Once the temperature sender (transmitter) thread was repaired I set about painting the intake manifold. Originally the factory painted these a mid-grey colour, along with the rocker covers and air inlet ‘elbows’.

After much research the nearest grey I could find was a Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh Grey. As pointed out on the Rover P5 forum, Rover were probably not that careful what colour these were painted originally (these were times before ‘branding’ became a verb and companies were quiet relaxed about such things). I also removed the pipe that runs under the manifold, which was quite rusty, and ordered a stainless steel replacement from JR Wadhams.

I stripped what was left of the original paint (not much), make the port and carburettor faces, then sprayed with U-Pol etch primer and Massey Ferguson Stoneleigh Grey (M31). This went well, and looks much better than before. Hopefully it will hold-up against the heat of the engine bay.