opinions on my engine paint

[Terry M.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Guys,

I'm wondering what your opinions are about my paint job for my engine. Its a 69 350/350 and I really tried to take to heart all the posts on here that described how skimpy the paint was applied from the factory. I'm just wondering if I went a little overboard on limiting the amount of paint I applied and if I should add a little more. I tried to imagine what it was like in the factory and how much paint could really be applied in the approx 15 seconds that was allotted for painting each engine, and this is what I came up with. Basically, anyplace that wasn't easily reached by someone quickly applying a coat of paint was left bare. I really had to resist the temptation to paint virtually everything. Appreciate your thoughts.

Mike

I like the "holiday" on the bottom of the water pump, and applaud your efforts at masking the spark plug and engine mount holes. A lot of effort, but very nicely done.

If it were my engine I would apply a little more paint on the bottom of the oil pan, but that is just me. You might do very well in judging the way it is. It really will depend on who judges your engine compartment.

For manual transmission the clutch and bell housing was on the engine when it was painted. For M40 equipped engines the flex plate was on the engine when it was painted. Thus the back of the oil pan is fine as it is.

In general Tonawanda painted more of the bell housing (sometimes all of it) than Flint did. Generally, Flint only painted the three or four inches of the bell housing closest to the engine.

[Patrick H.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

If this link works for you, it's for a very low mile 72 that I inspected a couple of years ago. As you can see in the photos, it has a lot more paint on the pan and shows essentially complete coverage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124695...h/14220768676/

[Joe L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

If this link works for you, it's for a very low mile 72 that I inspected a couple of years ago. As you can see in the photos, it has a lot more paint on the pan and shows essentially complete coverage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124695...h/14220768676/

Patrick------


The engine painting of this engine is VERY typical of how it was originally done.

[Steve B.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Patrick, thanks for providing the link. That green car is very nice.

[Gene M.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Mike I think you nailed it. nice job.

Not being much into '69 model year I have a question. Was the flywheel, bell housing, and clutch assembly assembled after painting?

I just thought,..... this could be an automatic ...... yes?

[Michael L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Gene,

This is a 69 4spd car so those items should be on when painting but its not practical to do it at this point since I still need it on an engine stand for assembly. When the assembly is done I will lift it off the stand and bolt on those items and then blend in the bell housing paint.

I've attached a couple of pics of my replication of the paint "shadow" seen from the exhaust port masking I've read was used in the factory.

Mike

[Gene M.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Gene,

This is a 69 4spd car so those items should be on when painting but its not practical to do it at this point since I still need it on an engine stand for assembly. When the assembly is done I will lift it off the stand and bolt on those items and then blend in the bell housing paint.

I've attached a couple of pics of my replication of the paint "shadow" seen from the exhaust port masking I've read was used in the factory.

Mike

Agin I want to complement you, your paint technique is excellent and quite representative of what GM put out the door.

[Michael L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Thanks Gene. Of course, applying the paint is the easy part. It's knowing how it originally looked that is the tough part, and for that I relied totally on all the great advice and knowledge all the forum members have shared with me, so the complements go to them.

Mike

[Patrick H.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

I might yet apply more paint to the area of the pan rail. That still appears light to me.
Also, the only time I usually see a "blank" spot on a harmonic balancer is where the timing tab blocks it from getting paint.

I like the exhaust blockoff template you made, though. Very nice.

[Michael L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Thanks patrick. I did apply a little more paint to the bottom of the engine, including the pan rails as I mentioned in a previous post. The very bottom of the pan and damper has paint on it but it is very sparse. There is still a bare spot on the damper where the timing tab is. Back of the pan and water pump is still minimally covered, as is the front of the timing chain cover.

Mike

[Patrick H.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

If the latest picture is "after" applying more paint, I'd still add more.

Usually the only location of the water pump I don't see paint is the back side of it. The bottom of it "usually" has coverage.

As has been said, they used a large paint gun. Think of what you'd get using an auto-body type of paint gun, which 40 years ago would throw a LOT of paint. The faint light area I see at the bottom of the block and upper pain would not exist, as the paint gun did not discriminate.


P. S. Add some drips for full realistic coverage.

[Joe L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Mike------


What paint did you use on this engine?

[Michael L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

I used Quanta chevy orange. I purchased this paint many years ago (maybe 7-8!) and was surprised to find the cans working in perfect order when I took it off the shelf. I did a trial first to check the color to make sure age hadn't changed it significantly and it looked fine to me so I went with it.

Mike

[Joe L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

I used Quanta chevy orange. I purchased this paint many years ago (maybe 7-8!) and was surprised to find the cans working in perfect order when I took it off the shelf. I did a trial first to check the color to make sure age hadn't changed it significantly and it looked fine to me so I went with it.

Mike

Mike-----

Generally, I like the Quanta engine paint and I think that, as far as color goes, yours will survive judging with no problems. However, I do not believe that the "Chevrolet Orange" was necessarily consistent from year-to-year or, even, from engine plant-to-engine plant.

In particular, the 1969 Flint small block engine paint had much more red in it than orange. Attached are photos of the original valve covers from my 1969 350/300. I removed these from the engine very early in the car's life in order to replace them with the 69+ Corvette aluminum valve covers. You will note how much more red is in the color. I don't think this was necessarily unique to 1969, though.

[Michael L.]

Re: opinions on my engine paint

Agree Joe, those valve covers are significantly redder than the paint I sprayed. I'm hopeful that the judges will agree with you that my color should judge o.k. when it comes time to have the car judged.

Mike