25 replies to this topic

[Flaming Skull 57]

Hi All

When I restored my LC I painted everything on the engine RED, all bolts included. Now I have time I want to make sure the bolts are as they came out when manufactured. Painted RED or Unpainted.  Does anyone have a detailed picture of the original Engine/drive line?

I'm looking at

 

Thermostat top bolts

Thermostat lower housing to engine bolts

Alternator adjusting bolt.

Alternator slide tensioner/adjuster

Alternator Lower bracket

Alternator Lower bracket bolts

Starter motor mounting bolts

Engine mount bolts

6 x Side plate bolts 

Rocker cover bolts and washers

Fuel pump mounting bolts

6 x Oil pump bolts

Head stud bolts

Distibutor clamp and bolt

Bellhousing bolts

Clutch inspection pan

 

Cheers

John

 

 

[Flaming Skull 57]

Also, should the bellhousing be painted RED?

 

[claysummers]

I understand that the assembled long motors were painted with gearbox attached and the bellhousing just copped overspray where it bolted up. Based on that you can envisage which bolt heads wore red.


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[yel327]

Engines were run on natural gas then painted. They didn’t have a carb or alternator but had most everything else including bellhousing and clutch (or flex plate). So everything got painted with some basic masking hence why the overspray all over the bellhousing edges, over V8 valley cover etc. I can’t tell you exactly which bolts were painted and which weren’t but if you think about the above it will get you close. I don’t think they had an alternator or balancer pulley on them at the engine plant either.

Clay, gearboxes didn’t get attached until the VAP.

Edited by yel327, 18 July 2023 - 05:59 PM.

[claysummers]

So just the bellhousing attached, thanks Byron. I’m old enough to remember when we converted over from “town” gas to natural gas. We had to get the stove re-jetted. Would have been about 1970. Very interesting that they spun them up on NG.


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[yel327]

It may not have been identical to gas we get plumbed today. Remember GMH like any industry would have used gas for any number of heating applications. The engine plant would have used it for a number of reasons. It may well have been Town gas, I just use the term as whatever was around in the 60’s and 70’s for industry and domestic purposes.

[claysummers]

Hate to digress…..
Remember the gas works with the inflatable bladder in a steel cage what seemed like 30m high? Grey soot coating everything in a 40m radius. Corner of Sturt and Marion Roads where Pedders is now.


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[71xu1]

This may help.  image.jpeg   61.97K   15 downloads

[Dr Terry]

On your list just about everything (including water pump & thermostat housings) was painted red, except the following:-

 

Fuel pump & bolts

Engine mounts & bolts

Alternator & bolts

Starter motor & bolts

Distributor clamp & bolt

Clutch cover & bolts

 

As mentioned above, the bellhousing copped a lot of over spray as did the part of the manifolds nearest the head (they were loosely masked off). The alternator adjusting arm & lower bracket were also painted in situ.

 

After painting, the distributor, starter & other items were then mounted prior to test running (on gas as mentioned), then the carby was fitted before fitting the engine to the car.

 

Dr Terry

[Indy Orange]

Another pic here .Note the small amount of overspray on the bell housing.

Attached Files

•  15D4876A-7100-4113-8DB9-B0BCF99A1D54.jpeg   110.87K   10 downloads

Edited by Indy Orange, 19 July 2023 - 08:43 AM.

[sibhs]

On your list just about everything (including water pump & thermostat housings) was painted red, except the following:-

 

Fuel pump & bolts

Engine mounts & bolts

Alternator & bolts

Starter motor & bolts

Distributor clamp & bolt

Clutch cover & bolts

 

As mentioned above, the bellhousing copped a lot of over spray as did the part of the manifolds nearest the head (they were loosely masked off). The alternator adjusting arm & lower bracket were also painted in situ.

 

After painting, the distributor, starter & other items were then mounted prior to test running (on gas as mentioned), then the carby was fitted before fitting the engine to the car.

 

Dr Terry

Hi Dr Terry, Surely the clutch cover is painted Red?

 

Regards

Marty

[Flaming Skull 57]

Thank You everyone. Interesting about the engine being initially run on gas.

[Dr Terry]

Hi Dr Terry, Surely the clutch cover is painted Red?

 

Regards

Marty

This seems to vary from model to model. In the early days (EH/HD etc.) I believe the clutch cover was painted red, as was the water pump pulley.

 

However later cars have the water pump pulley painted black & the clutch/converter cover also painted black. I'm not sure when the change was.

 

Dr Terry

[claysummers]

My HX clutch cover balancer and water pump pulley were all painted red from factory.

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[yel327]

I’ve never seen a red water pump pulley on any GMH 6cyl or V8 even imported V8 HK onwards. Having said that I haven’t taken much notice of 6cyl prior to HQ. I can recall seeing red ones on EH engines I think when I had a few 179’s way back.

[Dr Terry]

I'm not sure about the change to the clutch cover paint, but I think that the black water pump pulley was an HQ onwards thing. I'm certain that EH/HD/HR had red pulleys.

 

An interesting story on that one. We had a member of our car club asked us a question about the colour of the pulley bolts. We has an older guy visiting from Victoria who actually worked in the GMH engine plant & his answer was so precise.

 

He said that 2 of the bolts should be red & the other 2 should be plated. The reasoning was simple. The pulley was fitted in the engine plant using only 2 bolts before being painted. Then before the engine went into the car, these 2 bolts were removed to fit the (black) fan, then refitted. 2 additional (unpainted) bolts were then added.

 

One for the purists !!

 

Dr Terry

[Ice]

Dont put over spray  on you’re bell housing 

A -it looks like shit and 

B -its  a bit wanky if you know what i mean 

[claysummers]

Second thoughts my HX pulley most likely black and probably the HK as well.

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[jd lj]

I've been told that the water pump wasn't painted. Were these fitted during testing the engine or did they have another way to run coolant etc through them for this purpose? Obviously if the pulley was fitted then the water pump was too. But was this constant across various time periods eg EH to LX etc?

[S pack]

The clutch cover on my LJ was rocket red same as the engine. From memory (albeit sketchy) the fan pulley was black but I painted rocket red and no fan bolts ever had red painted heads.

Edited by S pack, 19 July 2023 - 09:11 PM.

[jd lj]

My 73 LJ has a black fan pulley.

[Indy Orange]

Dont put over spray  on you’re bell housing 

A -it looks like shit and 

B -its  a bit wanky if you know what i mean 

Made the mistake of painting mine until I discovered they weren’t painted,had to remove the paint and start again.

Attached Files

•  C17E9A1A-46B1-4045-A61F-2BF543A8E362.jpeg   93.65K   2 downloads
•  4C57EE25-BD9F-49A0-A9AD-0130700B1337.jpeg   114.55K   2 downloads

[claysummers]

Heh heh heh…..

On the water pumps, my original HK 186 was unpainted as far as I can recall. I should have kept that but the subframe and hanging panels rusted to frOck.


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[LJ RB30]

My 73 LJ has a black fan pulley.

Same here

[bat 53]

unsure how original mine are 

pulley and cover both rocket red 

checking a photo of a cf engine they were painted