Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Frames came from AO Smith painted in cheap-o bulk black paint. Also there are a couple of pics in the archive of the frames stacked up outside the factory awaiting their turn inside. In the picture they are obviously black and I don't think they would be stored outside if they were not painted.

Thanks! Can I assume that "cheap-o bulk black paint" would be a sort of satin black?

Another question, in the rear of the engine heads, next to the firewall, come two parts that serve as cover for the water outlet and supports for what I guess is some kind of the transmission linkage (my car has an adapted Chrysler transmission and that linkage was removed), and at least one of the sides has a fitting to take hot water to the heater unit.

Should this parts be considered engine parts and therefore painted in bronze with the engine, or should they be black?

Thanks,
Victor

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I would think they might be a natural metal color. If not then they were mounted on the engine when it was painted and should be the same color - ivory in the '55 Sr. engine.

I'll be the first to admit you can't reliably go by a sales brochure -- but if there is any accuracy, both these engines appear to have them painted. If you do paint them, make sure the one on the drivers side still has a good ground for the temp sender.

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Thanks HH56! Those pics make it pretty clear that the parts should be engine color.

Those pictures do show the cylinder head water jacket cover plates correctly painted engine color, but we should remember the caution that engines dressed up for their "photo-op" for advertising purposes are not always indicative of what was actually done in production. There are many examples of this, as well as other details that are similarly different from actual production.

I agree that pics for advertising purposes, or drawings, like in this case, are not the best possible source of information for regular production methods/finishes (my brother in law painted the fan on a Mercedes 230SL in red because he saw a promotional pic in which it was shown that way, and it looks really awful!) but I guess it makes sense that they could be painted engine color as it is a part the engine could not work without... in the sense that they are not only supports for brackets but also cylinder head water jacket cover plates.

I need to decide today, as we are painting the engine in a few hours. I will go that way because of the info and the 'logics', but will be open to redo them in case we find out they were black or any other finish.

Now, talking about painting the engine, I am assuming that everything was assembled and painted together, and therefore screws and nuts painted with it, except perhaps for the manifold (as it would have been impossible to paint the pan and area under it), and of course the screws for the 'add-on' items, like oil filter, fan, gas pump... which I guess go in natural finish. Is that correct?

Thanks,
Victor

This is an incredibly helpful forum, and I realize I have bugged you already with too many questions on detailing the engine bay, but...

Another question: Painting the engine.

Should that be done with all of the copper colored parts in place? I ask because of the gaskets. Parts like the water inlet at the front or both at the rear of the block or like the upper cover (under the manifold), should they be painted on? In other words, what is visible of the gaskets is painted?

About inlet manifold and water pump, same thing? Painted in place? Because if that is the case, the engine would get really little or non paint under those areas?

Thanks!
Victor

If you want 100% authenticity, assemble the engine completely and then hose it down.

They look very nice if painted piece by piece but I guarantee they did not do that in a high production environment. And to be really authentic don't use any primer either.

I know in other factories of the era even the accessories were installed and masked loosely before painting as evidenced by overspray around the mounting points of starters and such.

The two brackets are engine color. HH56 is correct that you can't relay on artists renderings for correctness, just look at the exhaust manifolds in the picture.