rhanagar
Well-Known Forum User
Ok its been a few days and the weather has been holding up. Sunny but a bit nippy, however with an extra jumper on all is well ... especially if you keep moving. I have been concentrating on the engine quite a bit. Taking my time but its been a steady progress. I had a couple of nightmares. Bought a can of enamel spray for the engine. Attacked the block with a wire brush and got it down to metal then gave it a coat of black. Bleeding can was duff. All it did was run everywhere leaving a horrible black gack over it. Had to wipe it down and clean it all off with carb cleaner before it set, and then the next day wire brush it all again. Anyways I finally managed to get a good coat on it and finally ended up with this
Passenger Side:
Front:
Drivers Side:
Was slightly annoyed at seeing a rust bubble on the sump at the front when looking closer at the photo's just now, but nothing which I cannot sort out over the weenend.
As you can see I also cleaned up the two mounting brackets either side of the sump as well to a nice silver finish. I also gave them a coat of gloss engine enamel spray to keep them from getting too grotty. The sump was taken off as you know, but now on there with its new gasket. Also from the pictures you can make out the oil filter bracket which I removed and cleaned. I like the contrasting silver it has against the black block. All the mounts were removed as well and re-painted to try and keep it all colour co-ordinated and fresh looking. The altenator mounting bracket again removed and painted along with the power steering pump bracket, but that bolts on the head so not present in the photo's. The front shot of the block also shows the work done to remove any rust and grime that had built up over the years Its by no means perfect, but you are never going to see that part once the cam belt covers are back on. However I did give it a coat of enamel to prevent any water from getting to it and truning it rusty. The water pump in an earlier photo showed some serious signs of deteriation, and the water channels in the block where it mounts was just as bad. I managed to get a extendable wire brush attachment for the drill and scoured the inside as much as I could. It all came up pretty clean if I say so myself. Less gack and grime is the better as far as I am concerned, meaning less gack and grime to cause issues later on.
Whilst waiting for things to dry, I looked at the rocker covers. I have already stripped the paint off one and I wanted to go with the theme of red covers like the originals. Anyway here is what I ended up with after some experimentation. I placed it on the engine so people have a better idea of what the finished article could look like.
They are a bit more orange than the originals, but I like them. It contrasts nicely. I think I will be using this method on a few other pieces to get some more colour co-ordination going.
Passenger Side:
Front:
Drivers Side:
Was slightly annoyed at seeing a rust bubble on the sump at the front when looking closer at the photo's just now, but nothing which I cannot sort out over the weenend.
As you can see I also cleaned up the two mounting brackets either side of the sump as well to a nice silver finish. I also gave them a coat of gloss engine enamel spray to keep them from getting too grotty. The sump was taken off as you know, but now on there with its new gasket. Also from the pictures you can make out the oil filter bracket which I removed and cleaned. I like the contrasting silver it has against the black block. All the mounts were removed as well and re-painted to try and keep it all colour co-ordinated and fresh looking. The altenator mounting bracket again removed and painted along with the power steering pump bracket, but that bolts on the head so not present in the photo's. The front shot of the block also shows the work done to remove any rust and grime that had built up over the years Its by no means perfect, but you are never going to see that part once the cam belt covers are back on. However I did give it a coat of enamel to prevent any water from getting to it and truning it rusty. The water pump in an earlier photo showed some serious signs of deteriation, and the water channels in the block where it mounts was just as bad. I managed to get a extendable wire brush attachment for the drill and scoured the inside as much as I could. It all came up pretty clean if I say so myself. Less gack and grime is the better as far as I am concerned, meaning less gack and grime to cause issues later on.
Whilst waiting for things to dry, I looked at the rocker covers. I have already stripped the paint off one and I wanted to go with the theme of red covers like the originals. Anyway here is what I ended up with after some experimentation. I placed it on the engine so people have a better idea of what the finished article could look like.
They are a bit more orange than the originals, but I like them. It contrasts nicely. I think I will be using this method on a few other pieces to get some more colour co-ordination going.
