What is the weirdest color that you've seen on an engine?

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Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Build your car to handle.
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Many of us are traditionalists, myself included. I love the Mopar orange, I loved the Chevy orange when I owned them.
I do understand the desire to stick with a factory type of color. Last week a buddy and I painted three LA type blocks in Go Man Go...

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I first used the GoManGo on a 440 block in 2022:

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This was my first time painting an engine with catalyzed enamel through a gun rather than using spray cans.

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I went bonkers for the tangy shade of orange!
Guys like Andy Finkbeiner seem to like the factory Turquois hue...
Late last year I bought a 1990 roller cam 360 that was painted silver....

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It looked horrible.
The factory went to basic black with the LA series sometime in the 80s, right? I have a 2007 5.7 Hemi junkyard mill on an engine stand to replace the engine in my truck when the time is right...it is black.

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I once knew an old hippie that rebuilt a 350 for his Camaro and painted the block red, the heads blue and the intake white....

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What colors have you seen that are a bit unusual ?
 
Those Go ManGo engines look great!!

The engine in my valiant was half safety orange and half bright blue when I got it. I'll have to look into it but I think I have pics.
 
Here's a 425 Cadillac block I used for a mockup block since it has the same outside dimensions as a 500 Cadillac block except about 60 pounds lighter.

You can see it's painted AMC blue. I put a 526" Cadillac in a 69 Rambler and since the distributor's are both in the same place very few ever caught that is wasn't an AMC engine.

Tom



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Lots of old roundy round stuff was painted white to help find leaks. I always thought (and still do) it looks terrible.
 
Jake King, the engine builder for Sox & Martin always painted their race Hemis Ford Blue.
I heard that the reason for this was back in the day when they ran Fords and switched to Plymouth, they had a bunch of Ford Blue left over and painted their engines that color to use it up and it stuck with them because it was unique and different.
I actually didn't mind it...
 
PROSTOCKTOM said:
Here's a 425 Cadillac block I used for a mockup block since it has the same outside dimensions as a 500 Cadillac block except about 60 pounds lighter.

You can see it's painted AMC blue. I put a 526" Cadillac in a 69 Rambler and since the distributor's are both in the same place very few ever caught that is wasn't an AMC engine.

Tom



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Wonderful color. The block not the yellow heads of course.
 
Dartnut said:
Jake King, the engine builder for Sox & Martin always painted their race Hemis Ford Blue.
I heard that the reason for this was back in the day when they ran Fords and switched to Plymouth, they had a bunch of Ford Blue left over and painted their engines that color to use it up and it stuck with them because it was unique and different.
I actually didn't mind it...
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post, #Dartnut, I wasn't aware of the Jake King/Sox & Martin story.
The engine in my old '69 340 Swinger was originally factory turquoise and I never liked the color. I also don't think everything has to be painted factory correct. So when the engine was rebuilt and modified for more performance I painted it Ford Blue because I liked the color and thought it looked better in the R4 Charger Red engine compartment.
Unfortunately, I stupidly sold that car during a minor financial downturn years ago.
My current long-term project is another '69 Dart and the 360 is also going to be Ford Blue. Again, because I like the color and it's going to 'pop' against the Viper Red engine compartment.
 

Florescent Green.....ive seen it and absolutely hate it. I have to assume the mentality is "NOBODYS GONNA STEAL THIS AND GET AWAY WITH IT". LOL
 
TT5.9mag said:
Wonderful color. The block not the yellow heads of course.
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I bought a painted yellow 500 from a friend of mines nephew. He had it in a 65 Ford F100 pickup truck that would peel one tire for a city block.

He ultimately didn't like the fuel mileage so he sold the engine to me for $150 and I immediately tore it apart to research it all. Always a bad mistake when they run good.

Tom
 
Lefty71 said:
Florescent Green.....ive seen it and absolutely hate it. I have to assume the mentality is "NOBODYS GONNA STEAL THIS AND GET AWAY WITH IT". LOL
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For some reason that color is big down in this part of the country. I absolutely freaking hate it! I don’t think I could pick a tackier color if I tried, IMO. I use the factory color: blue, orange, gray, black, etc. nicely done factory colors never go out of style whether on a car or an engine.
 
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