Cam covers

[nilocp]

What different colours have been used on the cam covers on the twin cam engines.
I am sure someone will know?

Colin

[twincamman]

it usually means the owner of the car had some matching paint from the last paint job --- --ed

[elans3]

Hi, colours have been black, red, lotus green, and I believe maybe the metallic blue on one of the Cortina / Escort Twincam variants, although I may be wrong, the green being on Elan SE's 118 bhp engine. If you have the Robinshaw book, it lists the different colours and which colour went with which engine, and Elan model,
Regards

[nilocp]

Sorry I do not have the book.

Perhaps if it is not too much trouble you could list them all??

Or tell me which colour for my '67 +2

Many thansk

Colin

[elans3]

Hi Colin, Assuming your engine is a Weber / Dellorto headed one, and not a Stromberg or big valve one, (shouldn't be as a '67 head), the book says it should be red. If it is a Stromberg headed car, then it would be black, provided it has always been a British car. The only difference would be if it were a big valve one, then it would be painted black, but it would obviously be a cam cover with the "big valve" script on the cover.
The green was only ever on the baby elan in S2 or S3 form.
Hope that helps
Regards

[nilocp]

Yes it is a Weber head, British car, chassis no 24!!

So Red it is , but what is the shade?

Colin

[elans3]

Colin, best to talk to either Paul Matty, or the archivist at the Lotus Factory at Hethel. Always found them very obliging. Never had to buy the red, a mine have been on baby elan's and have been Lotus Green,
Regards

[Elanintheforest]

Have a look at the Frost Website, under Paint...they have a Red crackle finish which I believe is a good match.
It's on about the 6th paint page, and is ?7 a can.

http://www.frost.co.uk/

And the end result should look something like this:
Mark

[nilocp]

Mark, so is it supposed to be a crackle finish then?

Colin

[Elanintheforest]

Colin...yes it was crackle (or wrinkle) finish originally, if it was black or red. The earlier cars, which were green or blue, were hammertone (as in hammerite paint). I guess it's because the cam cover is rough cast with some smooth bits, the crackle finish makes it an even texture all over.
Sorry you've been drip-fed the information...but got there in the end!
Here's another picture showing a better representation of the colour...it's a kind of poppy...a very bright red with a hint of orange.
Mark

[nilocp]

mark, and everone else, thanks for all the good info.

I will nip over to Frost on Monday and get some red crackle aerosol.

Many thanks

Colin

[pereirac]

The big valve Sprints had black ribbed covers with Weber carbs and red ribbed covers with Dellortos

Carl

[types26/36]

The big valve Sprints had black ribbed covers with Weber carbs and red ribbed covers with DellortosCarl

Not true! most Domestic (U.K.) Sprints (126BHP Dellorto's) had black cam covers, dispite what Wilkins says, red is a bit ambiquious and my understanding is a red big valve engine had a lower compression ratio and were destined for overseas markets.
I have had a Europa B/V and I have a Sprint (both Dellorto)
both original with black cam covers.

[M100]

Brian, I agree with you on the Big Valve Dellorto covers, Miles is almost certainly wrong. Mine's like that and I've nothing in any documentation to indicate it was ever red - the car was in a very original state when I bought it 22 years ago.

Somewhere, and I can't recall where at the moment, I read/heard that the European spec Dellorto carb models had red cam covers.

[elansprint71]

Agree with Martin.... Brian is correct (as usual) and Wilkins is wrong (not for the first time ).

Cheers,
Pete