Mopar Engine Detailing

The aluminum body gets a special cleaning process (not bead blasting), then gets a coat of flat clear to preserve the finish. The brush plate on the end of the motor cylinder and attaching hardware is silver zinc. Schmidt's price is $200 exchange plus shipping. It's a lot of craftsmanship for the money.

Two basic types are used--an oval shape for disc brakes, and a rectangular one for drum brakes. Both tops are zinc dichromate. The bolt and hold down, originally phosphate, can be plated with black zinc for longevity. The wire hold down is silver zinc, and the master cylinder body is bare cast iron. Because bare iron is so rust prone, John highly recommends coating it with MP-50 (a metal preservative available in a spray can from a Chrysler dealer), Zecol Plus 4, or one of the many other preservatives. That's a white daub inspection mark on the front. Brake lines are natural bare steel sprayed with MP-50, while brake line nuts are color coded with blue (rear) and red (front) dye.

The lift-off hood comes with four chromed hood pins, protected with 5/8-inch heater hose. Flat washer, star washer, and nut on the bottom are silver zinc.

The dip stick handle is dipped in engine paint. The bare steel tube was installed after the engine was painted, so it has no overspray.

The fan is painted semi-gloss black, and the fan clutch has bare aluminum fins. Not visible is its zinc dichromate front. The shroud is unpainted black plastic. To restore a used shroud, John thoroughly cleans it, then fogs it with flat black paint. The radiator is painted Satin Black; the radiator cap is silver zinc with a brass center button. Hose clamps are zinc dichromated, pulleys are painted semi-gloss black over bare steel, and the distributor hold-down bracket is silver zinc with phosphate bolts.

Two J-bolts (battery hold downs), are phosphate. Wing nuts (the same nuts used for the air breather on this model) and flat washers are silver zinc. Mopars of different years used a regular nut and washer. The top bracket (still available from Chrysler) is dipped in rubber. The negative cable uses a silver zinc bolt, while the positive cable uses a phosphated bolt. Cable ends are lead.

The factory painted the block, valve covers, air cleaner, and intake bare--no primer. John uses Ditzco Enamel, PPG's original Alkyd Enamel, in Hemi Orange, paint code No. 60626. He protects the bare exhaust manifolds from rust with a coat of Seymour high-temperature paint. He then paints the whole motor with the manifolds installed while it's protected by a cardboard mask, which imitates the more sophisticated mask Chrysler used. The engine enamel adheres to the Seymour high-temperature paint. Chrysler typically painted aluminum intakes. The air cleaner base is painted black. Wing nuts and flat washers are silver zinc. John replated the old washers and the wing nuts, which Almost NOS reproduces.

The housing is zinc dichromate; rod, nuts, and washers are silver zinc; and the spring is black zinc.

The big washer and large nut are silver zinc. The lock nut is bare steel.