engine color

[NY " Z "]

Hey guys

I'm in the process of refreshing an early L24 motor.

I want to know if there was a paticular color that was used on the block.

The motor is currently covered in gold paint.I began stripping the gold paint off the block and wanted to know how to remove the paint from the valve cover without damaging it.

If anyone could recomend some quality fuel,radiator/heater hoses.

Thanks

[sakijo]

The block is painted "Nissan Blue" Ford blue is a close substitute. You need to strip that black paint off the cylinder head - that's normally left plain aluminum color. The valve cover is best sand blasted. If not, some good paint stripper and elbow grease will do the job.

[240 in OZ]

Contact Les at www.classicdatsun.com for block blue mixed in rattle cans.

Radiator/heater hoses should be purchased as genuine parts from Nissan as they have specific bends to them. I see sellers on ebay all the time selling complete heater hose kits including replacement grommets. You should be able to pick them all up from ebay; try the seller vintage_nissan_parts, he should be able to supply all you need.

As for fuel line, depends on how anal you are; this is available from Nissan as well.

Hope this helps you out.

Joseph

[moonpup]

If you intend to polish the valve cover later, I wouldn't recommend sandblasting it. Even if you used a milder abrasive like glass beads, it'll be a pain in the a$$ to later polish. You'll have to use a series of rough to finer grit sandpaper to steel wool to aluminum polish in order to get rid of the rough finish left by the blasting.

The easiest way would be to find a paint stripper safe for aluminum.

If that doesn't work you can always sand it but you'll still need to use wet/dry sandpaper and work down starting with 600 grit to something like 1500.

Good luck.

[Arne]

If you want the closest color match, get the paint from Les, as noted above. If "pretty close" is good enough, Chrysler engine blue is awfully close.

[bobc]

Get the paint from Les! The Chrylser blue is close, but not close enough. Les wouldn't like me telling you this, but you can save yourself a lot of work by painting the engine with a foam brush in the car versus spraying it out of the car. The proper way is to take the block down to clean metal (sand blast, strip, etc) and then paint it with the spray. About the only way to do that is to take the engine out, strip off the manifolds, ancillary parts, etc.

On the other hand, you can just spray the paint into a cup and use a foam brush with the engine still in the car. Use aluminum foil to cover hoses, etc, but you can get a fairly decent job without the work of pulling the engine. I just cleaned mine with engine cleaner and then washed it with some soap to remove deposits before I painted it. I'm sure it won't last forever and doesn't look as nice as if I had stripped it down, but I sure saved a heck of a lot of work and it looks about an 8 on a 10 scale.

Good luck!

Bob

[Doehring]

You can find the color mix at zhome.com

Rolf

[NY " Z "]

Hey guys thanks for the great info

I just ordered the Nissan blue engine paint from Les at classicdatsun.com

I also have new brass freeze plugs and associate gaskets and filters on the way.

I'm really looking forward to this project but I'm still undecided on what to do with the valve cover.

Thanks

Marcio

[Zedrally]

You should be able to pick up a "new" valve cover from a junked engine.

[Arne]

I'm still trying to figure the valve cover as well. I don't think I want to polish it, but don't know how to restore to something similar to the original finish. I've seen a few that were painted a nice silver that looked good...

[240 in OZ]

For the original look try painting it with a dull aluminium high heat paint suitable for manifolds etc. Must be dull rather than bright/polished.

Joseph

[DeesZ]

For the cam cover, consider bead blasting it clean, then several coats of clear high temp engine enamel. That worked very nicely on mine. Without the protective clear coat they will pick up finger prints, oil, and every loose piece of greasy soot within a 25 mile radius. Polishing makes a stunning display, too. I've seen some fantastic results that IMO look nicer than chrome (but my tastes are not for sparkle in my engine bay). I've also seen one that I was told was 'chrome' powder coated. That looked nice and should be easy to maintain as well.