Thinking of sprucing up engine compartment

So, the engine compartment (and engine) of my Barracuda is a little grungy --we'll say it has some patina-- and I think I want to spruce it up a bit. Make it so that the rest of the car keeps the patina, but when the hood opens it really shines. I don't think it would be that hard to yank the engine, paint it, clean up the compartment, and put it all back together. Do you guys have any advice for this? It's a '68 notchback, manual steering and no A/C with a 360 in it.

I also have a few questions in case I do decide to do this. What can I do to make the compartment as clean and organized as possible? My main questions is what color I should paint the engine. I don't know the year of the engine, but it's light blue. The car originally had a 318 in it, but that was before I owned it. The three options are:
1. Paint it like the 318 (orange or blue I think for '68).
2. Paint it like a '68 340 and pretend it is one.
3. Paint it like the [correct year] 360 like it is.

Anyways, I'm still tossing the idea around. I would like to do it so I can make it look nice and inspect the engine closer, but I also don't want to have it apart when spring rolls around. Any thoughts you guys have are helpful. Thanks!