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Mopar Engine Restoration - Just Like NewThe Details About Engine Restoration From the November, 2010 issue of Mopar Muscle By Dave Young Photography by Dave Young
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The factory methods for making... The factory methods for making the engine in your Mopar aesthetically appealing were pretty crude. This month we'll show you how they did it, and how you might be able to make your engine and engine bay look better than new. We've said it before: one of the most neglected areas during a car restoration is often the engine and engine bay of the vehicle. There are countless Mopars that would be show winners, and featured here in the pages of Mopar Muscle, if only the engine and engine bay were properly restored. By properly restored, we mean clean, painted, presentable, and matching the theme of the car. If the car is a stock restoration, the engine should be painted like it was from the factory. If the car is modified, modifications to the engine and engine bay are certainly acceptable as well. This month we'll show you how to restore your engine's appearance to factory specs, and also show you some tips to make the engine bay look better than it was when the car was new. When our Mopars were built, they were constructed by regular people working shifts on an assembly line in one of the many Chrysler factories. The automotive industry was in a growth period during the late '60s, so all of the factories were hiring new employees on a regular basis. Like most auto manufacturers, Chrysler would put new employees in entry-level positions, and they would work their way toward more challenging jobs and better pay. For painters, entry level meant painting the engine bay of the vehicle, and perhaps the inside of the trunk and inner body. For this reason, the engine bays of the majority of Mopars we've seen have at least one flaw, and often many, right from the factory. Chances are you spent a lot... Chances are you spent a lot of money on the parts and machine work necessary to make the inside of your engine perform properly, so don't you want it to look its best as well? The same goes for the engine of your Mopar. After being built at the Mound Road Engine Plant (or Chrysler's Marine & Industrial engine plant in the case of 426 Hemis), it was painted the appropriate color with a spray gun just like the car, and the guy painting it may have never painted anything before in his life. He quite likely just got the job at the engine plant and was doing his time painting engines and waiting to be promoted. Knowing this explains the vast discrepancies we've seen in the way factory engines were painted. In some cases, nearly the entire negative battery cable was the color of the engine; in others, just the end of the cable. Some engines got soaked in paint, causing runs, and others just got a light coat, leaving bare cast iron exposed. It simply depended on the painter's attention to detail, or lack thereof. So, if you want to restore the engine and engine bay of your Mopar back to the way it was from the factory, you need to decide whether to document all of the defects and reproduce them, or to do it better than the factory did. For uniquely-optioned Mopars, or cars attempting to achieve OE Gold status, reproducing the engine and engine bay the way it came from the factory is generally considered the appropriate method of restoration, but for most of our mass-produced Mopars, spending a little extra time using modern products and restoration techniques can have your engine and engine bay looking far better than when it rolled off Chrysler's assembly line. This month, we'll show you... This month, we'll show you some tricks to make your engine look its best. When we build the engine for our Mopar, most of us take advantage of modern lightweight components inside, and modern gasket and seal technology to keep the engine dry and leak-free. Technology has come a long way in the past four decades, and it's generally accepted that even a stock restoration isn't necessarily required to remain stock internally. And although a little bigger cam, lighter forged pistons, and roller rocker arms can't be seen without some disassembly, items like gaskets can, so if you want a factory look, the visible gaskets should be of the appropriate material, like cork for the valve covers and oil pan. If you're not keeping your car completely factory, however, we suggest that you take advantage of modern rubber and coated gasket technology, as the performance will be much better.  This is what we usually start...  This is what we usually start with when we pull the engine from our Mopar for a rebuild, especially if the car has been neglected by one or more previous owners. With a little work and the right parts, even a rough-looking engine like this can be made to appear better than new.  After a trip to the hot tank...  After a trip to the hot tank at our local machine shop, Auto Performance Engines, engine parts are free from oil and grease and are generally ready to paint. We take cleanliness to the next level, however, and wash all the parts with dish soap and water, removing any contaminants that could affect our paint job.  Using dry compressed air to...  Using dry compressed air to blow all the parts off will remove any moisture left over from washing and rinsing the parts. Remember, this is as clean as the engine parts will get as they will certainly be contaminated by a certain amount of oil during assembly, so now is the best time to paint the engine parts.  One trick we use is to pre-assemble...  One trick we use is to pre-assemble the engine and exterior sheetmetal like the timing cover, oil pan, and valve covers using the proper hardware, then painting everything together ensuring complete coverage of all the parts. Even if you plan to paint the engine again after assembly, this gets a good coat of paint on the parts as a base.  The parts can also be painted...  The parts can also be painted individually, if desired, prior to being put on the engine and recoated. The trick is to get multiple layers of paint on the clean and dry engine parts, ensuring that if the top coat gets chipped, the engine will still be the proper color underneath.  Engine paint is specifically...  Engine paint is specifically designed to be tolerant to oils and chemicals associated with an automotive engine, and it can take more heat than normal paint. Summit Racing carries a variety of engine paints, including the correct colors for all popular Mopar applications. Even if you'll be using an... Even if you'll be using an aftermarket intake manifold, distributor, and valve covers, having a clean extra set of stock components can really save time. We bolted on a set of stock valve covers, water pump housing, and intake on this engine so we wouldn't have to tape those areas off for paint. Don't have an old distributor around? A rubber body plug from your Mopar's floor will also plug this hole. And what about the area of the engine bay where the engine sits? As the engine bay is basically a display case to show off the engine, it's extremely important for the engine compartment to be restored properly so that the engine will look its best. Again, if duplicating a factory job, you would want to paint it in single-stage paint and reproduce all of the defects, such as runs and thin or discolored paint, to give it the average look of a car built in the '60s or '70s. Since we rarely leave our cars stock, we generally agree that painting the engine bay along with the rest of the car in modern base/clear, two-stage paint is the way to go. Clear-coated paint will last longer, resist fading, and be more tolerant to oil and other fluids related to the engine and engine bay. Taking steps like masking off the K-member and giving it a coat of black paint, and painting or coating all the components in the engine bay their appropriate colors, will also make your engine bay look better than new. When it comes to the details of the engine's appearance, a lot still depends on the intent of the car. An owner performing a completely stock restoration on a rare numbers-matching car would likely choose to paint the engine after it was built, with the exhaust manifolds, spark plugs, water outlet, and even the negative battery cable attached, and getting a certain amount of paint and overspray in the process. But for the average hot-rodder, especially the perfectionist, the poor appearance that this method produces simply won't do. For most engines, we recommend painting the individual parts when they come back from the machine shop initially, because the parts should be clean and oil-free at this time. Additionally, since most of us will use aftermarket intakes, valve covers, and even cylinder heads on our engines, painting the parts that need paint individually will give the engine crisper lines and a professional appearance. And even if you plan to use factory components on your engine, painting them before assembly, then painting the entire engine once assembled assures that the engine will remain looking good, even if the top coat gets a chip or scratch, as the same color will be underneath. Another trick we like to employ, especially if we're using aftermarket components like aluminum cylinder heads, valve covers, or an oil pan that won't be painted, is to have an extra set of valve covers, oil pan, fuel pump (or pump block-off), intake, and even cylinder heads that are clean but won't be used. This allows us to pre-assemble the engine with our extra parts, using them to keep paint from reaching the areas we don't want painted, like the intake valley or the block's deck. So, if you ever take an engine apart and won't be using these pieces, have your local machine shop run them through the hot tank. Then, you can use them repeatedly any time you rebuild a similar type engine, saving time and effort when it comes time to paint the engine.  Chances are the paintjob on...  Chances are the paintjob on your car is better than the factory paint, so there's nothing wrong with making the engine in your Mopar look better than new as well. Unless you're going for a completely factory appearance, such as for an extremely rare car or attempt to achieve OE status for your Mopar, then we're all for making the engine and engine bay look as nice as possible.  Speaking of the engine bay,...  Speaking of the engine bay, it should of course be treated to bodywork just like the rest of the car, then painted body color during the restoration.  This is another area prone...  This is another area prone to factory defects, and we recommend correcting them for a better than new appearance unless the car is historically significant.  Gasket technology has come...  Gasket technology has come a long way in four decades, and modern gaskets and seals will keep the oil inside the engine, so the engine stays looking good longer. Of course for an OE appearance, cork oil pan and valve-cover gaskets should be used for a factory look.  What about the inside of the...  What about the inside of the engine? It's generally accepted that the stock internal engine parts can be replaced with modern components, the theory being that if you can't see it externally, it still appears stock.  With that in mind we certainly...  With that in mind we certainly recommend taking advantage of modern camshaft grinds from Comp, or lightweight pistons and connecting rods from Summit Racing. If you use our method of pre-assembling... If you use our method of pre-assembling the engine for paint, the next step is to disassemble the engine and clean the parts that will be used for the build. So, now the million-dollar question . . . what color? Again, that largely depends on the intent of the restoration, as well as the tastes of the owner. If you're building the car like the factory did, there are countless resources, both online and in print, to tell you what color the engine in your car was originally. Most factory engine paint colors are available in spray can form from companies like Summit Racing. Chrysler used many colors including turquoise, several oranges, red, and blue over the years, and sometimes multiple engine colors in a single year, so if your car is a factory restoration, be sure you do your research and use the correct color. If your car is not a factory restoration, then the sky is the limit. You can use any color you'd like on your engine, although we do prefer seeing the engine in its factory hue if possible. An exception, of course, is if the factory engine color would clash with the car's paint, or if you installed a high-performance engine in the vehicle that would have been a different color than the stock low-performance engine. One of our favorite Mopar engine colors is Race Hemi Orange because it's a subtle color that looks vastly different from the oranges of off-brand vehicles. What if you're not planning a complete restoration at this time? There are still plenty of ways to make the engine and engine bay look better. By simply cleaning the engine bay and repainting highly visible items like the air cleaner and valve covers, you can make your car look much more presentable. So remember, don't neglect the engine or engine bay during a restoration, and you won't be afraid to open the hood the next time you're at the track, a car show, or cruise night.  Using spare parts to cover...  Using spare parts to cover the engine saves your nice parts for final assembly, and also ensures that paint covers all the areas exposed once the engine is put together. All the exposed hardware also gets painted this way, so we don't have to punch holes in cardboard and paint it separately.  Should you paint the core...  Should you paint the core plugs along with the engine? We've found that brass plugs expand and contract during heat cycles, eventually causing the paint to flake off, so we install brass plugs after painting. Steel core plugs can be installed and painted along with the block if desired.  This photo sent in by a reader...  This photo sent in by a reader is of a factory engine that was never installed in a vehicle, and clearly shows the exhaust manifolds were painted with the engine from the factory. Chrysler wasn't too particular when painting engines, often installing them with thin paint or runs. Unless your car is historically significant, we suggest doing a better job than Chrysler did when you restore it. Photo courtesy Albert and Shelly Shimels  You'll probably want to dress...  You'll probably want to dress your engine up with aftermarket appearance and performance products, and having a good paintjob will only make these parts look better.  By restoring the engine and...  By restoring the engine and engine bay of your Mopar, you'll be proud to pop the hood and show off your work at the next car show or cruise night. There's nothing wrong with being noticed for having the best known engine in the parking lot or on the road!
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