Painting engine compartments

[Deleted]

I'm looking for a "general" type answer to this question and not a specific, every possible scenario, answer. My builds will be displayed hood down so I don't have to be dead accurate every time.

I've tried to think back to the different cars I owned back in the day and I'm a little fuzzy on a couple of them. I'm trying to recall what color the engine compartments were. Ultimately, I'm trying to determine what color I should plan on painting engine compartments. If memory serves me correctly, my '55 Plymouth had either semi-gloss or flat black paint, my '67 Barracuda had semi gloss black paint, as did my '69 Chevelle. I'm thinking my '67 Cougar had body colored paint, but I can't recall for sure. I know my '77 F85 Coupe was black, but the car was black too.

So, in general, what color(s) should the engine compartments be for different makes and models? Is there a website somewhere that has a guide?

[styrenesurfer]

I don't know about an all make database for this type of info, but have you tried Google searching the ;year,make,model?

You can define your search by adding";engine compartment" or anything that you are looking for.

Then you can change your search to image.

Not much help but thats how I usually find specific car information.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I thought about that. The problem with searching for just a car, or images of cars, is that nearly every result will be a car that has been restored. There is no way to be sure the engine compartment is painted the original color.

The fact is that since I'll be displaying all my builds with hoods down, it's not that critical that I've used the right color paint. I'd just like to at least try to stay as realistic as I can. Even if I'm the only one that knows, I would know and it would really bug me knowing I did it wrong.

[41chevy]

FoMOCo up to about 80 or so Semi Gloss Black. Generally under side of hood is body color.
GM up to the late 90's Semi Gloss Black, some Olds W30 and 442 had Red inner wheel skirts.Except 1982 and up Camaro and Firebird. Body color inner skirts, semi black firewall and under hood.
Mopar from 1958 or 59 engine compartment including hood and hood hinges Body color.

Best match Semi Gloss Black I've found is Krylon.

[Deleted]

Cool. Thanks.

[biggary]

Working from memory here, it seems that most cars with a frame had a body color firewall and semi-gloss/satin black fender wells. Cars without frames, unibody construction, had firewall and fender wells body color. That I think is a general rule. No promise of accuracy here, just an observation from memory.

[Deleted]

It seems that what I've been running into is finding photos on the 'Net that are of restored cars, and the under hood colors vary depending on who did the resto. That might very well dictate how I paint the under hood on my builds. If I'm trying to replicate a factory stock I do it one way, but if it's a resto of any kind I'll probably do it differently.

Fact is I really don't know why I'm trying to be that picky since all my builds will be displayed "hood down".