Touching up - practically repainting - the paint on the Universal M25 diesel

Parts & Supplies

• Westerbeke Spray Paint Universal Bronze #285193 - $31.79, A to Z Marine
• Toothbrush-style stainless steel detail scratch brush
• Blue painters tape
• a roll of regular Aluminum foil
• Paper towels and shop towels
• Acetone

Paint flaked off a Universal M25 fuel line

Turns out you are supposed to touch up the paint on the diesel engine. That I really needed to do this was evident when a chunk came off one of the fuel lines!

Westerbeke Universal Bronze spray paint #285193

Our local Universal distributor carries the real Westerbeke Universal paint, they have two colors - the bronze is used on the M25 in Reality Check.

Cleaning up the engine

• Cleaned up any oil as much as possible.
• Scraped the rusty parts with a stainless steel detail brush - particularly rusty at the bell housing. The heat exchanger was already off so this job was easy.
• Vacuumed up all the bits

Prep for painting

I decided to paint a LOT of the engine, that means a LOT of prep.

• Wrapped hoses with aluminum foil and used painters tape over the gaps.
• Sectioned off the back of the transmission with aluminum foil to protect from any overspray. The manual says be careful to protect the oil seals at the output shaft in back of the coupling.
• Wrapped up the new engine mounts with aluminum foil
• Took off the air intake/silencer and wrapped the intake with painters tape
• Taped over the warning labels.
• Wrapped aluminum foil around the Racor fuel filter and mount.
• Basically covered up anything that I didn't want painted or that wasn't going to be replaced later.

Diesel repainted with Universal Bronze, heat exchange painted New Ford Blue

Painting the engine

The Westerbeke/Universal paint is great, but it went everywhere. Fortunately clean up of the overspray was fairly easy with Acetone and a terry cloth shop rag. When I have to do a touch-up I'll spray some paint into a plastic bowl and use a small paintbrush.

Painting the heat exchanger

Had the heat exchanger off - cleaned it out and painted it at home.

• Took a stainless steel toothbrush and cleaned up any corrosion off of the end caps of heat exchanger.
• Taped to cover areas where the hose would go on the connections, and the openings of course.
• Painted the heat exchanger New Ford Blue with "Dupli-Color Engine Enamel ceramic 500 degrees" from the local auto parts store.

Port side view after repainting

From page 42 in the Universal M25 Owners Manual

GENERAL INFORMATION:

1. General

If the transmission is being painted, care should be taken to protect the oil seals at the output shaft in back of the coupling. Make sure the venting hole on the oil filler screw is not covered with paint.