I want to paint my engine, and the car is a 1970. My question to all of you is: When did Ford change from the Ford dark blue to the brighter Ford blue? One source says they are all the dark blue till 1976, and I just want to know. Thanks in advance for any help you an provide.
First I've heard of a medium blue, AFAIK dark blue was on all engines from 1966 till they switched to medium grey in the early '80s...
The light blue was used on FE engines. All the others were dark/corporate blue from , as Krazy stated..66 up to 79 or 80. The corporate blue was a bit lighter/darker depending on the vendor/supplier of the paint...Lowest bidder.
FE followed same pattern as other engines, beginning '66 all Ford Dark Blue.. The early '60s 352 FE had medium blue valve covers and air cleaner, blocks were black... Same color was used for air cleaner and valve covers on the 144 6cyl, plus 221 and 260 small blocks, shade is similar to grabber blue... No Ford blocks FE or otherwise were this color from factory...
The all new 144 didn't get paint on the block in it's first year...it came in raw iron. Here is the correct colors Ford used on engines that came in the Mustangs. http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-...-select-correct-vintage-mustang-engine-paint/
To expand a bit more, engines before '66 often had different color valve covers and air cleaner dependant on what it was to be used in... For instance in the Fairlane the 221 were medium blue in '62 & '63 but '62 Meteor used yellow for same engine... In '63 Meteor used blue like Fairlane... In it three year production the 260 wore argent(silver), red, blue, or chrome(Falcon Sprint) dependant on usage... I clearly remember the first dark blue engine I saw, was 428 Police Interceptor in a new '66 NC State Trooper's car a friend's dad knew... After all the years with brightly colored valve covers and air cleaners, I was sorely disappointed... Still it had three on tree and except maybe for a 421 SD, 4-speed, Grand Prix was fastest thing I'd ever been in...
My original 72 engine paint was to far gone for comparision But when I compared an original 73 air cleaner assembly to Dupli color is was almost a perfect match.
Good man!! I suspect confusion exists because paint did tend to fade with age, plus the later paint didn't have the slight purplish tint of the early years... Still it's all supposed to be same, whether your talking Maverick, T-Bird, LTD, Stang or a F-series, etc...
