67 aluminum heads

[Justin N.]

Dear members,
Just curious, are the heads on L88's or L89's painted Chevy orange? How about other model years with aluminum heads? I was wondering about setting aside my cast iron 327 heads and getting some Edelbrock ones for more power. I wanted to paint them to keep the engine bay somewhat original looking for my daily driver. Thank you!
Justin #41362

[Mark #28455]

Re: 67 aluminum heads

The aluminum heads are generally not painted, but there was some overspray from the block painting. The original heads that I have seen looked like someone used a sheet of cardboard to mask the ends but the sides did not look masked at all. (for 1969 the exhaust manifolds were attached after the painting) The paint on the sides went anywhere from just a little overspray to as far as the lower half of the exhaust ports. Bottom line, it looked like somebody just didn't care! Since your heads are not original, I would recommend either painting the whole head (so people might not notice the aluminum) or leave them totally unpainted (so they look pretty)

[Justin N.]

Re: 67 aluminum heads

Mark,
Thanks for the help!
Justin

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 aluminum heads

Justin-----

For 1967, the aluminum cylinder heads installed on L-88s were painted. I'm not sure if the 1967 L-89 cylinder heads were painted, or not. ALL 1968-69 L-88 and L-89 aluminum cylinder heads were unpainted, natural aluminum.

If you install aftermarket aluminum cylinder heads on a C1, C2, or C3 small block, painting the cylinder heads can make the overall engine look "more original". It's not going to fool any judges into thinking that the cylinder heads are original, but it will fool about 99% of the folks looking at the engine. The configuration of aftermarket heads, particularly the end configuration, is different than original heads.