1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

[Jerome E Pederson]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Thanks Joe,

Another thought I have had or maybe better put; questions.
If the manifold and valve covers were covered with one SINGLE mask; the cyclinder heads (intake manifold side) would not receive Chevrolet orange paint. Correct? This would lead to some surface rusting.

Or would each valve cover and the intake be masked seperstely and therefore the intake manifold side of the heads would be painted Chevrolet orange?

What are your thoughts?

[Jerome E Pederson]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Thanks Joe,

Another thought I have had or maybe better put; questions.
If the manifold and valve covers were covered with one SINGLE mask; the cyclinder heads (intake manifold side) would not receive Chevrolet orange paint. Correct? This would lead to some surface rusting.

Or would each valve cover and the intake be masked seperstely and therefore the intake manifold side of the heads would be painted Chevrolet orange?

What are your thoughts?

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Sal------

I'll bet these engines with aluminum manifolds and/or aluminum/chrome valve covers just gave the engine painters at Flint a huge case of heartburn. They were such a small part of overall production, I'll bet they really groaned when these came along.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Sal------

I'll bet these engines with aluminum manifolds and/or aluminum/chrome valve covers just gave the engine painters at Flint a huge case of heartburn. They were such a small part of overall production, I'll bet they really groaned when these came along.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Jerome-----

Yes, and unpainted areas just as you describe are observed on some engines with aluminum intake manifolds and/or aluminum valve covers.

However, there may have been some differences in how the engine painting was done during the 70-72 years.

One thing I still need to do is to go out and visit a friend of mine with a 1970 Z-28 Camaro. He factory-ordered the car which was delivered to him on May 16, 1970. He only drove it that day, accumulating 187 miles and it's been in the garage ever since. Of course, it's a Camaro but the engine is the same as LT-1 Corvette except for exhaust manifolds and distributor.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Jerome-----

Yes, and unpainted areas just as you describe are observed on some engines with aluminum intake manifolds and/or aluminum valve covers.

However, there may have been some differences in how the engine painting was done during the 70-72 years.

One thing I still need to do is to go out and visit a friend of mine with a 1970 Z-28 Camaro. He factory-ordered the car which was delivered to him on May 16, 1970. He only drove it that day, accumulating 187 miles and it's been in the garage ever since. Of course, it's a Camaro but the engine is the same as LT-1 Corvette except for exhaust manifolds and distributor.

[Jerome E Pederson]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Joe,

If you can and willing please keep me posted as to your visit with your friend and his '70 Camero.

Thanks.

Jerry

[Jerome E Pederson]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Joe,

If you can and willing please keep me posted as to your visit with your friend and his '70 Camero.

Thanks.

Jerry

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

There certainly were painting differences from 1970-1972 on the LT1 -- and some of those (the more consistent ones) are identified in the TIM&JG. And Joe you are absolutely right -- painting those aluminum intake engines gave them fits. I have had several conversations with one of the painters at Flint on this subject.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

There certainly were painting differences from 1970-1972 on the LT1 -- and some of those (the more consistent ones) are identified in the TIM&JG. And Joe you are absolutely right -- painting those aluminum intake engines gave them fits. I have had several conversations with one of the painters at Flint on this subject.

[John H.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Terry -

Yup, all they needed at 300 per hour was an engine that required more special masking

[John H.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

Terry -

Yup, all they needed at 300 per hour was an engine that required more special masking

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

He told me they put the LT1s in a storage area and as they got the people available they touched up the intake and installed the valve covers. His story was that they got steel " RA travel covers" for the paint process, but I have seen several heads that clearly had no covers during the paint process. Of course in 1970 they had to deal with unpainted RA covers on the L46 engines also. Since they batched the engines, I wouldn't expect they stayed around Flint too long, not withstanding the special paint process.

One can see a lot of brush work on the early 1970 examples. including the aluminum on the intake. As production went on in the later LT1 years there was less and less hand work -- although the distributor shield uprights were hand painted right up to the end. On the later LT1 engines that was usually the only hand work.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

He told me they put the LT1s in a storage area and as they got the people available they touched up the intake and installed the valve covers. His story was that they got steel " RA travel covers" for the paint process, but I have seen several heads that clearly had no covers during the paint process. Of course in 1970 they had to deal with unpainted RA covers on the L46 engines also. Since they batched the engines, I wouldn't expect they stayed around Flint too long, not withstanding the special paint process.

One can see a lot of brush work on the early 1970 examples. including the aluminum on the intake. As production went on in the later LT1 years there was less and less hand work -- although the distributor shield uprights were hand painted right up to the end. On the later LT1 engines that was usually the only hand work.

[Mike G.]

Re: 1972 - LT1 engine/manifold

i have the original shielding uprights for mine. the brushed orange paint was done with a .5" wide brush. some of the brush marks have some silver paint in them. looks like the brush has a little wet silver paint on it when it was diped in the orange. i can send someone a pic if interested.