it be painted?
Bruce Cunha

My understanding is that the bellhousing is supposed to be painted. But, I'm no authority on that. If mine was natural when I started I most likely would have left it that way.

Alex
Alex Waugh

Pretty sure painted when it left the factory. George
George Butz

It was indeed red from the factory, as was the sump. Most people seem to think they both look better in bare aluminum.

Tom Lange
Bar Harbor, Maine
t lange

I like a little contrast here and there and thus I opted to leave the timing cover and sump natural. My bell housing was already painted so I opeted to paint over it again. Stripping it down was not something I felt worth the time. As a fellow not super interested in dead nuts orriginality, I decided to go for a little bling!

Alex
Alex Waugh

Painted my engine obviously red. I bought the engine paint Moss supplies. I assume it is correct? I bead blasted my bell housing to bare metal. I wish I would of bead blasted my oil pan also. I think that would of helped the overall appearance. Shown is my dad.

RK Rich

This thread was discussed between 25/09/2011 and 01/10/2011

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