Painting the Engine

Ok, ok.... I'm slack... I get it... but I'm an important man and got a lot of important things to do.

But, I have managed to do a fair bit to on the Mustang, so thought I'd take the opportunity to blow out my server quota with a few photos.

In our last semi-exciting episode, I had just removed the engine from the car. Although a lot of different things have been done since then, today we'll continue following the engine on its exciting journey to restoration... well, a paint job at least.

First I stripped off all the non-essential (i.e. - easy to get off) bits.

I painted the manifolds first in a high-temp grey.

The harmonic balancer was next...

Yeah, the rubber is old and cracked... it'll need replacement one day.

Next, the valve covers are run through the media blaster to get all the old paint off, then sprayed with etch prime.

Then the tedious part... cleaning the engine block.  A dozen cans of degreaser and a high pressure hose gets most of it.

But getting all the nooks and crannies clean requires a bit of elbow grease... and time.

Finally, she's ready to go and the painting begins.  Note that I'm using Ford Blue, which is a standard colour that's been used by Ford for a million years or so.  Well, except for 1965, which was a lighter shade.

And here we are...

Now it's time to finish up all the bits and pieces and bolt them back on.  You can see the end result in another post.