Engine color opinions

Need some opinions on engine color.
Canyon red 1984 flareside.
In the process of rebuilding the engine. Running aluminum manifold with a dual snorkle HO air cleaner assembly. Base of air cleaner is black with natural alum lid. Having a tuff time deciding on paint color combinations.

I never liked the gray of the newer truck engines so Darth's new engine is Ford blue.

I like that.

I like the ford blue also. Just thinking it would maybe clash with the red of the truck. The previous owner had installed a used engine with a red color fairly close to the oem red paint. Thinking maybe canyon red long block with black for all my brackets.

Frogger2662 wrote

Need some opinions on engine color.
Canyon red 1984 flareside.
In the process of rebuilding the engine. Running aluminum manifold with a dual snorkle HO air cleaner assembly. Base of air cleaner is black with natural alum lid. Having a tuff time deciding on paint color combinations.

Combination for the whole engine or just the aircleaner?

My original aircleaner was bare aluminum, the NOS unit I got which was a reboxed unit and didnt match the NOS box and part number but it is a bare base with a black painted lid.

I am going to try and fix my original aircleaner to reuse till I can figure something else out but leaning towards painting it a bare aluminum engine color.

Engine itself I am going dark ford corporate blue, engine was originally blue and I plan to stick with that.  Going to paint even the aluminum intake and heads to blend it all in and I got the Proform slant roof Ford Racing valve covers in Dark corporate blue to match.  Part of me thought of doing the intake in a aluminum color but I dont think that would look that good for a OE look that I am going for.

Ford how ever did use some interesting color combinations but by time the 80s came around it was pretty much one color for everything on the engine proper.  But before the 70s they had different color combos and in the 50s ford used the different color combos to denote engine displacement as well as engine application ie truck/car/thunderbird.

I dont like the gray so went with the blueon my 300 six

Its in my 81 candy apple red & white flare side truck

Dave ----

Frogger2662 wrote

I like the ford blue also. Just thinking it would maybe clash with the red of the truck. The previous owner had installed a used engine with a red color fairly close to the oem red paint. Thinking maybe canyon red long block with black for all my brackets.

Go with Ford Dark Blue.  That is the color Ford used on all of their engines up to 1981, when they switched over to Ford Gray.  All of the engine brackets should be Ford Semi-Gloss Black.  

Lucille is Dark Canyon Red as well, and I think the Ford Dark Blue looks great. I painted my aluminum valve covers and aluminum intake manifold in Cast Coat Aluminum.  I left the snorkels black but painted the base of the air cleaner Dark Ford Blue to match the engine and balance it out:

I think ya'll have made my decision for me. Ford dark blue on the block and heads, black on the brackets, air cleaner. Aftermarket valve covers are black already. I will post some pics when complete. Thanks

Yep, in my book, only one color for the engines in a Ford. Ford Dark Blue.

Sounds like your mind is made up but for what it's worth here's another vote for the Ford dark blue.
I recently painted the block I'm working on in "Ford corporate blue" enamel from POR-15. The finish came out really nice I think. The intake, timing cover, water pump and heads will be in the same color and I'm going to do the oil pan, valve covers, brackets and pulleys in semi-gloss black.

Lima,
That corparate blue looks good also. At least i have it narrowed down more than i did last night. Going to surf the web this evening and see if i can find more pics.

The Ford Dark Blue is the same shade of blue that you see on the Ford oval.

LARIAT 85 wrote

Frogger2662 wrote

I like the ford blue also. Just thinking it would maybe clash with the red of the truck. The previous owner had installed a used engine with a red color fairly close to the oem red paint. Thinking maybe canyon red long block with black for all my brackets.

Go with Ford Dark Blue.  That is the color Ford used on all of their engines up to 1981, when they switched over to Ford Gray.  All of the engine brackets should be Ford Semi-Gloss Black.  

Lucille is Dark Canyon Red as well, and I think the Ford Dark Blue looks great. I painted my aluminum valve covers and aluminum intake manifold in Cast Coat Aluminum.  I left the snorkels black but painted the base of the air cleaner Dark Ford Blue to match the engine and balance it out:

I actually disagree always with that 1981 cut off I think it was a soft cut off with not all factories following.  My 82 has a production date of February 82 and the original engine was dark ford corporate blue.  Even still have the original to the truck blue adapter cap on the distributor.  I did pick up a NOS unit as mine doesnt fit too snugly due to a ear being slightly chipped off.

Lima Delta wrote

Sounds like your mind is made up but for what it's worth here's another vote for the Ford dark blue.
I recently painted the block I'm working on in "Ford corporate blue" enamel from POR-15. The finish came out really nice I think. The intake, timing cover, water pump and heads will be in the same color and I'm going to do the oil pan, valve covers, brackets and pulleys in semi-gloss black.

I like POR-15 engine paint but for my truck I am going with Eastwood 2K urethane engine paint.  Going to be interesting to see how the 2K urethane engine paint stands up to heat and fuel.  I painted my 292 intake manifold with Ford engine red in POR 15 and I didnt block off the exhaust cross overs in the intake, people do that cause its known to burn the paint off in this area.  The POR 15 after a year and a half is still like new.  Even had fuel flood out of the Holley 4000 over this area and it dulled it slightly but didnt change the color.

I like the blue as well. My truck is an '81 and it's engine is painted black but is peeling in small spots hear and there revealing the Ford  blue underneath.

Frank Wyatt wrote

I like the blue as well. My truck is an '81 and it's engine is painted black but is peeling in small spots hear and there revealing the Ford  blue underneath.

If your engine was freshened up at a shop, they like painting them black it helps to hide the oil leaks so you dont notice them till after the warranty period is past.

Its why I told Creb if he could spray the whole engine down with some kind of protective coating without painting it.  That way when I get the engine I can use carb cleaner hose off the WD40 then do my assembly and pull out the Eastwood 2K Urethane engine primer and 2K Dark Corporate Blue and paint everything.  This way I am spraying directly over bare metal and no risk of chemical reaction to the paint he used nor having to trust that his paint was laid down properly with a good foundation to stick.

Ive had too many engines I built that I didnt strip the old paint off fully only for the upper layer to peel and flake off like you have on yours.  When dealing with small block chevys it doesnt matter with the old ones, my bored out 283 flakes engine paint off around the ribbing around the timing cover region where the block curves for where the oil fill tube hammers into the intake manifold.  Its just the shape of the area it helps promote paint chipping.  Hopefully this 2K stuff is better than what I used to use the regular dupont engine paint.

Rusty_S85 wrote

I like POR-15 engine paint but for my truck I am going with Eastwood 2K urethane engine paint.

I would have gone with an Eastwood product too, except that with the border being closed, it wasn't going to be easy or cheap to get. I had been looking it the ceramic engine paint, not sure if it's the same stuff as you're looking at:
https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ceramic-engine-paint-ford-dark-blue-quart.html

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with how the POR-15 has come out so far. I put a coat of the rust protective coating down under two coats of the enamel, and it has a really thick smooth glossy finish. Prep for the coatings is a bit of a pain however!

I don't know what it's painted with, but mine was done when engine installed in the lighter Ford blue.  If anyone ever here looking for reference.  With mine, you don;t see a lot of the blue anyway.   Just a peek here and there.  And oil pan from the bottom.

 

Rusty_S85 wrote

I like POR-15 engine paint but for my truck I am going with Eastwood 2K urethane engine paint.  Going to be interesting to see how the 2K urethane engine paint stands up to heat and fuel.  I painted my 292 intake manifold with Ford engine red in POR 15 and I didnt block off the exhaust cross overs in the intake, people do that cause its known to burn the paint off in this area.  The POR 15 after a year and a half is still like new.  Even had fuel flood out of the Holley 4000 over this area and it dulled it slightly but didnt change the color.

I'm really curious! If you like the POR15 so much, why go with the Eastwood product? Eastwood has some good products, but typically products made by someone else under the Eastwood at increased price. Not to say the POR15 is the same as 2k urethane, it is not.

As to the POR15 engine paint, I read so many mixed reviews on it, that it is hard to commit to using the product.  

Machspeed wrote

As to the POR15 engine paint, I read so many mixed reviews on it, that it is hard to commit to using the product.

I'm not a true believer in the POR-15 products, but I have had good results with them.

One thing I have noticed often is that when people report negative results, they also describe their prep-work as not being what's prescribed for the product (ie, it's important to follow the manufacturer's instructions - hard as that may be for some who already have it all figured out lol).