I am looking for advice on how to refurbish parts of my truck as I go along repairing it. For example, I replaced my steering pump this weekend and painted it Ford Blue. My questions are these:
1) Suggestions on a book/manual that lists the correct colors to paint different engine/truck components? I painted the pump blue because I like it that way, but it would be nice to nice to know if it should be black or silver. This also matters for when I repaint my chipped and scratched hub caps.

2) What are they best types of paint to use for these applications? For the pump I used Duplicolor Engine heat paint and clear coat (4 coats each) which looked nice but chips WAY to easily. I'm wondering if POR-brush on paints are better? Same for when I redo the hub caps- I don't want them to chip off after the first ride down the street.

Thanks for help in figuring these things out!

 

I can't tell you what type of paint to use, thats something I'd like to know myself. Only advice I have is that 90% of getting a paint job to come out right and last for a long time is the prep work.

 

Ya can't beat catalyzed colors and clears for durable finishes.

I used white (appliance) epoxy paint on my shocks. Pretty darn tuff but some got mucked up by brake fluid. Brackets - powder coat 'em.

 

Don't know of any books that list the correct colors/finishes for engine compartment components.
The correct color for the power steering pump is a sort of grayish blue.
Visit some of the websites of Mustang parts suppliers, they have the correct color in aerosol cans.

 

I recommend using a nicely restored or restomodded 68-70 Mustang or even NPDs extremely low mileage bumpside for reference.

When I mean "restored", some purists will go so far as to recreate drips cuz of how the factory parts were painted on a rack. A second example is that the lower control arms on early Stangs were dipped in a bucket of black paint and hung out to dry. There were also different treatments depending which plant it was constructed like blacked out pinch welds or body colored pinch welds. It gets crazy building and detailing to Thoroughbred (ALL NOS and correct date-coded parts), Concours Trailered, Concours Driven, etc... too A-N-A-L retentive for me.

Hardware can run the gamut of natural steel, phosphate, phosphate & oil, oiled, natural aluminum, and cadmium plated. Later when I get home, I'll post some pics of Mustang Plus' 68 Bullitt Tribute to provide some ideas.

 

Here you go:





Consider using House of Kolor One Shot paint series for your hub caps... the same stuff used by pinstripers. I highly recommend using a paint pen rather than a brush cuz the brush marks will inevitably show. Contact Eastwood for paint pens. Bake it under heat for 20 minutes... better if you can find a garage sale electric toaster oven. Want to go one better? Eastwood also has powdercoating kits.

 

That is a beautiful engine compartment. Honestly I don't think you can ever keep a daily driver that nice, but doesn't hurt to try. I could never be as **** retentive about details as 100 point resto people- I just want to keep my engine bay looking nice and semi-factory, so nothing sticks out as silly looking. It'd be nice to have it all look factory, but I don't care about replicating oil drips.

I've been looking through the POR-15 catalog and they have a huge assortment of products, which if they work as advertised would be great. My complaint with the aerosols is that while they coat nicely, they are too think and I think lack proper bonding- even with primer. The brush on paints apply thicker and I seem to harden differently. In particular, the POR-15 combined with the high heat color or clear coat seems promising. I did use their high heat header paint with mixed results. It has been on 2 months and looks ok- starting to chip/rust through. But I was only able to sand the headers not sandblast, which is recommended. So my prep work was subpar. The places it is coating still look good though.

And yes- powder coating is best, but getting the equipment is a modest expense I cant afford (though watch me tally up paint to cost more). Also- some things, like a pump, can't be heated like that.

 

Yeah it's super nice. I'm not a fan of the billet nor the red MSD cap but I can overlook it given the details elsewhere.

Here's the reply I intended to write for your thread. After some thought, I figured more FTE'ers may benefit from it than the few who might read this one.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ml#post9618191

 

Ha, that's funny. I just painted my steering pump Ford blue last week and it looks pretty good. As for the engine components it's fairly straight forward cause i build model cars as one of my hobby ( along with working on the Ford ) so im always looking for refenence pics, especially for original, just surf the net , but its usually black for ps pump, coil, fan, pulleys, brake booster. Just have fun with it and paint bolt heads, even with a small brush and make it look better than new. Little details will make your ride unique. I've been working away on the 77 and having a blast taking stuff off and cleaning, painting them and detailing I had alot of fun doing the 9" standard. pics in the garage of progress.

 

1. I don't know of any one resource that will provide you with this information. restorers spend a lot of time matching colors, chalk marks, etc. One suggestion, when you have a part that you want to repaint, very carefully clean the old finish. Many times, you can identify the original color from the part. Companies like SEM and Eastwood offer a variety of stock colors for various applications. They may be able to help you. You may also receive responses when asking about specific parts on informational sites like this.

2. It is impossible to identify one specific paint to use. Some parts may require high temp paints. Other may not. Like I said, SEM and Eastwood offer a variety of a paints, such as trim black, gold cadium plate, brake paint, manifold paint, frame paint, etc. POR is pretty specific for its application, and you will find many people who have nothing good to say about it (personally I've had mixed results from great to pretty pi** poor). I have a preference for powder coat, when I can get the parts in my oven. The finish is pretty resilient, though it does require special equipment to apply and cure.

3. Unless you are doing a show quality restoration, consider cleaning things up and making everything look nice. You won't have to worry about matching colors perfectly, and you and your buddues will still appreciate the appearance of your ride.