Engine Bay Colour

Can anyone tell me what colour the engine bay and front luggage compartment is supposed to be finished in. Mine is a satin black yet I have seen many examples of early cars with these areas finished in the body colour. How did they leave the factory?

Thanks for your replies

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Paul
911T'69

[This message has been edited by Paul W (edited 06-13-2000).]

Yes, I would be very keen to know this too. My luggage compartment is body colour, and looks like original paint. The engine bay is black, although I'm not sure if it's satin or gloss- just old. There is silver wearing through the black where years of oil has taken its toll. I have a feeling Porsche may have changed their minds on colours over the years, so it may be dependent on the exact model.I've seen both black and body colour too on various cars. There must be some concours freaks out there that can confirm!

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'72 911 TE

I'm not a concourse freak but now that my engine is out, I can confirm that the trunk and engine bay are both body colour.



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'80 911-SC Targa

Paul and Matt:

When we went to Stuttgart to pick up our car, a 911SC, we toured the factory, and saw the old paint line. Since then, they have installed a new, water-based-paint shop, and it's somewhat different now. But I doubt that they have changed the procedure any.

The engine compartment as well as the luggage compartment should be the same color as the outside of the body. The factory places the raw shell and all of the body panels, from doors to bumpers to sunroof to lids into the same spray booth, and sprays everything at the same time. This way all of your body parts will match. We did not see them spray any other color in the engine compartment.

If your car has, or you have seen, engine compartments which are different than the body, then the Previous Owner has done that, not the factory. The factory uses a different texture inside those two copartments, but not a difference color...Andras

Thanks for the responses guys, looks like Matt and I own vehicles which are the victims of creative PO’s, seemingly a recurring theme on this board.

I intend to have the engine bay of my car stripped and painted next time the engine is out and want it finished as per original. Any clues as to the textured finish originally used?


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Paul
911T'69

I'm still not convinced Paul. The other guys have more recent models, and what Andras describes sounds right for the SC's. It makes economic sense to paint everything the same colour, but they did different things back in the 60's and 70's. For example, my doors, on the inside, have a satin black finish around the perimeter of the door trims which also looks very factory, and that would have been a hassle to do. For the PO to paint the entire engine bay black would have necessitated removal of everything including the CDS unit etc, and I doubt that anyone would do that for a quick clean up with a black spray can. Also, the rear firewall is black too and has the remainder of the glue/foam that held the sound insulation(?) in place OVER the top of the black. Aside from an ancient doors-closed repaint (hence the upcoming bare metal respray) I'm 98% convinced all the finishes on my car are factory, including underseal/ seal round wheel arch lips etc. I just want to get the respray colours absolutely correct. What body colour do you have Paul? It may be the engine bay black was reserved for the lighter colours? Just guessing. Come on experts!

Matt I must admit I’ve had the same thoughts. My car originally was a horrible beige (very light brown) which was changed to guards red. The respray was done properly, bare metal strip along with doors and glass. V.hard to fing any evidence of the original body colour and the engine bay finish looks much older than the rest of the paintwork of the car.

So now the call goes out to some of the other early P guys (Marc?). Warren what about your car? If my memory serves correctly you bought your car (’73) in the mid 70’s so you would expect it would at least originally have been stock. With the amount of time you’ve spent under the hood I’m sure you’d have noticed the finish!


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Paul
911T'69

I think Andras' procedure matches pictures of the paint shop I have seen from the '60, and even the '50's, and my '73 validates it back that far, anyway, as have '65-'69 cars I have examined in white, red, green, gray, and black ... both trunk and engine compartment matching body color, though with a bit less oxidation in recent years! I believe the 'finish' inside those compartments is a variation on the 'Tectyl' undercoating material.

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Well Matt I guess that settles it. I know its been said again and again but this is a great resource

Thanks to all who responded.

Regards,


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Paul
911T'69

My experience is with three cars I know to have been original paint: '67S red coupe bought in '71, '71T silver coupe bought in '73 and a '73S black Targa bought in '77. All had body color engine compartments and trunks.( I still have the '73S). Hope this helps.

>>(Hastily retracts all previous comments and changes order for 1 liter of satin black to one more litre of silver metallic at local paint supplier).
Ok, I'll admit defeat. It's not that I wanted a black engine bay you understand!
Does anyone know a good solvent to remove black paint that would also do to remove red colour from face?
Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Matt:

I don't mean to be flip with this comment, but you could use brake fluid. I know Warren will not approve (he's rejected this once before), and I'm not sure I would ever do this on my car, but every time I read about being careful to not get brake fluid on the paint of a car, I realize that brake fluid is a great solvent for paint.

However, I'm not advocating spraying brake fluid around willy nilly - why not just try a little brake fluid with a small brush on your paint in the compartment, and see if it works. By brushing it on carefully, you might achieve success. And brake fluid will do no harm to rubber, plastic, etc. However, it might not do anything to your red face - you'll probably have to see a doctor about that - it's called rosecea (Just kidding!!!)...Andras

Following your advice Andras, I rigged up a garden weed sprayer with brake fluid and sprayed the entire engine bay with the mixture. Nobody mentions that it melts magnesium, so if anyone has a spare 2.4 motor and injection unit, give me a buzz

Laughs aside, there is definately silver under the black. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I was almost completely convinced (after listening to all this great advice)that body colour was correct for the engine bay.
Then my new best buddy Cameron Baudinet, a fellow NZer who I met through this BBS (Black 2.7 S in state of rebuild)popped by to my garage over the weekend armed with a few concourse pics of a '71 in Flame Orange.....with the dreaded black engine bay.

Now I don't know again. Maybe, just maybe, it was a popular Kustom mod in the 70's. But did the factory ever do it????

Matt,
I do not claim to be any expert,
my 85 has body color. I have seen cars both ways; body color and black. Not sure what determined it originally but I'd go with whatever you'd like it to be.
my $0.02 worth.



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TonyE
85 911 wide-body cab.

The factory, when they were building their one-off superlight race specials, and the 911 R, would not paint anything else than the exterior of the car. The interiors were left in that black coating that still covers todays spare body parts. Maybe the trend was picked up after seeing these race cars in magazines?
Just a suggestion, GeorgeK