Hot Rods SBC's that are anything but orange.

Larry,
I always tried to use all the crayons in the box. They almost held my back in kindergarten because I colored my sky's purple & my trees red! At least I wasn't the kid that ate the paste in the boom closet... I wonder what he does fort a living now days??? Probably should leave that one alone.

Some nice looking engines being posted, keep them coming.

 

57 265 factory painted Chartreuse;

 

My Ford Blue 350

 

Can I get half credit for this? It is a 181 cubic inch Chevy Industrial engine (sort of half a SBC) painted Ford engine green in my '32 roadster.

Charlie Stephens

 

My 350 in A Tudor

 

Sail Blue 350 in my 1953 Bel Air roadster with a Carson-style top.

 

383

 

I painted the sbc in my 23 Hummer Fusion Orange, but it was more like a bronze color.

Don

 

Not deere my frame is Deere thats not close

 

truth be known, I have no room to talk. I painted the 327 in my coupe flathead ford green

 

Well looks like I'm using a color other than orange as long as I'm getting my block dipped. I'm leaning towards that duplicolor diesel green or maybe metallic Pontiac silver-blue? Are you guys smoothing up the blocks much before spaying them? And are you painting them before assembly or after?

 

I painted one once, silver and black to match the truck, blew it up, next one orange, blew it also, finally threw together a 283 NO paint, grease stains and all, it was in it when I sold it. I'm color blind anyway so it doesn't really matter here. I have always heard that painting one black would cause it to run a few degrees hotter? Wonder if that is true.

 

They came in orange?
I couldn't decide on a color so went with the all color black.

 

SINNER

 

In this case I chose to color match the engine to the car.

 

It's the opposite, it runs cooler. Now that applies mostly to it being a satin black vs a glossy show rod finish. At that point any color can add a few degrees but not enough to make much difference. 14:1 BBC, all satin black, electric motor driven water pump and fan, 160 stat, 3 row OEM style radiator. I had a hard time getting that car up to temp. I'd do my burnout and begin to stage with the fan/pump off, turn it on and lit the lights at 175 degrees. By the time I got to the ET shack it was down to 160. The black paint thing works well and I had all of it black including the intake. Just sayin, and thanks for this topic. I love alternative colors. I really like that bright green version shown. Reminds me of the Duesenberg green on the J models. Gold is always a favorite too and seems to go with anything.

 

Any color as long as it is what came from the factory Chevy's But I must admit that 3wLarry's Ford green on that 32 is very cool! Other than that I like RED Motors

 

Paint it any color you want - haven't seen any paint police around for a while. here's mine:

 

I always had better luck with a brush than spray.

Charlie Stephens

 

Thanks HIGHLANDER for setting me straight, next one's black.

 

You would almost think an unpainted block would run cooler? And that any paint traps the internally generated heat in, more less? Then again... Maybe not? Where's Bill Niegh the Science Guy when you need him?

 

Smoothing the casting theoretically interferes with cooling. Adding any paint theoretically interferes with cooling. So a bare block should shed heat better than a smoothed bock with heavy layers of epoxy paint. But the heat doesn't care what color the paint is and if flat black "cools better" it's probably because it goes on a lot thinner than a heavy gloss enamel.
I have never seen any scientific research showing that paint makes a significant difference when so many other factors make such a big difference on engine cooling, but in an "every bit helps " situation it could tip the scale slightly? But only slightly. (Paint doesn't insulate THAT well!)

 

From internet site factory colors.sb cars from 55-66. Orange 55,56,58-66 Red 55,56 Chartreuse 57 265. Truck Orange 57,63,64 Yellow 55,56 Gray 55,56,58,59,60,61,62,65,66 Green 57,58,59,60,62,65,66 Black 57 blue 66

 

That is not quite correct. Passenger car 1956 V8's were 265 cu.in. and were painted red from the factory.

 

Is red OK?

 

No, That's why they paint wood stoves and radiators black, to dissipate the heat.

 

According to the chart they used both red and orange in 56.

 

Black


White


Red


Gold


Blue

 

Hey Larry, the chev engine pic you posted, if you dont mind me asking, what brand exhaust manifolds are you using?