L-78 intake gaskets/paint

[Bill Rose]

I'm getting ready to assemble and paint the engine for my 69 ElCamino. The machine work will be finished tomorrow.

What did the original paint look like around the aluminum intake and intake gaskets? If the intake and intake gaskets should be oversprayed orange, I don't think I can bring myself to do it that way, so I'm looking for advise on how you guys paint around the aluminum intakes and which (brand) gaskets you use. . I will mask off the intake area, then I'll paint the block and heads orange. When that's all dry, I'll install the intake.

[VintageMusclecar]

Although it's not technically correct, I simply masked off the ports and painted the manifold surface of my heads before installing the intake. I don't care for the factory overspray look either, even if it is correct from a restoration standpoint. You can see it here.

I used Fel-Pro factory replacement style intake gaskets.

Eric

[firstgenaddict]

If the car had an Aluminum intake and Chrome valve covers there was a plastic mask that laid over the intake and the valve covers during painting... so the intake sides of the heads were bare machined steel... although there have been other claims of seeing original cars with the sides painted...

[Chevy454]

Got a picture of the factory masking apparatus? Just for an FYI kinda thing...

[SS427]

Here are two the SCW guys did and two from an LS-6 I did many years ago. Truth be told, you either love it or you hate it. As far as we are concerned, it is what our customers wanted.

[firstgenaddict]

[ QUOTE ]
Got a picture of the factory masking apparatus? Just for an FYI kinda thing...

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a direct quote from JohnZ from a thread on this board...

I worked at the Chevrolet Pilot Line from '66-'70, just a couple of hundred yards down Van Slyke Road from the Flint V-8 plant, and I spent a lot of time at Flint V-8 during that time; a friend of mine ran the Piston Department.

Both Flint and Tonawanda used vacuum-formed plastic masks on aluminum intakes and on aluminum or chrome valve covers during painting, and the intake mask was pretty much open at the front to accommodate the water pump bypass fitting and hoses - that's why you see more overspray at the front of the intake than at the rear. Engines came through the paint booth at Flint V-8 at nearly 300 per hour, and it was hardly a "concours" operation - the last guy at the exit of the booth was plenty busy removing masks, cardboard tubes from the spark plugs and water pump hub, the can over the distributor, tape from the stamp pad, etc., and I never saw anyone doing any "silver touch-up" at the front of any intakes. This operation varied a lot from hour to hour and from day to day, and it wasn't precise or consistent by any stretch of the imagination, as each guy had less than twelve seconds to do his assigned job, and engines with aluminum intakes and valve covers had twice the work content for them than standard engines.

The way we restore engines today, we wouldn't be satisfied with the way aluminum-intake engines actually looked when they left Flint V-8 or Tonawanda in the 60's.

[firstgenaddict]

Does anyone have engine photos of Jeff Boone's Survivor 1969 L78 or the 1969 Silver Camaro that was at the Camaro Nationals this year?

[firstgenaddict]

The pictures I have of the Silver 69 L78 9000 mile car that was at the Camaro Nationals this year show no orange on the intake mating surfaces on the heads.

[Bill Rose]

You guys are killin me!! Now that I see the pictures of the Nova, (thanks Rick) I really like that original over sprayed look. Then again, I like the clean look too. This may come down to a coin toss. Thanks guys, for the opinions and feedback, but all this did was make the decision harder. :

[Mr70]

I say opt for the clean look.