Painting engine

Hi
I had a delivery this morning of the new engine mounts, I only ordered them on Thursday and they arrived this morning costing £9.99p plus p/p.

They are advertised as for a Cortina / Granada and are pretty close on measurements. The width is a little smaller at 72mm as opposed to the 76mm fitted but the important bit is the height which is 41.5mm, the ones fitted are 40.6mm so pretty close and maybe they have squished down over the years with the weight of the engine.

I started the day with the removal of the 2 broken 6mm bolts on the sump flange, one came out quite easily using a pair of mole grips while the other needed chiseling flush and drilling and tapping.

The rest of the day has been spent prepping the engine for painting, its surprising that after all of the time and effort I spent cleaning, it still needed hours more. I first attacked with brake cleaner, this is a solvent based cleaner so it cleaned out the oil in the corners quite well and with the rotary wire wheel got all of the surface oil of the engine. I then steam cleaned all over which lifted the rest of the deep ingrained oils. 

The masking came next and all mating faces were buffed up first before applying the tape, and masking paper.

I have used an etch primer again on the bare metal and gave it 2 coats with an hour in between.

I have temporarily fitted the water pump as the masking off of that area would have been a little difficult, I have still to buy the stainless bolts for the pump and the sump but will get these soon.

While waiting for the first coat to dry I got to work on the inlet manifold masking this off and gave it a coat of primmer as well.

Hopefully I shall get the first coat of red on tomorrow morning and one later that day. Mothers day tomorrow so maybe nothing will get done

The fuel pump is dry and looks good painted black, I think the contrast against the red of the engine will look pretty good.

I have been in contact will Ray from the web site http://www.veesix.co.uk Ray also has a Panther interior business called RS Sewing Solutions, I have told him my requirements for the car which is everything and I have received his prices which are very reasonable. He is able to make everything from the mohair hood and cover, door cards, carpets even sun visors in matching leather. So I am going ahead and will be buying in bits. It will be quite a while before I am ready to fit the interior but if I start the buying now it will spread the cost as this is; next the respray going to be the most expensive part of the restoration.

Well that's all for now, time for a Guinness and a curry

See ya

Paul