- Brushing engine enamels in 500 ml tins, rated to 170°C, from the British stockist whose colour chart is written for British engines.
- RAL numbers on the tins. A RAL number is not the factory colour, but it is a defined colour you can hold an original against.
- Five of the colours are on the OEM colour records: BMC Green, MG Maroon, Ford Dark Blue, Ford Green, and the light green the Jaguar XK and Rover P6 records name.
- No data sheet. Everything here is from Frost's listings.
- Frost says the tins thin up to 10% with white spirit for a spray gun.
What it is
Frost is the Cheshire restoration supplier that imports VHT, POR-15 and Eastwood into Britain and also sells paint under its own label. The P800 range is that own-label engine enamel: a brushing paint in 500 ml tins, rated to 170°C, in eleven colours of which five are named for the engines they were mixed for and carry RAL numbers on the label. Frost is a stockist rather than a maker, which is why it has no page under brands and why there is no technical data sheet to cite; the maker of the paint is not stated.
Seven listings are reviewed here: gloss black, the five marque colours and the light green. That light green, which Frost also calls duck egg blue, is the match the Jaguar XK six and Rover P6 records name; aluminium, yellow, pale blue and gold are the same enamel in colours no record names.
The figures, and what they mean
170°C is Frost's figure, from the listings, and only Hycote's gloss black and POR-15's enamel sit beneath it. It covers a block, a rocker cover, brackets and a timing cover on a road engine with room to spare. It does not cover an alloy head that runs hot, and nothing in this range is for a manifold. The engine enamel page sets the makers' ratings side by side.
The figure that matters is the RAL number. RAL 6003 for the BMC and Ford greens, RAL 3004 for MG Maroon, RAL 5005 for Ford Dark Blue, RAL 3001 for Ford Red, RAL 9005 for gloss black. A RAL number is not a measurement of what the factory sprayed, and the colour reference says plainly that none of these records is measured yet. What it is is a defined colour: a tin of RAL 6003 can be held against an unfaded patch under a bracket and the comparison means something, which an unnamed aerosol cannot offer. The method page explains how a record goes from a RAL number to a reading.
Putting it on
By brush, as any brushing enamel: stir, clean dry metal, work from the top of the engine down. For a gun, Frost says the tins can be thinned up to 10% with white spirit, and the spray gun guide says what size of gun and how much air that needs. Use white spirit and no other solvent; the guide's failures section says what the wrong thinner does to an enamel.
Frost gives no primer instruction. The primers page explains why the makers disagree, and the preparation guide is where the job is won either way.
The cure
Frost publishes drying times on the listings and no cure schedule. Treat it as the other one-pack enamels: dry, handleable and cured are three different states, and on a block the running engine finishes the job. The application guide sets out the schedules the other makers publish, so you know the shape of what Frost leaves unsaid.
Where it sits against the others
Against POR-15's Engine Enamel, the other marque-colour tin: POR-15 has the self-levelling finish and a coverage figure; Frost has the RAL numbers, the British chart and 20°C more. Against VHT Engine Enamel: VHT has nearly 120°C more, an aerosol and a written cure, and no marque colours. Against the Fascinating Finishes tins that the BMC records also name: Frost has a rating and Fascinating Finishes has none we have found.
Best engine paints for BMC and MG engines 2026 ranks the BMC Green first and the MG Maroon second; Best engine paints for Fords 2026 names the blue and the green for the Pinto cam cover and the sidevalve.
Who it suits
A Mini, a Minor, an MGA or an MGB that was green or maroon, or a sidevalve Ford or an early Pinto cover, where the reference names one of these tins. Anyone who wants a defined colour to compare with an original before stripping it.
Not an engine that runs hot or is worked hard, where 170°C is thin. Not the owner who wants a maker's sheet behind the figure, because there is none.