03/02/2003

3 hrs

Engine

Cam covers

paint

Spasmodically, over the past 3 days, I’ve experimented with painting and polishing the engine block and cam covers.  It looks like the cam covers will polish and not have to be chrome plated.  I’ve was having difficulty in finding some silver engine paint. All the local suppliers had was normal enamel (heat proof to 50ºC) or very high temperature (exhaust grade 600 – 1200ºC) and nothing in between. I had used Plasti-Kote super on the Westfield Rocker cover (Heat proof to 150 ºC ) which was OK but couldn’t find it in silver.  Plasti-Kote Metallic Finish was described as heat proof to 110ºC, I wanted to paint the sump, would this be suitable?  I carried out an experiment on the engine lifting brackets.  They had cleaned back to the bare metal  (See above) and needed painting fast.  I had sprayed then with a coat of  Plasti-Kote Super primer and left them to dry overnight.  Now I gave them a coat of Plasti-Kote Metallic Silver.  It is easy to use and dries to bright, smooth, metallic finish.  Again I left them overnight to dry.  This afternoon I gave then the heat treatment and baked then in the oven up to 150ºC and apart from hot paint smells they seemed to survive. I let them cool down and repeated the cycle but this time up to 200ºC and again they look unaffected.    Not a definitive test but one that has given me sufficient data that It, probably, will be OK to use on the engine  Stripped the paint off the oil filler cap. Painted with etching primer followed by two coats of Plasti-Kote Super red.

O4/02/2003

2½hrs

Engine Sump

Spent this afternoon masking up the engine block, water pump and crankshaft pulleys before painting the sump with etching primer, left overnight to dry

05/02/2003

5 hrs.

Engine

Cam Covers

Sump

I spent most of today taking the cam covers off and cleaning the gasket material from the mating faces of the head and the covers. I also set about polishing the cam covers to get the bright work up at a reasonable standard before I strip the paint off and repaint them. Painted the sump with a first coat of silver.

06/03/2003

2 hrs

Engine

Cam Covers

A further 2 hours polishing the RH cam cover. Using a variety of wet and dry paper, polish and buffing tools fitted to the battery powered Dremmel. I think we made a significant improvement, probably sufficient to take the next step and strip the paint work

07/02/2003

3 hrs

Engine Breather

Back when I was stripping the XJ6, the Dremmel tool, I was using to cut the exhaust bolts, packed up.  I bought a battery powered one to replace it. The battery powered one is Ok but lacks the speed of the mains powered unit and exhausts the battery fairly quickly on long jobs. With a few minutes to spare on Tuesday this week I took the mains unit to be repaired.  I got it back today with a new field coil fitted for £22.00.  To test it I stripped the paint from the breather pipe housing and cleaned the residue off with the Dremmel a and a wire brush. Painted the housing with etching primer followed by 2 coats of Plasti-Kote  Super Gloss Black.

11/02/2003

10 hrs

Engine Cam Covers

The weekend saw me stripping the paint from the cam covers and masking the bright work ready for painting.  They were then given 2 coats of etching primer and 4 coats of Plasti-Kote Super gloss black.  Having dried overnight, I peeled off the masking tape to reveal the bright work, a very pleasing result.  The bright work now needs a final polish.

23/02/2003

5 hrs.

Engine Paint

After another polish, the cam covers are good enough for the time being. Over the past few days I have been masking up the rest of the engine to spray paint the head.  Cold weather, damp and condensation have been my enemy, preventing me from getting on.  I finished the masking process today, making sure the spark plug holes were clean and dry.  I put the spark plugs back to fill up the holes in the head.  I removed the thermostat housing and various temperature senders and switches from the coolant manifold. Removing the thermostat housing was a bit troublesome, I had to cut one of the long securing bolts and drift off the housing with a hammer.   Once off,  I cleaned up the mating faces with “wet and dry” and stripped the paint off.  Cleaning off the paint with a wire brush and a Dremmel tool.  The afternoon temperature had dried the condensation off the engine and I painted the head with etching primer.

24/02/2003

1 hr

Engine Paint
 

Painted the head and timing chain cover with Aluminium VHT engine paint

25/02/2003

3 hrs

Engine Paint
 

Completed the paint stripping of the Thermostat housing and the coolant manifold.  Dismantled the fuel injection components on the manifold.

26/02/2003

4 hrs

Enhgine Paint
 

Painted coolant rail and thermostat housing. Stripped the paint from the inlet manifold.  Researched internet sources for the supply of gaskets.

Total Hours this Month =  38½ hrs.

Total hours to date =  202 hrs