Factory painted them- back then they were mild steel- rusted unless painted.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Next time I wouldn't bother painting the clutch housing. And the gearbox (although that looks good painted). As when fooling around with bleeding clutch, filling up master cylinders and the accidental spill, my clutch cover has lots of lfaked and crapped out paint. Looks good with no paint, or with paint but not bits of paint and bits without.

But, above all the best mini engine I've ever seen is painted in metallic blue (2pak) all over and looks awesome.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

I paint the head sperately - for a reason.

Then I turn the assembled block upside down (minus things I dont want painted, dizzy etc) so that its resting on the flat surface. I then paint it with the harmonic balancer off, replace the harmonic balance and paint it. I dont worry about the little bit of over-spray that my find its way in.

Why ???? - I do it that way because it much easier to lift a gearbox upside down onto an upside down engine block than visa versa. Once the gearbox it attached and bolted down (not too tightly yet) the assembly can be turned over (or lifted down from a bench and turned over) and the assembly continued (including the cylinder head). I dont tighten the gearbox bolts (and nuts) until the clutch housing is in position and then nip them all up together and evenly so that the clutch housing, gearbox etc are all a neat fit. I also use aviation gasket goo for assembly.

Something I learnt from Doogie is that a milk crate makes an excellent assembly stand and you can sit on a mechanic stool while you are doing most of the assembly. Doogie also tells me that a car without wheels sit comfortabley for a week on a milk crate at each corner before it begins to sag.

I dont paint the gearbox because as someone said - it quickly gets chipped by road use.

Is there a brush on engine paint or is it a matter of sraying the can into a container and brushing it on ??
I would prefer to brush paint my engine also.

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