Author Topic: engine bay colors  (Read 6966 times)

Offline HemiOrange70

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engine bay colors
« on: June 30, 2005 - 10:15:46 AM »
Why are some engine compartments painted the color of the car and others are black. What did the factory do and what years did they do it?
Thanks




Offline 4Cruizn

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2005 - 10:17:32 AM »
I didn't think any of the engine compartment of the e-bodies were black except for the black cars??  Not sure though . . .    :dontknow:

Offline Street_Challenged73

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2005 - 01:18:54 PM »
With the exception of maybe tooling cars, all e-bodies should have the same color engine bay as the car's exterior paint. :thumbs:
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Offline TreeFrog

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2005 - 01:43:46 PM »
I think most are black due to repainting a car, and not pulling the engine...easier to black-out the compartment that to paint around the engine...
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Offline Mr. 6pak2go

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2005 - 07:04:22 PM »
ford and chevy painted there engine bays blake all mopars painted theres the color of the car!
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Offline Mr. 6pak2go

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2005 - 07:05:51 PM »
oops spelled black wrong!! BLACK!! lol i see alot of people paint their mopar engine bay black for some reason  :dontknow: but origaly they were all the color of hte car!!  :thumbs:
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Offline MEK-Dangerfield

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2005 - 08:21:43 PM »
Quote
oops spelled black wrong!! BLACK!! lol i see alot of people paint their mopar engine bay black for some reason   but origaly they were all the color of hte car!! 

  Ok 6pak,
   You spelled a couple of other words wrong too.  :grinyes: But yes, the engine bay should be body color.

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Offline hotrod98

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2005 - 08:44:25 PM »
 :iagree:

Other than black cars, the only blacked out areas should be the front of the core support behind the grille on all years and the top of the cowl area on all 70 models both cudas and challengers. I think the front of the core support on some dark green cars may have been left the color of the car. I've seen nice restored cars where they failed to paint behind the grille and it looks like crap.
As for the blacked out upper cowl area, Chrysler thought that the open area under the hood on the new design hidden wiper style might reflect sunlight and blind the driver. It didn't, so they stopped painting them in '71. Actually, I don't paint the cowls on my 70's because it looks bad and I don't particularly care when people point out this mistake on my cars. Oh yeah, the pinch weld below the rocker should be blacked out as well and below the rocker molding on 71 up cars. It makes the car look thinner in height...according to Chrysler. Actually is does look better.
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Offline TreeFrog

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2005 - 08:50:46 AM »
My car was originaly black, and since I am not likely to pull the engine, I probably will leave the engine compartment black, but if it had been any other color, I would have either pulled it or sprayed it black...but I will not have a show car either ... simply a nice daily driver
65 Satellite     361 Ruby Red Poly
72 Challenger    360 Top Banana     
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Offline hotrod98

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2005 - 09:18:38 AM »
One thing that I did not point out is that the engine bay color on a black car is gloss black like the exterior and the black behind the grille is a semi flat color. It doesn't pertain to your car, but the upper cowl color is semi flat black as well on '70 models.
Flat or semi flat in the engine compartment will stand out like a sore thumb to other mopar people.
Chebby and Phord guys won't notice the mistake. 
1971 Cuda, Tor-red, Bench seat
1971 Cuda Drag Car
1973 Cuda Clone, EFI/OD Limelight
1970 Superbird (Yes, it's real) Black Ice
1971 Barracuda Sassy Grass Green (sold)
1970 Challenger RT SE 383 Plum Crazy
1969 Road Runner Hardtop
1968 Road Runner Coupe (sold)

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Offline HemiOrange70

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2005 - 06:49:32 PM »
THANKS

Offline DJVCuda

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #11 on: August 05, 2005 - 05:17:23 AM »
here is the documentation of blackout on the 1970 cars...



[attachment deleted by admin]

Offline Plum6Pak

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2005 - 05:36:57 AM »
That's a cool document, looks like the date says it was one of the pre build engineering prints, I don't think I've ever seen one painted with just the inner fenders blacked out in the engine compartment but the rest I have. Am I reading the print wrong or is it showing the blackout in the engine compartment inner fender? Where did you get such a collectable document? Pretty neat.  :grinyes:

Offline paintshop101

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2005 - 07:47:02 AM »
Chrysler engine bay colors were body color. Simple as that. Other manufacturers (GM) painted engine bays black, some painted only the firewall (Ford). Engine bays often end up black because the engine was swapped out at some time and to make it look neat and clean, the owner painted the bay. The only color you can use other than professionally shot body color is... black! Mopar guys will tear you up for having a black engine compartment unless your car is black... and even then it should be shiny black, not flat. Remember that some of these cars such as T/A and AAR had flat black on top of the cowl in addition to the front of the radiator support. That paint, Organosol, is still available thru paint stores in both a lacquer version and a urethane version. SEM Trim Black is a simple to use product that works great for these areas!

Offline Plum6Pak

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Re: engine bay colors
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2005 - 05:10:26 PM »
Hey Paintshop101, forgot to welcome you to the forum, it's going to be great having you around here!! The more guru's the better!  :thumbs: