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MG TD TF 1500 - Engine color accents... for the fun of it!

I'm starting to clean and paint pieces of the engine. As per some old threads, I decided to paint the engine Rustoleum Burgundy. It appears to be reasonably close to the original paint color, and second and most importantly, it was what was on the shelves of my local Ace Hardware.
So I've painted a few bits burgundy, but as I clean and prep other bits, I'm feeling like too much burgundy isn't a good thing. Perhaps a pulley painted dayglo yellow? An oil pump bracket painted sky blue?
I don't know... but I'm curious as to what others might have done to "liven up" the color of the engine bay.
Got a generator bracket painted safety orange? Please, post it here! Radiator stays in lime green? Yes, indeed!
What have you done???
Geoffrey M Baker

Geoff, I am not attracted to multiple colors under the hood but I stuck to the Rustoleum Burgundy paint with black accents ala the factory color scheme. I guess I could have left the MGB 7 blade yellow plastic fan as it was but I even primed and painted it black with flexible bumper paints, Just a matter of preference.

Jim Merz

Geoffrey - If you want things light, you could go with light pea green as the Navy does for interior decor. If you persist with the Dayglow yellow, sky blue and other such colors, you will need to post caution labels on the bonnet sides that warns "sun glasses must be worn before opening the engine room covers ;-) Cheers - Dave
D W DuBois

I can only recall what a British body man who once worked for me said, when at a show we came upon a garishly painted engine bay complete with polished brass radiator and other non-original colours... he said "Bl**dy H*ll... it looks like a bad woman's bedroom!"
kmclemore

I'm in the "less is more" category. I don't like calling attention to things that don't need it, like when people paint brake calipers bright colors. It just detracts from the wheels. That said, here is a photo of the engine in my TC. Biggest difference from stock is that I used a brighter red, and painted pulleys and front plate black.

Steve Simmons

Installed...

Steve Simmons

Steve, I like the silver tappet cover!
Geoffrey M Baker

Use bright HT leads, paint the tips of the fan white or yellow as on plane propellers?

Willem van der Veer

Originally all the aluminum bits like the sump and timing cover were painted red, too.

I like them better unpainted.

Willem van der Veer

There are a lot of choices for engine paint. If you want something contrasty, but a bit less garish-- I used an "aluminum" paint on the oil sump of another car. They also had an iron casting color that was pretty neat.

David Littlefield

Apparently the engine in my TF is a Gold Seal XPEG replacement and when I eventually get it sorted it will be painted gold. How's that for being!

D Lamb

One of the main reasons I'm keeping my old girl as original as possible, apart from a better resale value (when my wife sells the car after I'm gone) & knowing that my work lives on, is to prevent as many of those infuriating comments that begin with "I s'pose you know that ...." . For me it falls into the "if it ain't broke don't fix it category". There's something calming about knowing that things are just right. Maybe it's the Goldilocks thing. But, to each his own. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Willem, thanks for reminding me that another departure from original on my engine was leaving the timing cover bare. I agree it looks much nicer (as does bare sump and bell housing versus painted).

Geoffrey, the aluminum timing cover was a TC thing, but it will fit the TD engine as well. No performance advantage whatsoever, but it looks nice and it's slightly easier to keep clean.
Steve Simmons

Steve, I think I'll just see what my tappet cover looks like in dull silver...
Geoffrey M Baker

Geoffrey -

I've always been a "period correct" kind of guy. But you know, most of our cars were purchased new by young cutting-edge car guys. They probably wanted to get away from the factory look and spiff up the little four cylinder to match the bling in the engine compartments of their hot rod buddies. So racing equipment and day-glo yellow and sky blue might actually be "period correct!!"

I'm in the same boat with Peter Hehir -- I try to maintain the original look of the engine and avoid comments by car-show-experts. I've been guilty of making comments, myself. Still got a long way to go to bring the car and the engine back to original condition.

The little details that people often miss in a restoration can really make an engine bay POP.

> White aluminized exhaust manifold.
> Correct color and decal on the oil filter canister.
> Original style wiring harness, coil, wire ties, fuel lines.
> 1950's style battery.
> Good paint and Clean Clean Clean.

Do what makes YOU happy. It will still be a great looking car no matter what bling you add to it.

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

You can be period correct and still bling it up. Aluminum parts were available as were most colors of paint. That said, there's a reason why certain things were not done... because they don't look good! Keep an eye toward the big picture. It's too easy to attempt making one item look impressive, only to take away from the overall flow of the design. Kind of like putting massive polished wheels on a family sedan.
Steve Simmons

Goeff,
Like we all agree,,, it's your car,, do what you want to add "bling"..

Just don't get toooo carried away !!

SPW

Steve Wincze

Darnit Steve...now I have to go to the store ...I'm all out of:

David Sheward 55 TF1500 # 7427

This thread was discussed between 31/03/2015 and 01/04/2015

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