Painting a Lister D

I've currently got my lister stripped and was wondering the best way to paint it? Do I keep all the parts seperated and paint or do I build it back up to a basic engine and paint? Any suggestions many thanks

Hi Gooch
I think it's fair to say it depends on the engine and the level of finish you're after and of course your own finishing skills and how much you are prepared to throw at it in terms of money and time, which brings me back to " it depends on the engine" . I tend to adopt a sort of halfway house approach and if it was my lister d I would assemble the block / head / governor / hopper and carb and spray these as one unit as they are usually the same colour and unlikely to be disturbed again. I would then spray any other bits like hopper cover rocker cover etc and assemble them with unpainted but clean nuts and washers so they can be removed if necessary without damage to paint.

Any opinions on using 2 pack paint people ?

sdarmstrong wrote:Any opinions on using 2 pack paint people ?

I brush painted a Ruston PT with twin pack and it has lasted well, but then again my other engines etc have been brush painted with ordinary machiney enamel at less than half the cost of two pack and they are still in good order! So it is up to you really, Listers brush painted their engines after assembly and didn't use expensive paint.

Pete.

As I work in the motor industry and a painter myself. I will be rust proofing, primer, 2pac base and then lacquer still undecided on colour as yet

gooch5058 wrote:As I work in the motor industry and a painter myself. I will be rust proofing, primer, 2pac base and then lacquer still undecided on colour as yet

Nice to see someone takes the trouble - and I bet the finish will be good - load a few pics - I'm an oily rag man myself - no space to do a decent job but I appreciate others doing it and might just follow your lead one day - if yours looks good

best

Hamish

personally i like the look of everything painted separately, but as said, its fully up to you. I've seen some engines (probably painted to sell) where they paint over every thing, springs, split pins, lovely brass greasers, everything. not a good look close up!

callum12 wrote:personally i like the look of everything painted separately, but as said, its fully up to you. I've seen some engines (probably painted to sell) where they paint over every thing, springs, split pins, lovely brass greasers, everything. not a good look close up!

You are so right - what in the world makes people think that by painting the entire engine (all pins copper etc included) that it would be attractive to an engine man/woman.... I really like those engines on ebay - where the picture is of some poor engine that probably looked great in its old rags, sitting on the newspaper where its just had a bucket of paint thrown over it

hey ho!

I couldn't decide whether or not to paint my Lister D, that's how 'Before and After' came about:      

 

To be honest, I like to dismantle my engines for painting, brush paint them and rebuild them once the paint has hardened off enough.  I give the nuts and bolts a single, thin coat of engine enamel, then carefully add a couple more coats of paint to them once the engine has been built up.  The downside is that I sometimes have to flat them down and repaint them after undoing them for servicing (such as taking off the crankcase door), but the upside is that the engine probably looks more like it did when it left the factory, as I doubt many engine manufacturers left many crankcase nuts and bolts unpainted.  It's all a matter of personal taste though.