From this.....To THIS

[anlauto]

The idea from the factory is that the manifolds were never painted. They were bolted to the motor as bare cast parts, then the entire engine assembly was painted. Factory manifolds could have come away with either just a little over spray or completely painted, it depends how the painter felt that day. Nobody can really say how much paint was applied for sure because it burnt off in a matter of minutes of the engine running, leaving only engine colour on the cold spots of the manifolds such as the mounting nuts etc...

Mine have been ceramic coated first, so the orange will burn off but the grey colour will not, they will stay grey forever.

[burdar]

As far as paint on the manifolds is concerned...you have to look at the block around the manifolds.  If the block is completely painted around the manifolds, then they would have been completely painted.  The painter would have just sprayed the paint.  They didn't try to keep paint OFF of the manifolds.  There is no way the block could be completely painted but just have overspray on the manifolds.  If the block is missing a lot of paint around the manifolds then they might not have gotten complete coverage.  I think MOST would have had complete coverage.  There is a picture floating around of a Chevy engine plant.  It clearly shows completely painted exhaust manifolds.  I know that's not the same thing but procedures were probably similar.  It really doesn't matter if you overspray them or completely cover them.  The heat will burn off everything except for the mounting flanges/hardware. 

When/if I ever get the Challenger out of storage, the manifolds are one of the things I need to address.  I need to have them ceramic coated before spraying them blue.  One things I've noticed though is that the orange paint just seems to burn off.  The blue paint turns white and looks pretty bad.  I don't know what to do about that.

[HP_Cuda]

So where the exhaust manifolds and intake on the motor when it was sprayed? I believe they were but my question is:

Did they stuff plugs in the ports like the intake ports to keep paint out or they didn't care?

B

[anlauto]

So where the exhaust manifolds and intake on the motor when it was sprayed? I believe they were but my question is:

Did they stuff plugs in the ports like the intake ports to keep paint out or they didn't care?

B

To my knowledge, the engines were fully assembled BEFORE paint...........well not FULLY assembled obviously 

[burdar]

SOME parts were masked off but not many.  Spark plugs were even installed before paint.  The ends of the plugs would have had a mask of some sort to keep paint off of them.

[anlauto]

  I have read that about the plugs. Haven't brought myself to doing that yet...

[anlauto]

I want to go on record as saying....

I DO NOT IN ANY WAY CLAIM THIS TO BE 100% CORRECT.

This is just MY INTERPRETATION of how I THINK they should look...

So if you see the wrong "spray angles" on the fuel pump over spray....then you can blow it out your  ...............

 

[burdar]

I painted my fuel pump with the engine.  Some say that's correct, other say it's not.  I have no way of knowing for sure.  I also painted the plugs.  I can't remember if I taped the ends or if I put rubber hose over the ends.  Here is a pic of an OE gold Duster with painted plugs.
http://www.moparaction.com/Article/GROCERY_GOLD/IMG_0668_1200x900.jpg

Here is the full page of pics.  Most people don't know that the torque convertor was on the engine before it was painted as well.
http://www.moparaction.com/Article/GROCERY_GOLD/gold.html

[anlauto]

That's probably the best restored A Body on the planet

[jimynick]

That's probably the best restored A Body on the planet

Alan, but I get a wee bit queasy when I see them obsessing about the angle of the overspray on the engine lift bolt. They totally overlook the fact that when that car looked like that originally, it was taken out and driven- something that this thing will never experience. More a knick-knack than a car, really. But, that's just my 

[anlauto]

Yea..not my cup of tea either...but to each their own...

[AAR6BBL]

Alan,
I love it when you post pictures, it lets me know what mine should look like when its done!
Did you do anything special internally to the motor or is it basically stock?
Those carbs are gorgeous!

[PasiR]

Are those valve covers repop or original?

[anlauto]

Are those valve covers repop or original?

Those are AMD reproduction valve covers .

Oddly enough, this car came to me in a million pieces and the valve covers were the only thing missing off the engine, everything, and I mean everything was still there !

[PasiR]

Those are AMD reproduction valve covers .

Oddly enough, this car came to me in a million pieces and the valve covers were the only thing missing off the engine, everything, and I mean everything was still there !

Do they fit correctly?