Triumph straight six engine colours

Cast-iron pushrod six developed from the Standard SC four and fitted to the Vitesse, GT6, 2000 and 2500 saloons, TR5 and TR6 between 1962 and 1977. Owners agree the block was black and the rocker cover silver; the club's own engine rebuild guide tells you to paint the block and never says what colour.

Also known as: Triumph I6, Triumph six-cylinder, 2000 six, TR six, 1596, 1998, 2498

Records

Black

Triumph six 1596, 1998 and 2498 · 1962–1977 · block, semi-gloss

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusDisputedLast verified 2026-09-20

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

What is disputed

Black is agreed; the sheen is not. Semi-gloss is given twice for the six in the TR6 threads and once as a rule for the whole marque. A non-gloss black is argued in another thread on the grounds that a duller surface sheds heat better, and gloss black is reported elsewhere by an owner who says he found original material on his block. Nobody cites a factory specification. Recorded as semi-gloss because it is the most-supported answer for this engine specifically, with the flag set because it is not settled.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Vitesse	1962–1971
GT6	1966–1973
Triumph 2000	1963–1977
Triumph 2500 (2.5 PI, 2500TC, 2500S)	1968–1977
TR5	1967–1968
TR6	1968–1976

Modern matches

Product	ΔE	Type	Where to buy
VHT Engine Enamel, Satin Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-09-20
VHT Engine Enamel, Gloss Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-09-20
E-TECH Engine Enamel Paint Black A/Sol 400ml (manufacturer reference AEE01-BK) RX4097	not measured	1K to 250 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-09-17

Notes

No factory document, workshop manual page or club technical page stating a colour was reachable while drafting. The Triumph 2000 / 2500 / 2.5 Register's own rebuild guide is the closest thing to a club source found, and its silence is itself informative: it treats painting the block as a step in a procedure rather than as a question of originality, and does not say what colour to use. The TSSC forum, the Triumph Experience and the Stag Owners Club forum all refused access. Everything on the colour here is restorer testimony from one forum, hence grade C. Year ranges against each model are that model's own production span from the cited encyclopaedia entries. The engine itself dates from 1960 in the Standard Vanguard Six, which is outside this family's scope. No plant is recorded: Canley and Coventry are where these cars were assembled and no source read here says where the engines were painted. One useful negative: unlike the four-cylinder TR engines, which carried hand-painted model letters in orange on the block, the six-cylinder TR250 and TR6 are said to have carried no such marking, so orange lettering on a six is not an originality feature to look for.

Sources

forum: British Car Forum: 71 TR6 Engine Color — Asked what colour a 1971 TR6 engine should be, one owner suggests silver and is corrected by another who reports a black engine with a silver valve cover on his own 1971 car. A third states that all Triumph engines were painted black from the factory, with a TR4A built by Special Tuning as the exception, and a fourth gives the block as semi-gloss black. The thread settles on semi-gloss black block, silver valve cover
forum: British Car Forum: Engine color and paint? — A poster states that all Triumph engines were originally semi-gloss black; others rule out flat black, report gloss black on an original block, and argue that sheen varied between components. The thread also records that TR3 and TR4 blocks carried hand-painted model letters in orange for factory sorting and that the six-cylinder TR250 and TR6 engines did not
forum: British Car Forum: Engine Color — Owners of a 1971 TR6 discuss the colour; one cites a published restoration guide for black, another argues for a non-gloss black on heat-transfer grounds, and a GT6 owner in the thread reports his engine is black
club: The Triumph 2000 / 2500 / 2.5 Register, Service Notes: Rebuilding your engine? — The Register's own six-cylinder engine rebuild guide takes the block through degreasing, wire-brushing and gallery cleaning and instructs the rebuilder to dry it and paint it with engine lacquer, without naming a colour anywhere. It also notes that a commercial decarbonising dip strips all external paint from the block
judging-standard: Vintage Triumph Register, Concours Judging Guidelines (rev. 2006) — The published VTR judging guidelines set out procedure, deductions and class rules but state no engine colour or sheen for any Triumph
community: Wikipedia, Triumph I6 — Gives the engine's 1960 to 1977 span and 1596, 1998 and 2498 cc capacities, says it was developed from the Standard SC four and first appeared in the Standard Vanguard Six, and lists the Vitesse, GT6, 2000, 2500, TR5, TR250 and TR6 as users; says nothing about colour
community: Wikipedia, Triumph Vitesse — Gives the Vitesse's 1962 to 1971 span, 1596 cc to September 1966 and 1998 cc thereafter, assembled at Canley, Coventry
community: Wikipedia, Triumph GT6 — Gives the GT6's 1966 to 1973 span, its 1998 cc capacity and Canley assembly
community: Wikipedia, Triumph 2000 — Gives the Mk1 as 1963 to 1969 and the Mk2 as 1969 to 1977, with the 2498 cc 2.5 PI from 1968 and the 2500TC and 2500S running to 1977, assembled at Canley
community: Wikipedia, Triumph TR5 — Gives the TR5 as built at Coventry from August 1967 to September 1968 with the 2498 cc six, the TR250 being its North American carburettor equivalent
community: Wikipedia, Triumph TR6 — Gives TR6 production as September 1968 to July 1976 at Coventry with the 2.5 litre six
retailer: Rimmer Bros, Engine Enamel Paint Black Aerosol 400ml, part RX4097 — Catalogued by a Triumph specialist under Triumph accessories, primers and engine paints; a 1K ceramic-resin enamel rated to 250 C. A general black, not colour-matched to any Triumph reference, and the page cites no factory document

History

2026-09-05 · Draft researched from public sources; unverified
2026-09-17 · Amazon UK offer added for the E-TECH black engine enamel aerosol (ASIN B07VC99WQ7), verified on amazon.co.uk
2026-09-20 · Reviewed against its sources; satin and gloss engine blacks added as matches; published

Suggest a correction to this record

What the factory did

There is no Triumph engine colour chart to quote here, and the search for one is worth describing because the shape of the absence tells you something.

The Triumph 2000 / 2500 / 2.5 Register publishes a long technical article on rebuilding the six. It takes the block through a decarbonising dip, a wire brush, gallery cleaning with a rifle brush and a degreaser flush, and then says: dry it with a blowlamp and paint it with engine lacquer. It never says what colour. That is a club's own technical writer treating the block's colour as the rebuilder's business rather than as a point of originality. The Vintage Triumph Register's concours guidelines do the same thing from the other end: seven pages of judging procedure and deductions with no engine colour stated for any Triumph.

So the answer comes from owners, and for the six they are consistent. The block is black. One states it as a rule for the marque; two more give it for the TR6 specifically; a GT6 owner reports black on his. The rocker cover is silver, and on that the TR6 thread is unanimous, with one owner saying he matched the original using a silver paint sold for wire wheels. Black block, silver cover, on restorer testimony from a single forum: grade C, and not to be read as more.

What changed, and when

The six was the four with two more cylinders. It first ran in the Standard Vanguard Six in 1960, and reached the cars in scope here in 1962 with the Vitesse, at 1596 cc. From September 1966 the Vitesse took the 1998 cc version. The 2000 saloon had that engine from 1963, the GT6 from 1966, and the 2498 cc version arrived in 1968 in the 2.5 PI, having appeared in the TR5 the year before. The last of them, the 2500S and 2500TC saloons, ran to 1977.

Across those fifteen years no source read for this page records a change of engine colour, and none records a difference between the 1596, 1998 and 2498 cc versions or between the saloon and sports car applications. Again, that is an absence of testimony rather than evidence of constancy.

One documented difference between the fours and the sixes is not a colour but a marking. TR3 and TR4 blocks carried the model designation hand-painted on the side in orange, roughly inch-and-a-half letters, so that the right engine went into the right car on the line. The six-cylinder TR250 and TR6 are said to have carried nothing of the kind. If you are looking for evidence of an untouched original six, orange lettering is not it.

Common mistakes

Painting the rocker cover to match the block. The sources here say it did not match: a silver cover sat on a black block. The related error is assuming that arrangement holds across the marque, when the same forum records a copper or gold cover on a Herald four.

Reaching for high-temperature paint on the cover. Owners who have done it say the TR6 valve cover simply does not get hot enough to need it, and that ordinary paint, or ordinary paint under a high-temperature clear, holds up. That is a practical point rather than an originality one, but it is where money gets wasted.

Battleship grey. A grey Triumph six is not a factory finish. Grey on a stage-tuned engine points to Special Tuning, or to SAH and its successor TriumphTune, and it is common enough that owners mistake it for something original.

Reading a tin as a document. The black engine enamel catalogued for these cars by a Triumph specialist, a 250 C ceramic-resin aerosol, is a general black filed under the marque. It is not colour-matched to a Triumph reference and its page cites no factory source.

What to buy

Black engine enamel, and the only decision is the sheen. Semi-gloss is the finish owners cite most often for Triumph engines, so a satin black is the closest thing sold to the weight of the evidence. Gloss has its supporters too, including an owner who found it on original material, so neither choice is wrong on what is known today. Both are listed on the record above.

Nothing sold as "Triumph engine black" is matched to anything. It is a general black filed under the marque, and it is none the worse for that, because black has no shade to get wrong. Choose on heat rating and on the finish you want. Engine enamel explains the ratings, and you can compare the black engine enamels in the shop.

Most of the result comes from preparation. The preparation guide covers degreasing a cast iron block so the paint stays on.

What is disputed

The sheen, and only the sheen. Semi-gloss is given twice for the six in the TR6 threads and once as a rule for the whole marque. A non-gloss black is argued in a separate thread on the grounds that a duller surface sheds heat faster off the block. Gloss black is reported by an owner elsewhere who says he found original material on his own block and that it was glossy. Nobody in any of these threads cites a specification.

The record is entered as semi-gloss because that is the most-supported answer for this engine, and the flag stays set because four owners on one forum agreeing about a shade of black is not the same as knowing. It is also possible that everybody is right: a period gloss enamel was a duller thing than a modern gloss, and the gap between "gloss" and "semi-gloss" in these threads may be a gap in vocabulary rather than in the paint.

Nothing was found either way on the rocker cover for the Vitesse, the GT6, the 2000 and 2500 saloons or the TR5. Those cars have no record on this page rather than a guessed one.

Finding original paint on your own engine

Do not start with a chemical dip. The Register's own rebuild guide points out that the commercial decarbonising process it recommends strips every external trace of oil, grime and paint from the block. It is the right thing to do to a block you are rebuilding and the wrong thing to do to a block you are still trying to read.

Read it first, then clean it. Look where paint was sheltered rather than where it looks thickest: under a bracket or clamp, on the underside of a mounting face, on the shielded flank of a boss. Cut back gently through the layers in one small protected patch and count them.

On a four-cylinder TR, the orange model letters are worth looking for as a sign of an unmolested block. On a six, they were never there, so their absence proves nothing.

If you get a reading off an unfaded original six, that single measurement will outrank every source on this page, and the page will say so.

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