Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Nice going, Kevin. Your car looks terrific.

I really liked how nice my brother in law's '52 looked after painting the head when we did the valves. I hated how ugly my engine looked. So I finally cleaned things up and painted everything I could reach. I used Majic Massey Ferguson Gray from Tractor Supply. Mixed the paint with the Majic hardener and painted it by brush. I looks much better than it did before. There is a lot I couldn't reach that I will need to address in the future. But I wanted to hit the places that are easily seen so it doesn't look so gross.

Here's what the engine bay started as



Here's where I'm at now. I really need to do something with the manifolds

The Eastwood "cast blast" look great on the manifolds BTW. Still holding up over 10 years on my 327.


From the far distance past when I painted them:

Oh I embrace the ugliness 😂

This might help you feel better 🤔

Attach file:

---

  20241123_210235.jpg (4,003.43 KB)

Kev, great advice on the Eastwood paint. Looks great. Was the intake typically painted black in the '51-54 or were they also straight cast unpainted?

PGH - I feel much better, thanks haha. That'll be what Rusty looks like if I can make floors for it.

Kevin

I used POR-15 on Brand-X’s exhaust manifold. That’s about 20 years ago, and other than a little dulling that part doesn’t have any rust. The coating was marketed as a high temperature paint that would give the appearance of cast iron. It surely looks like a freshly sand blasted exhaust manifold, but I don’t know about calling it paint. The consistency was close to room temperature butter, and you could brush it out forever. IIRC I was stippling more than flowing the coating on. I used a small tinner’s brush, and was quite surprised how infrequently I had to go back to the jar for more product. It reminded me of aluminum based anti-seize where just the slightest amount results in your fingers turning silver. I’m based in Phoenix AZ, so perhaps the lack of rust is just the way it is, and the POR-15 didn’t have anything to do with the longevity. I’ve used other POR-15 products that once you open the container you better use it all, because the atmospheric moisture begins the curing, but this high temperature coating doesn’t seem to cure in the can. I just went-out to the garage and opened the can, and 20 years later, it was just as I had remembered . . . warm butter, but today a bit of separation of whatever the vehicle is (looks like an oil). It almost looks like the debris you find on magnets in differentials or automatic transmissions. If I ever have the opportunity I’ll use on the Packards.

I went onto the POR website and couldn’t tell whether what they sell today is the same product that I bought 20 years ago. I did run into a product Calyx Manifold Restoration Paint Dressing that looks like the stuff. They talk about applying with a tooth brush or with a gloved covered finger. The price is about $20 for a 3 oz jar, or roughly ½ the price of POR . . . assuming a 3 oz jar is a lifetime supply.

dp