How to Paint Your Engine and Choose the Correct Color

Blue Be Gone

The traditional Dark Ford Blue engine color was discontinued after 1981.Beginning in 1982, all Ford V-8 engines were painted a battleship graycolor, known at Duplicolor as Ford Gray (1611). Later, Ford stoppedpainting engines entirely, leaving them in bare iron, except valvecovers, which were either semigloss black or cast aluminum.

How To Paint Your Engine

Few restoration tasks are more challenging than painting an engine,especially if you intend to leave the engine installed. To do your bestengine painting, you must be patient, and you must be prepared. Allvulnerable areas, like the ignition system, carburetor, and the like,should be either removed or masked to protect them from the cleaningprocess. You don't want water inside the engine either. Completelydegrease and clean the engine before removing valve covers and the like.

All engine surfaces to be painted must be clean and void of grease anddirt. This involves an engine spray-can degreaser, like Gunk, to do theinitial cleaning, followed by a scrub-brush cleaning with dishwasherdetergent and water. Dishwasher detergent is a great grease cutter. Usea toothbrush to get into those nitty-gritty locations. Mask areas youdon't want painted, such as engine mounts, distributor, brackets, andother bolt-on engine hardware. Accessories like the alternator,power-steering pump, and air-conditioning compressor should be unboltedfrom the engine and masked for protection. Disconnect the battery beforegetting started.

We're going to show you how to clean, prep, and paint visible engineparts with the help of Dave Toth of John's Mustangs and Classics in SanDiego. These folks have a number of outstanding restorations to theircredit. Dave is going to show us how to get it right.

(above & below) This is what we are starting with--260/289 valve coversand air cleaner. All must be degreased, then media-blasted for purity.Media-blasting must be approached with caution. All media must be washedout of these stamped-steel components to ensure it doesn't wind upinside your engine. Chemical cleaning and dipping is another option ifyou are concerned about stray media. If metal pitting is severe, findanother piece.

Each part is media-blasted to remove all paint and rust. Ideally, chooseparts void of dents and imperfections. When you media-blast, be gentlewith the blasting. Hard sandblasting will warp and distort the steel.Media-blast just enough to remove rust and paint. Believe it or not, youcan media-blast so hard you peen the metal, making valve covers and aircleaner so warped they won't fit.

Before you paint, wipe down the parts with a tack cloth to capture anydust or lint. Dave Toth of John's Mustangs and Classics wipes down theseparts with carburetor cleaner. Brake cleaner is even better because ithas a higher evaporation rate. In low-humidity areas, static electricityis especially bad, drawing dust and lint to your parts. Ground theseitems before painting. This carries static electricity to the ground,keeping dust and lint off your parts.	After the wipe-down with carburetor or brake cleaner, take compressedair, if available, and blow off all dust and lint before painting.
If you are baffled over paint color, you're not alone. There are a widevariety of opinions about paint color, which is why we looked at avariety of colors. There are three basic V-8 paint colors from 19641/2through 1973. Our no-brainer approach is this: Use Duplicolor enginespray paint for best results. From left to right are Duplicolor LightFord Blue (1601), Universal Gold (1604), and Ford Dark Blue (1606).	Both the 170 and 200ci sixes get Duplicolor's 1605 Ford Red. Only thevalve cover and air cleaner are painted red. The block, head, and oilpan are black.
When spray-painting parts, keep the can level, gliding back and forthacross the surface, terminating spray at the end of each pass. Beginwith a light coat and allow it to dry com- pletely before the next coat.The second coat needs to be a pinch heavier, while the third and finalcoat should be a wet coat--but without the runs!	Note the attention to detail here. Our job has been focused on color andpainting. Soon, we will show you how to properly restore and detail aMustang engine compartment.