1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

[Greg L.]

Well here is what I ended up with.



Those of you that have observed, judged or have original L36 cars please let me know what you think of what my overspray looks like.

I now realize that I have too much overspray on the by-pass hose so I will redo it so that it only covers about the bottom half.

I'm pretty sure that the exhaust manifolds are right because I used pics of two originals cars to reproduce this pattern.

I also realize that the valve covers should have been on so that the edges of the lip and gasket would also have some orange paint. I'll duplicate this later.

The area that I'm still a little concerned about is the areas where the intake gaskets mate to the heads. I had no idea what the "intake mask" looked like back in 69 so I hope I got it close. Please let me know if it's right or not and don't be shy because I'd rather know now that after it's all together.

Thanks

Greg Linton
#45455

[Kent K.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Greg,
Looks pretty good to me except for the by-pass hose that you are addressing. One thing, I believe the transmission was connected during engine paint and should have some overspray. Others may correct this.
Kent

[Greg L.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Thanks Kent.

You are correct about the bellhousing being painted if it had a manual transmission but this one is an auto so I think the engine was painted before the transmission was mated to the engine....I might be wrong though.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

You're right on the paint, but transmissions were mated to engines in St. Louis.

All manual transmission engines had the bell housing installed during paint and it got painted. Small block engines, however, only received varying degrees of overspray onto the bell housing. Automatic transmission engines didn't get a bell housing, because autos don't have a separate bell housing.

With the engine on a stand, the bell housing can't be installed or painted...most of us paint it later just like your plan.

[Wayne P.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

My opinion is not nearly enough orange on the exhaust manifolds. Ask yourself how the orange got on the engine sides without getting on the manifolds.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Wayne, I meant he was right on the bell housing paint process, not that his coverage was exactly factory appearing. I don't know how the big block was painted, but I do suspect the treatment at the intake manifold is a little too sharply defined to be from a GM factory.

It's darn hard for us to make this stuff look just like factory, no matter how fast and careless it's done! I suspect it's because we, as hobbyists, are trained from birth to paint slowly and carefully for full coverage and maximum corrosion protection. I suspect that training fades right away when a hundred engines go by you in a day, and your supervisor is on your back to do more.

[John H.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Chuck -

Instead of a hundred in a day, try 300 per hour - that was the rate through the paint booth at Flint V-8 and Tonawanda. Gave you twelve seconds to be precise and artistic.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Twelve seconds!!! Holey Moley!!! ...Just thinking about all that wrist action makes my carpal tunnel begin to ache!

[Greg L.]

Re: 1969 L36 paint overspray..last time, I promise

Well it took me way longer than 12 seconds to paint this one and it will take way, way longer to fix the mistakes. I am gratefull to those that responded and sent e-mails!

Since I posted my pics I have learned that the exhaust manifold overspray is WRONG and it will be removed. This overspray MAY have occured on some early 68 BB cars but shouldn't have by 1969. The 68-69 TIM&JG mentions this also and for the amount of times I have been through that book I can't believe that I missed this important tid-bit.

Now I still haven't received a conclusive answer as to what the intake manifold overspray needs to be like. Some say to leave it and some say that it's too heavy with too sharp of a "mask" line.

I don't see how I can duplicate the original overspray without knowing what this elusive mask looked like. Did it closely follow the perimeter of the intake manifold or was it just a "cardboard box" that was plopped on top? I can't see how the cardboard box way would be correct but I have been told that the mask had straight sides to it so maybe...

More likely I'd say that the mask was DESIGNED to properly and fully cover the intake by closely following the perimeter of it. This would result in some manifolds with very little overspray and others with more depending on how carefull the painter was with placing the mask on the intake. If it was a loose or sloppy mask like a straight sided cardboard box then I'd tend to think that ALL intakes would have a lot of overspray.

What are your thoughts on my theory?

Can you think of anyone that I could contact that might know this answer?