The 'E' Type Forum

Hi rebuilding a series 1 2+2 4.2 engine
1967
Should I leave the core plug olour black or paint them gold
Should the head be painted or left un painted
If gold what's the colour code

Any help please

Thanks
Phil

Mine is a 1966 version and when I researched found that originally the head was meant to be unpainted. I prefer gold so that is what I did. ,

I think the original, now unobtainable, colour is Bradite old gold.
Lots of discussion here if you search the archives.


Tim

Thanks
Im with you it looks better

Thanks
phil

I am restoring an UNTOUCHED S1 2+2, and the head WAS GOLDEN.

I got it CO2- ice- blasted, looks great now, but when the dirt went away we found lots of golden colour flakes so this is how it left Coventry in March 1966 for sure.

Will go back to gold on mine as well, I heard SNG sell the correct stuff - I have to buy it, once I get up to do the head.

Then, regarding the core plugs - anyone ?

On my engine they are all rusty. I have to have a look for their paint- gold looks gorgeous.

Carsten

All the S1 4.2 engines with smooth cam covers had Old Gold painted heads. The S2 heads were not painted and therefore silver in colour. You can buy gold engine or brake paint off eBay which is a good match.

Is there a paint scheme somwhere ?

I mean they did not paint the complete head, only parts of it.

Where are the "borders" ?

I could not recognize them on mine, too much was gone...


Carsten

The heads are painted everywhere apart from the mating surfaces of the block, manifolds etc. Basically any part of the head you can see when it is on the car is painted gold. I used this: http://tinyurl.com/odab6yn if you are going to brush it on or http://tinyurl.com/pme4dpt if you want to spray it. The casting is so rough you won't see any brush marks.

There is a list of colours used on the car here: http://www.etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=951

Heuer wrote:All the S1 4.2 engines with smooth cam covers had Old Gold painted heads. The S2 heads were not painted and therefore silver in colour. You can buy gold engine or brake paint off eBay which is a good match.

Going to have to disagree here David. It depends on the engine number. The later S1 4.2 cars had silver heads with smooth cam covers. For example 1E15533 is a 67 OTS with that combo.

Heuer wrote:The heads are painted everywhere apart from the mating surfaces of the block, manifolds etc. Basically any part of the head you can see when it is on the car is painted gold.

Well, what about the front part and sides of the front part of the head where the timing gear sits, that is polished, not painted yes?

Apart from that, I have a late series 1 (Febr 1967) and painted the head, later found out that it has to be unpainted, I think it was in Anders Clausagers book.

Heuer wrote:The heads are painted everywhere apart from the mating surfaces of the block, manifolds etc. Basically any part of the head you can see when it is on the car is painted gold.

Only in the valley. The front and sides are unpainted.

Pete

PeterCrespin wrote:

Heuer wrote:The heads are painted everywhere apart from the mating surfaces of the block, manifolds etc. Basically any part of the head you can see when it is on the car is painted gold.

Only in the valley. The front and sides are unpainted.

Pete

Weren't the sides also painted, just above the intake and exhaust manifolds, also the rear of the head where the blanking plate is and the tach generator, and the area below the crank breather?

The rear yes, I think of that as being valley run-off :-)

I used to think the sides too Pim and have done mine that way. I later read somewhere (in the last year or so?) that it wasn't correct, same as the rough bit below the breather which I have also painted on previous heads. For me to change my mind it must have been an authoritative book or something. Maybe that book was wrong and it's true the front and sides were painted after all?

Pete

The E-type buyers' guide from our marque expert?

:-)

No, the JCNA S1 Judge's Guide: http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/e-type1.pdf It says aluminium heads from 1966

"Cylinder Head Colour - Gold colored to silver- At this point in time ,6-2013, we cannot state positively whether any E-Type titled as a 1967 had a gold painted head. "

No David, this last post is about the area to be painted, not whether to paint or not ...

Yes, that is how I did mine, all rough areas painted although the polished areas on mine do not look as good as these.

Just looked it up in Clausager's book, but it does not state which areas were painted, just that somewhere in late 1966 the gold paint on the head was dropped.

Mine, 1E-14988, March 1967, came with a silver head.

You can thank Mr Arthur Whittaker, Jaguar's chief buyer and personally tutored by Sir William, who looked for every opportunity to cut costs and needlessly painting a cylinder head was one of them. Over painting the Glyptol red differential casings with gloss black being another.

Scrooge was an amateur?