412 Engine Compartment Color?

MGVWfan · Post by **MGVWfan** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 5:02 pm

Anyone have info on rattle-can paint in a color close to the standard 412 engine compartment shade of electric green? The Nomad is a bit ratty looking, and while the engine's out I'd like to de-rust and repaint, without having to drag a compressor and spray gun into the garage.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:57 am

Uh....the engine compartmebnt color was ALWAYS body color. That electric green was probably the peacock green the car came in occasionally. Very nice color. It brings me to a question. When I get mine painted...its not just an issue of wether to pull the engine. On the 411/412 sedan...everything would have to come out...wiring hoses boots etc....to paint the engine compartment. My issue may be with the tust of the people who paint. I have often thought of just a standard light ....or dark color, to paint the engine compartment...except for the engine lid which would be painted body color off the car. I have also thought about using something uniform like a bed liner. Thoughts please. Ray

MGVWfan · Post by **MGVWfan** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:45 pm

Thanks for the reply Ray. Funny thing, I've seen another car with this exact engine compartment color, and I think it was an ACVW, but I can't remember for sure. I agree, it's unusual to paint the engine compartment something other than body color, most cars I've seen are dipped or sprayed in one color during final assembly.

Body color on this 412 (as attested to by the factory sticker in the front trunk) is L96M, Marathonblau, Diamant-Zweischisht (I think that translates to Marathon Blue, Diamond- Two-stage, if my GI German is still good)...so that means someone painted the engine compartment a non-body color.

Your questions are valid...I think the real discriminator is a color that's readily obtainable, easy to apply, and sufficiently heat-resistant to hold up well. I'd think high-heat low-gloss black would be best, unless something close to the body color is available in high-heat paint (like Hemi orange/red, Ford blue, etc.). Not sure about bedliner holding up to the heat, though it is a resilient surface material.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:21 pm

Yes...thats the same color as my 412. It is...as you noted..."marathon/diamond blue metallic" two stage..meaning meaning with clear coat. Yes...you have the same inside engine compartment as I do. Its a very strange green. The marathon blue and its clear coat get baked to that strange green color. This means your car was painted some other color....as its original color was ..like mine...a very pretty silver/blue metallic. The original bears no resemblence to the green it bakes out to. This is originally almost identical to one of the Porsche very light metallic blues. Great color. Thats why I question wether I want to put it back into the engine compartment. I now know what it will turn to over a few years. Thats why I'm thinking of putting something neutral in there. Ray

MGVWfan · Post by **MGVWfan** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:23 pm

Ah, so it's heat that changes the factory-applied body color (when it's marathon blue) to that strange electric green color over the years. I'll bet it was the 411 in the junkyard I frequent that had the same color in the engine bay, it's also a marathon blue car (code L96, not "M").

Yeah, I like the blue metallic clear coat original color of the 412...it's in flawless, unmolested state on the bottom of the front trunk lid, and it's really pretty. When I get around to repainting the car, I'l going to paint the body the same color as original. Metallic colors are a real pain to spray well, but I agree, the color is very pretty when it's done well.

As for the engine compartment, I'm thinking of painting it low-gloss high-temp black enamel, that should hold up and keep the metal protected. It also doesn't change colors when it's exposed to heat.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:10 pm

Yep..we are thinking alonhg the same lines. I had almost thought of removing every thing and spraying in a bed liner. Yep...in the front trunk...the paint is pristine. Very pretty color. The M stands for metallic from what I understand. Iwonder...did they make a non-metallic marathon blue? I'll have to look in the paint codes section.

That reminds me.....and yes this is getting iffy...but....for the registry. What I would love to do, is have all of those who have nice paint ...stock paint in their trunks....drop by a paintshop...and have their color "read" by a dupont spectro-densitometer. its that funky elctronic box that many paint shops have. It is not actually made "by" dupont. It is made for them by X-rite. It is simply an adaptation of a standard hand held spectrophotometer/densitometer....identical to those used by lith printers world wide. X-rite happens to be the primary company that makes them. The diference is...that the dupont model contains software that is based around the hue, chroma and specific gravity of the base mixing paints for numerous enamels in the dupont line. Once it cancels out for spectral gloss (in the case of a clear coat)...it reads out Hue, Grayness, density and...formula... based upon Duponts enamels. I think it costs at some places...which it should not...since it takes 10 seconds and costs nothing....like $25-35 ..but if people with excellent unbleached, un-molested paint all had their samples read...then we could put the formulas in the archive. Just a thought. Ray

MGVWfan · Post by **MGVWfan** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:49 pm

Good idea...when the Nomad is running again, I'll find a place that has the DuPont device and get them to read it.