question for you resto experts

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GSXcite

GSXcite

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I have a 66 Barracuda that has been in my family since the early 70s. It is completely stock with 26K miles. The car sat at my dads for several years without being started or driven, so the fuel system, brakes, cooling and ignition system is in need of some TLC. I have the distributor out for rebuild, and it has engine paint over spray on it. I don't think my dad ever did any painting on the engine, so my question is, could this paint have happened at the factory? If so, should I leave it that way or clean it up and make it look nice? I want to keep it as original as I can and don't want to do anything that would effect the value of this survivor.
 

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ShowAndGoResto said:
Somebody painted that...and it wasn't the factory!
Clean it off...Distributors were not installed before painting..
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That's been painted by someone, but not the factory.
Laquer thinner works good for that and a terrycloth rag to get into the corners.
Don't submerge it, do it by hand with the rag and your good.
 
ShowAndGoResto said:
Somebody painted that...and it wasn't the factory!
Clean it off...Distributors were not installed before painting..
Click to expand...

While I tend to agree with you on this......

I have seen at least one other thread (It was about small block paint colors) where an early "A" owner also claimed he had factory red over-spray (much like the pic above) on his distributor.

With that said, I would clean it off. That over-spray, factory or not looks ghetto.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
While I tend to agree with you on this......

I have seen at least one other thread (It was about small block paint colors) where an early "A" owner also claimed he had factory red over-spray (much like the pic above) on his distributor.

With that said, I would clean it off. That over-spray, factory or not looks ghetto.
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It's kinda hard to believe that they stuck the distributor in before the manifold and valve covers when they painted.
A long *** time ago it was popular to paint your engine electrics red.
Kinda ghetto simulated MSD.
Every time I have ever seen it since, reminds me that it was so prevalent that now MSD color looks ghetto to me.

Kinda suck really, as in reality I know MSD is good stuff and in my mind got ruined by a guy with a can of red spraypaint 30 years ago.

Go figure.
 
TrailBeast said:
It's kinda hard to believe that they stuck the distributor in before the manifold and valve covers when they painted.
A long *** time ago it was popular to paint your engine electrics red.
Kinda ghetto simulated MSD.
Every time I have ever seen it since, reminds me that it was so prevalent that now MSD color looks ghetto to me.

Kinda suck really, as in reality I know MSD is good stuff and in my mind got ruined by a guy with a can of red spraypaint 30 years ago.

Go figure.
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What makes me wonder is that I know the history of the car. My dad bought it from our preacher, who is not an MSD kind of guy. I guess dad may have did some touch up at one time.
As far as pics, all I have right now are the ones I took while it was still in the trailer.
 

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It is possible to find drips of touch up paint on manifolds and such from the factory.
That much overspray on a distrubutor would be rare.
 
RedFish said:
It is possible to find drips of touch up paint on manifolds and such from the factory.
That much overspray on a distrubutor would be rare.
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I had a 69 el camino SS that had some engine paint overspray on parts that looked like it may have come from the factory, but since I made a pro street car out of it, I didn't need to keep things original.
 
I am pretty sure that Chrysler back in the days painted the distributor. During my restoration I have examined a lot of unrestored cars and they all have painted distributors. What I have found out is that Chrysler mounted the distributor prior to paint. The cables were added before the paint even had dried. I have paint splots on the ignition cables. I have in my shop four Prestolite distributiors and they have all been painted. This is how my distributor looked before I started to restore it.

The last picture is how it looked on the engine block. Evidence of paint.
 

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65dartcharger said:
I am pretty sure that Chrysler back in the days painted the distributor. During my restoration I have examined a lot of unrestored cars and they all have painted distributors. What I have found out is that Chrysler mounted the distributor prior to paint. The cables were added before the paint even had dried. I have paint splots on the ignition cables. I have in my shop four Prestolite distributiors and they have all been painted. This is how my distributor looked before I started to restore it.

The last picture is how it looked on the engine block. Evidence of paint.
Click to expand...

Thats very interesting. So when you did the restoration, did you repaint the distributor?
 
Well it ONLY took about 5 hours, but the distributor is looking better. I cleaned it up, but I think it was overspray from the factory. Under the paint looked like a brand new casting. No way the distributor was cleaned up that good before someone shot some paint on it, so I made the decision to get it cleaned up real good, and if I want to make it look stock, I can always shoot some more paint on it although it will be hard for me to do after detailing that thing for hours.:banghead:
 

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You've done a great work and you still have the possibility to "overspray" it if you want. Good luck with the restoration.
 
Beautiful car!!!!!!! Yes,Mopar had the distributors installed and put a cup (of some sort) over the distributor before the whole thing was painted. Most of the overspray is lopsided and looks pretty haphazardly painted. The paint on your distributor looks like the 3 original distributors I have owned. toolmanmike
 

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