Engine Detailing Questions

Hello Everyone,

So I’m coming along with my engine detailing. I have a 67 GT. So I’ve got everything off of the engine and have started striping the fender aprons and shock towers. I am not planning on pulling the engine so I will be having fun working around the tight spaces an FE provides. Here are my questions.

  • Shock Tower caps, should they be painted black or a type of silver like I see some people do. If silver, what color is it?
  • Engine paint color. I bought engine paint from W.C.C.C. and it seems really dark compared to other cars I see online.
  • What is going on in the picture I have attached. It looks like there is tape that is covering an oval hole that has been painted over. Is this factory? Is there a plug for this hole?

Thanks for any help,
Jim

Hi Jim,

Your shock tower caps would have originally been Phosphate and Oil coated, which gave a sort of flat black finish. If you don’t have the ability to have them recoated in P&O, you might be able to get away with a light coating of flat black.

The picture you attached appears to show where a hole was added to the firewall. It’s possible someone had previously added a manual choke, or some other mod.
It looks like half of the hole is round, like a factory hole that would have a large body plug in it.
If you have some welding capability, you might consider repairing the hole, possibly shrinking it down to the point where you could cover the remaining hole with a body plug.

I hope that makes some sense to you.

Good luck!

Mike,

Thanks for the reply. I will try to light flat black spray.

The hole is definitely an oval. This image I got off the internet looks like the area is a knockout maybe? I have a welder but it would be pretty tough get in there and plus the interior is in the car and God knows what fire that would start. I have a 3D printer. Maybe I’ll try making a plug.

Jim

That’s where hoses from an under dash A/C unit would go.

Royce,

I had a feeling that might be the case. Weird, my car never had A/C. Do you know if anyone makes a plug for it?

Jim

No you will have to make one from .035" steel.

Royce,

Thanks, I will try designing one and printing it. I will post a picture of how it comes out.

Jim

I just did the phosphate and oil wash on some of my 68 parts. I was pleased with the way it turned out. Not a difficult process.


I’ll post the website where I bought the wash.

Manganese Phosphate wash

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If you don’t want to do actual phosphate plating Eastwood sells a paint that is very close. https://www.eastwood.com/ew-zinc-phosphate-aerosol-12-oz.html