Britbike forum Forums Thread Like Summary - Colour match for green Amal TT paint?

Does anyone have a colour match for the light green colour that Amal used to paint some TT carburettor bodies and floats?

And can anyone tell me why they painted some and not others?

Reflective color matching is an art. It requires an understanding of why color changes depending upon the source of light illuminating the object. The top picture is as the iPhone caught the light from incandescent bulbs.

What you see on your computer is influenced by the color balance of your terminal.

The lower picture was brought into photoshop and adjusted closer to what I was seeing (with no tint of green) when I took the picture. The carb bodies were more light silver than even the lower picture interprets the body color.

While I appreciate what people are looking for. You must understand to make comparisons of reflective color the original, and the copy, must be viewed under the same light source. View color under sunlight and it will look different under flash, strobe, incandescent, LED and fluorescent and the color temperature of each. As I said above this was a question asked some 40 years ago, according to Barry Johnston they used whatever color supplied by IMI company stores. And when you look at a draw full of GP and TT carbs under the same light source they vary a lot.

Attached Images

I always thought the coating was a varnish type that was sprayed or brushed on. I've seen some carb bodies that even had runs in the coating.





Bill B...

I found six different ones for the GP and GP.2 and two for the TT, but a very quick flip through them didn't show any mention of finish. I'll have more time to look 90 min. from now (but by then might have forgotten ...).

I'll see your 270 and raise you 61. This was the reading in Melbourne when we were visiting potential lenders there in January.



However, we only had to breathe that toxic air for a day, while you people on the west coast have been living it for a lot longer than that.


p.s. I only read the two TT brochures, because that's what you asked about, and neither mentions cosmetics, like possible paint or plating.

Attached Images

As the owner of the 10TT9 pictured below, I can vouch for the accuracy of the color rendition:


BDE35D6F-5288-49DF-BD70-A4037610C871 by First Last, on Flickr
/quote]

Further, having owned that carb for the past 38 years, I can say that the only thing that's happened to the color is that its intensity may have faded slightly.

BTW, for anyone who may be interested, I have that 10TT9 up for sale currently, along with a GP1.
Cheers,
. Gregg

Eastwood sell various carb paints/lacquers including a bronze translucent acrylic enamel which might work, see This Link

This is meant to replicate the original zinc chromate plating but whether thats what Amal used is anyones guess.

Thanks, I’ll add those to my image collection. My fuel proof comment stemmed from this.. although considering the length of exposure ( dribbling out the vent) it likely would have be resistant to a reasonable degree. I was just being.....

46DC0EB7-FBEC-4C00-AF55-3E9CBB2C9069 by First Last, on Flickr


I have a rather rare TT that has a broken spring clip and the “air funnel” as they call it is seized. A strap wrench doesn’t have enough bite to break it free, so I tried an experiment with one out of the parts drawer that was suffering from the same problem. The nut was lose, but damaged from someone using a pipe wrench and it has a mismatched jet block.

Submerged the air tunnel in molten Cerrobend. When solidified put in the freezer overnight. An aluminum bar that was a reasonably snug fit in the slide bore was heated on the stove and installed in order to help quickly heat the carb body, give a bit of leverage and help prevent in warping or distortion when rotating the body. A propane torch was also used to add heat to the body. The large lump of cold Cerrobend kept the air tunnel from expanding. Turned the carb body off which took a fair amount of force. Threads were “ok”, and there was black material that could have been some sort of thread locker. Put the can with the air tunnel back in the oven. The Cerrobend is more dense that aluminum, so the tunnel just bobs up to the surface. Turned the hash marks off the nut and used an end mill to clean up the slots.


15138F06-474E-499A-8E1D-015756F07052 by First Last, on Flickr

0380D52A-4365-4BB6-9D08-E812F7C5B5BB by First Last, on Flickr

4DDFC3D6-A145-444A-A3EC-8A67105E5A19 by First Last, on Flickr

5755BC18-042A-4C61-92E1-92CE6A4D13C4 by First Last, on Flickr

That velocity tube locking nut can be a stubborn one to undo if the carb has been exposed to the elements for a long time. I fabricated a simple wrench for dealing with it.



Parking meters this time for the robot question.

VHT make an engine enamel spray paint which may work and is available your side of the pond, see This Link.

They claim the paint has superior chemical and temp resistance and is fuel proof. There is a range of colours available including universal gold which might just be a match for your carbs.

Me too if having a CNC water jet. Actually though that wrench tool was made by hand. Sometimes, too much idle time will spawn innovation.