Have British Army Vehicles always had the engines and ancills painted turquoise?

[Rover8FFR]

A question for the more knowledgeable than I on British Military Vehicles.

My 1963 ser2a 24v 88" FFR Land Rover has an engine that is painted in a very pale grey / blue tint colour (almost grey) and has the remnance of some stenciled numbers in white on the side of the engine block (manifold side).

The 40amp Generator and screened dizzy are in a satin/ gloss black paint finish and after a little rubbing back this appears to the original base / top coat to these parts.

I see many vehicles at shows where the engine, dizzy and generator all all painted in the turquoise engine paint. I have seen this on a few Austin Champs, which pre-date my land rovers vintage!

The engine appears totally genuine as well as the ancillaries, but I wondered as and when the REME painted engines and ancills.

Any steers would be gratefully appreciated.

[Adrian Barrell]

Eu-de-nil was the colour used on rebuilt engines and transmissions by the British Army. This colour was being used soon after the war if not during and before. My Sherman engine had traces of it. It is a grey-green colour, BS 216.

It is not the current colour, that is the pale blue you mention but it too is used on rebuilt assemblies. Normally everything is painted includind ancilleries so maybe your parts were fitted as sub assemblies.

[fesm_ndt]

isnt the new blue, duck egg blue?

I always thought that was interesting as never seen a blue egg, except for tin foil wrapped ones the Easter bunny leaves

[antarmike]

I had a chicken that laid blue eggs, She was blue also.

[Rover8FFR]

Interesting!

I know the landy was built at Solihull and then sent to CVD Hilton for finishing.

I know that the Rover 8 & 9's were the first true band of military landrovers that were developed with a lot of the specialist parts physically fitted on the production line in Birmingham.

Previously the REME would have taken a standard series 1 or 2 and adapted it from what was a domestic landrover.

Looking at some of the holes drilled through body parts/ panels the install at CVD would I am sure have been regarding the radios install and ancillaries, cables etc.

The very pale golour on the engine is very pale indeed, but really grey with a hint of????. It may be that the generator and dizzy pack were fitted at CVD, but would they not have been the turquoise colour?

I believed that the gen and dizzy pack were fitted to the landy on the production line at Solihull.

[fesm_ndt]

I had a chicken that laid blue eggs, She was blue also.

Is it off topic to ask where to get those mushrooms from?

Anyway Clive will come in soon as I read his paint book and he will tell me its quail egg or something

- plus where to get the mushrooms from

[Rover8FFR]

I have a photo on PC of the gen pack with original black finish.

The rectifiers at the front are in standard black finish as per manufactured by CAV

[Rover8FFR]

I have traces of what I believe to be BS216 Eau de Nil in the rear Tub, just behind the seats, which I don't think was standard is this colour BS216 as the colour swatches on line are a little poor?

Thanks

[fv1609]

The colour for most postwar engines is Sky Blue BSC381C 101. Although I suspect that many B Series engines & ancillaries were originally black. The original colour of engines when they came from Rover is a subject of much debate though.

Yes I agree the CAV 40A system was black. I have the regulator on my lap at the moment. Whether that was by chance or for heat radiation purposes I don't know, but certainly important for the selinium rectifier to shed as much heat as possible as it would fail to function above 80 deg C, whereas silicon rectifiers can function at 200 deg C.

[ruxy]

Your body panels inc. behind the seats would probably have been sprayed with this paint , subsequent coats would follow by brush. Like NATO IRR over several years it fades right down , behind your seat backs - use a bit of T cut to reveal.