Valve cover color?

Early cars (L & M series) had magnesium valve covers (not unfinished aluminum covers like later cars), chemically treated to preserve them from corroding. The treatment did not result is a consistent color as the chemicals used to treat them were influenced by numerous environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, etc). They were NOT painted. When mine were restored, it took several attempts to get to an `acceptable' tone.

All the other engine bay parts you mentioned were finished in a smooth satin/matte black paint.

Buy Matthias Bartz's Dino Compendium book...it's the `bible' reference for any Dino owner.

 

Ron rightly points out that earlier cars like a 1970 would have DOW7 Dichromate Finish on the cam covers and this finish can vary greatly from brown to green to gold in colour depending on the day and atmospheric conditions of the dichromate bath. DOW7 is intended to be a sacrificial or primer layer to prevent atmospheric corrosion of the magnesium cam covers. Ferrari just left this coating on and shipped the cars with no top coat to the DOW7. Later cars starting in late 1971 got aluminum cam covers that would have been unpainted and just raw cast aluminum.

As for the brake calipers they would not have been painted ever. Early cars with knock off wheels had silver cadmium finish on the calipers while later cars (5 bolt wheel) cars received ATE calipers which would have been yellow zinc (looks gold) in finish.

Buy Matthias' Dino Compendium. No Dino owner is complete without it.

 

Yes, it really is a wonderful book!

 

The early dinos had no finish on the magnesium cam covers, distributor mount or end caps. If you look at the period photos of the 246 engines at the factory in the book "Ferrari the Factory, Maranellos Secrets" by Karl Ludvigsen, you can plainly see the bare grey mag parts on the new engines awaiting installation, and the bare aluminum part on the later 246 engines.

Please show me any period photos of any 246 Mag parts with a protective coating. I have disassembled many of these engines and have never seen any trace of a protective coating on the inside or outside of any of the mag parts.

 

I’m sorry but this is incorrect. The use of the Dow7 process is well established and is an annodic coating that encapsulates the part. The coating is incredibly thin and essentially has no dimension. Without it the magnesium would corrode quite quickly. Fresh cast magnesium is quite bright and the original cam covers, end plates, and oil fillers were dull grey, green, gold, or brown depending on the Dow7 process of the day.

 

Wasn't DOW 7 better known for being the color of Ferrari racing wheels in late '60's/early 70's, such as the Dino and 330 P3/4 era?
Anyone have a photo of the color rendered by Dow 7?
Thank you if you do.


Regarding Dino Compendium, Matthias may almost be out of stock, recommend picking one up soon too.
What will folks do when they can not get a compendium?
I would not wait, best get one while you can

 

or pay through the nose from a retailer!

http://www.hortonsbooks.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1493

 

The racing wheels in that era were AFAIK painted gold and not raw Dow7 although the wheels would likely have received a Dow7 process prior to being painted. Raw Dow7 was used extensively in the US with hot rodders in the 50’s and 60’s mainly on wheels and sometimes on engine parts and superchargers. Google Dow7 Halibrand wheels, Dow7 wheels, or Dow7 supercharger and you’ll get lots of pictures

 

All of the per

I would agree that they were coated dull grey, but never green, gold or brown. I have seen factory magnesium race castings that were coated green, gold and brown, and I can tell you that none of the production road car 246 cam covers were ever coated with these colors. In your post#4, you do not mention that dull grey was the proper color.

 

If they were coated with Dow7, then they should still have that coating on them under the paint. If you strip the paint off using stripper and not an abrasive process (bead blasting), then I would assume that the original finish would be underneath the paint. If the finish is uneven or was previously blasted, then you will need to have them recoated.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here’s an unrestored left side magnesium valve cover that’s on eBay. Dated 1971. Unsure if a 206GT and early 246GT would use the same part.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FERRARI-Dino-246-MAGNESIUM-Left-Valve-Cover-Sinistra-Fiat-p-n-135B/183635334376?hash=item2ac184d4e8:g:j5UAAOSwLeFcO8EX

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login


Here you can see Porsche werks 908 and 917 motors with the magnesium in a Dow 7 coating. Colors range from grey to olive to brown. I would imagine it has much to do with the specific magnesium reaction.

 

Dow no longer offers Dow #7. Platers who do aerospace work offer the equivalent process. The color will vary according to the casting itself and length of time being treated.

 

Below is an image of M series Dino #01150 as pictured in the original period sales brochure for the Dino. In this image the cam covers are clearly seen as being a brown/bronze colour and there are plenty of other surfaces in the image to reference the colour off of. This is not to say that all the cam covers would have been this colour as the Dow7 process is, as already stated, not consistent. From my experience the cam covers vary a lot in colour including 'grey' although the underlying colour tones include traces of gold, bronze, or green/olive. Many shades of grey out there...I believe they even made a movie about it

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Time to order half a dozen - no, make that a dozen - from Matthias and put them away for future resale!

 

Rob, I would call the color in the photo above grey. Sure there may be subtle traces of brown/bronze/green in the mix, but the main color is grey. The finish in the period photo is really nice, have you seen a modern plater that can duplicate it?

The old cam cover in the photo above has this same grey coating, although you can see the white oxidation, which is the magnesium corroding. Magnesium not only corrodes on the outside surface, but from the inside as well, making vintage magnesium wheels something to be very wary of.

 

Has anyone found a way to clean/preserve the original Dow 7 coating? Here is a pair of mine. I wiped a spot with Magic Wadding and hit it again with brake cleaner. That didn't hurt anything but doesn't look like the way to go.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Back when I had a Dino, a previous owner sprayed them incorrect crinkle black. When I was having some engine work done the shop removed them and restored them. After removing the paint, I think they put them in some sort of tumbler with a media of rocks or pebbles or something. When they were done they looked perfect.

 

WD40?

 

I was considering WD40. Don't see how it would hurt. One cover has crystals that would be nice to remove without abrasion.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login

On my 911 motor, the shop cleaned the fan assembly and uses WD-40 to give it an OEM finish.

 

Already done