Rover V8 engine colours

All-aluminium pushrod V8 bought from Buick, tooled up at Solihull and built from 1967 into the P5B, the P6B 3500 and the SD1. Because the block is bare alloy the colour question on this engine is about the grey on the rocker covers, inlet manifold and air elbows, and no source found states a factory reference for that grey.

Also known as: Rover 3.5, 3528cc V8, Buick 215 derivative

Records

Rover engine grey

Rover V8 3528cc · 1967–1976 · rocker-cover, gloss · Solihull

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusDisputedLast verified 2026-09-20

Not yet measured. The patch will appear once a spectrophotometer reading is recorded.

What is disputed

Nobody disputes that it is grey. What is disputed is which grey, and whether there was ever one grey to find. Candidate matches offered by owners who have compared them against their own engines are RAL basalt grey, Ford dove grey, and Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh grey. One member says basalt grey is less blue than the shade many people choose, which places the field along a grey-to-blue-grey axis rather than at a point. Two separate observations undercut the idea of a single answer: a member who owns three original air cleaner elbows reports that all three are different shades of grey, and another attributes that spread to BLMC buying paint at the best price rather than to a specification. A forum staff member states plainly that he has never seen an actual paint number for the Rover engine grey. No factory document, parts book or club technical page giving the colour was found for this page. RAL 7012 is named in one thread, but as the code a member matched his own powder coating to, not as a Rover reference, and it has deliberately not been entered in nearest_ral for that reason.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Rover P5B	1967–1973
Rover P6B 3500	1968–1976

Modern matches

No modern match on sale yet.

Notes

The same grey is stated by these sources for the inlet manifold and for the air inlet elbows and flame trap; the manifold has its own record and the elbows and flame trap do not, because the sources treat the elbows less as a component to be matched than as the reference sample everyone matches to. That is worth knowing before buying paint: the accepted way to establish this colour is to find an unmolested elbow or flame trap, not to look up a code. Finish is recorded as gloss because a source states the grey engine parts were always gloss finished, not because of the site's default. The years span the P5B and P6B together because no source found distinguishes the colour between them; the SD1 is absent from this record because no source on the SD1's engine colour could be read. A member also advises painting the air cleaner canister gloss black, but he frames it as making the engine look right rather than as a statement about how it left the factory, so it has not been made a record. RAL 7012 and basalt grey are the same colour: basalt grey is the RAL name for 7012.

Sources

forum: Rover P5 Club Forum: Paint on engine rocker covers — A member states that the original paint on the P5B rocker covers was enamel and that the colour is as near as you can get to the air filter elbows; the same member reports owning three original air cleaner elbows that are all different shades of grey. Another member reports using a RAL basalt grey, says it matched what he had originally, and that it is less blue than the shade many people choose
forum: Rover P5 Club Forum: V8 ENGINE GREY — Members compare candidate matches for the grey on the rocker covers, inlet manifold, air filter tubes and flame trap: RAL basalt grey, Ford dove grey described as fairly close but a shade lighter than the original, and Massey Ferguson or Stoneleigh grey. One member states the grey engine parts were always gloss finished and nobody contradicts him. Another attributes the variation in shade to BLMC buying paint on price rather than to any specification. No factory document is cited by anyone
forum: Classic Rover Forum, P6 Section, Rover P5 and P6 V8 Engine: rocker cover colours — An owner painting a Series 1 P6B V8 asks what grey to use for the rockers; a forum staff member answers that he has never seen an actual paint number for the Rover engine grey, recalls it once being sold in a spray can, and advises matching rockers, elbows and inlet manifold to each other. Other members suggest a proprietary grey engine enamel, a home mix of black and white, and powder coating in a grey said to be a very close match
community: Mid-Century Living: Painting the Rover P5B Intake Manifold — A restorer writes that Rover originally painted the intake manifold, rocker covers and air inlet elbows a mid-grey, says he chose Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh Grey M31 after research as the nearest he could get, and acknowledges that Rover were probably not careful about the colour and that the question is unsettled on the owners' forum
community: Wikipedia, Rover V8 engine — Gives the engine as the ex-Buick 215 all-aluminium pushrod V8, tooling acquired in January 1965, British production from 1967 at Solihull, and its Rover car applications as P5B 1967 to 1973, P6B 3500 1968 to 1976 and SD1 1976 to 1987

History

2026-09-05 · Draft researched from public sources; unverified
2026-09-20 · Four of the cited threads read again and the record checked against them. An unverified detail about a powder coater removed from the dispute notes. Published

Suggest a correction to this record

Rover engine grey

Rover V8 3528cc · 1967–1976 · manifold, gloss · Solihull

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusDisputedLast verified 2026-09-20

Not yet measured. The patch will appear once a spectrophotometer reading is recorded.

What is disputed

The manifold shares the rocker covers' problem exactly: the sources agree it is grey and disagree on which grey, with RAL basalt grey, Ford dove grey and Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh grey all put forward by owners matching against their own parts. A member who owns three original air cleaner elbows says the three are different shades, and another puts that down to BLMC's purchasing rather than to a specification, so it is possible that no single correct shade exists to be found. No factory or club document naming the colour was located, and no paint code, RAL number or BS 381C number has been entered.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Rover P5B	1967–1973
Rover P6B 3500	1968–1976

Modern matches

No modern match on sale yet.

Notes

This record exists separately from the rocker cover because the inlet manifold is a large casting a restorer looks up on its own, and because one source names the manifold specifically rather than as part of a group. The colour is the same and the evidence largely the same, so a reviewer who prefers a single row for the whole top end should feel free to merge them. Finish recorded as gloss on a source's statement rather than on the site's default. On a later injected engine the equivalent part is the plenum, and a member advises painting it grey to match the early P6B look; that is advice about appearance on a non-original engine, not evidence about a factory finish, and it is not what this record rests on. RAL 7012 and basalt grey are the same colour: basalt grey is the RAL name for 7012.

Sources

community: Mid-Century Living: Painting the Rover P5B Intake Manifold — A restorer states that Rover originally painted the intake manifold a mid-grey, along with the rocker covers and air inlet elbows, and that he used Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh Grey M31 as the nearest match he could find after research
forum: Rover P5 Club Forum: V8 ENGINE GREY — The inlet manifold is named alongside the rocker covers, air filter tubes and flame trap as one of the grey engine parts, which a member states were always gloss finished
forum: Classic Rover Forum, P6 Section, Rover P5 and P6 V8 Engine: rocker cover colours — A forum staff member advises painting the rockers, elbows and inlet manifold in the same grey so that any difference from the original will not be noticeable, and says he has never seen an actual paint number for the Rover engine grey
forum: Classic Rover Forum, P6 Section, Rover P5 and P6 V8 Engine: engine swap for 3.9 into p6 v8 series one 1970 — In a thread about fitting a later injected 3.9 to a Series 1 P6B, a member advises painting the plenum and rockers grey as per the early P6, treating grey as the recognised early P6B appearance
community: Wikipedia, Rover V8 engine — Used for the engine's origin, British production from 1967 at Solihull, and the P5B and P6B year ranges this record is scoped to

History

2026-09-05 · Draft researched from public sources; unverified
2026-09-20 · Four of the cited threads read again and the record checked against them. An unverified detail about a powder coater removed from the dispute notes. Published

Suggest a correction to this record

What the factory did

The Rover V8 arrived as Buick's all-aluminium 215. Rover took the tooling in January 1965, put the engine into British production at Solihull in 1967, and fitted it to the P5B from 1967, the P6B 3500 from 1968 and the SD1 from 1976.

Its aluminium block changes what the colour question even means. On a cast-iron engine the question is what colour the block was; here the block is bare alloy, and nothing we have found says otherwise. What owners argue about instead is the grey on the parts that sit on top of it: the rocker covers, the inlet manifold, the air inlet elbows and the flame trap. Sources consulted here agree that those were grey and that the grey was gloss, one member stating flatly that the grey engine parts were always gloss finished, with nobody in that thread contradicting him.

Beyond grey and gloss, the factory record is empty. A forum staff member who has spent years on these engines says he has never seen an actual paint number for the Rover engine grey, and recalls only that it was once sold in a spray can. We have found no factory document, parts book or club technical page that names the colour.

What changed, and when

Nothing sourced. The P5B and P6B share one record for each component here because no source we have read distinguishes the colour between the two cars, and the engines are discussed together in the same forum sections by the same people.

The SD1 is the gap. It is the third and longest-running Rover car application, from 1976 to 1987, and there is no record for it on this page because no readable source about the SD1 engine's colour was found. The one promising thread, on The MG Experience, is behind a Cloudflare interstitial that returns a 403 rather than the page. Do not read the P5B and P6B records as covering the SD1; a decade separates them and nothing here bridges it.

Land Rover and Range Rover applications are out of scope for this page except where a source speaks about the engine's colour in a Rover car, and none of the sources here does.

Common mistakes

Painting the block. It is aluminium, and no source found here says Rover painted it. Grey up to and including the rocker covers, bare alloy below, is what the sources describe.

Chasing a code. Owners repeatedly ask for the paint number and are repeatedly told there is not one to be had. The method the sources actually use is comparison against a surviving part: find an air inlet elbow or a flame trap that has not been repainted, and match to that. Members advise taking the part to a paint factor, or having it read with a spectrophotometer, which is the same method with a better instrument.

Assuming your neighbour's engine is right. The greys people arrive at spread across a noticeable range, and at least one of them is visibly bluer than another.

Buying a tin with Rover on it. There isn't one. The specialist engine enamel ranges carry BMC, Ford and MG colours and no Rover car colour. The greys that owners recommend are sold as a Massey Ferguson tractor colour, a Ford colour, or a RAL code. That is why this page carries no modern matches: a product only counts here when it is sold for the job, and none of them is.

What to buy

We list no paint for this engine, and that is deliberate. Nobody has found a factory reference, three original elbows turned out to be three different greys, and no tin on general sale is sold as Rover engine grey. Naming one would be a guess.

What the sources do is match to a part. Take an air inlet elbow or a flame trap that has never been repainted to a paint factor and have it matched, then have a one-pack engine enamel or a heat-resistant paint mixed to that reading. RAL 7012, which is basalt grey, and Ford dove grey are the two starting points owners report as close, and one owner says his original was slightly darker than the Ford colour. Spray a test card and hold it against your own part before you commit.

The rocker covers and inlet manifold run at engine temperature, which is well within what engine enamel is rated for. The finish is gloss, on the word of an owner who has had several of these cars. The block stays bare. The preparation guide covers cleaning aluminium so that paint will stick to it.

What is disputed

Which grey. RAL basalt grey, Ford dove grey and Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh grey are all put forward by owners who compared them against their own parts, and the qualifications they add are as informative as the names. One says basalt grey matched what he had and is less blue than the shade many people choose. Another says Ford dove grey is fairly close but that his original was slightly darker. Taken together they describe a region rather than a point.

There is a second, more awkward question underneath it: whether a single correct shade exists at all. A member who owns three original air cleaner elbows reports that all three are different shades of grey. Another puts that spread down to BLMC buying paint at the best price rather than to any specification. If both are right, then a measured reading from one original part is a reading from one original part, and the honest output for this engine may be a range with a stated spread rather than a single figure. That is a question for whoever does the measuring, and it should be settled before a number is published rather than after.

RAL 7012 appears in one thread. It is there as the code a member matched his own powder coating to, not as a Rover reference, and for that reason it has deliberately been left out of the data row's RAL field rather than being promoted into it.

Finding original paint on your own engine

Go for the small castings before the big ones. The air inlet elbows and the flame trap are the parts the community treats as the reference, partly because they are easy to remove and take to a paint factor or powder coater, and partly because they are less often stripped than a rocker cover, which is the first thing anyone cleans up when tidying an engine bay.

On a rocker cover, look inside the ribs and around the oil filler thread rather than on the flat top. One member specifically warns about grey paint in the filler thread and on the face the cap closes against, which tells you paint survives there; the same thickness that makes it a hazard makes it a sample.

If you find an elbow or flame trap you are confident has never been off, say so before you clean it. Given three known originals in three different shades, what this page most needs is not one more reading but several, each tied to a car with a known history, so that the spread can be published honestly instead of averaged away.

Every record above has a correction link. Applied corrections are logged on the record and on the changelog with their source and date.