Is that an El Camino Bill?

 

OK, I reconsidered.See my post in Dad's something er other thread.

 

You don't like the look of a black air cleaner, black snorkels, and a natural aluminum lid? Basically looking just like it did when you gave it to me???? I'm confused.


How has the paint held up, Bill?

 

Ohhhhhhhh! I gotta see this!!!!

That's not very helpful as there are Dad's threads everywhere.

 

Yes, it was an El Rusto I was working on for a friend. The only French stuff I ever owned was air cooled, I did have a few GM diesels, 78 Olds Delta 88 Royale, 80 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham and a 1981 Buick LeSabre.

 

Quite well actually, despite the 2.2 turbo's penchant for oil leaks.

 

Good to hear. Hadn't planned to paint the heads clear, but maybe.

 

I still think the blue valve covers look fine with the black air cleaner. If it were the only black thing on the engine, maybe not. But the water pump pulley is the tip-off to how it will look with your other accessories. I think when you get the black accents from the other pulleys (and brackets?), the black air cleaner will have plenty of company even with the blue valve covers.

Just some thoughts!

 

I dunno. Personally, I think the black valve covers look better......

 

I'm gonna have to say black valve covers.

 

I love the blue valve covers, agree with RW that all surfaces should be coated to stop dirt ingress.
How about painting the heads blue but leaving the trick flow script clear filled, that would be subtle but cool.
I'm for a blue and natural combo, seeing as you have the blue block.
Have you considered coating the brackets etc in that awesome metallic powder you used on the fasteners?
How about coating the entire air cleaner assembly in that powder as well?

A cool thing guys here do is use the correct era font for their stickers but change the script - I.e a 351GT front guard racing stripe decal becomes a 393GT because they have stroked the Clevo.
SO I say definitely go the 400HO script on the air leaner lid.

 

Ok, Luke says black air cleaner with blue valve covers, and RW & Matthew say black valve covers but don't comment on the air cleaner. Hmmmm.

Well, I've got a bit more in the way of pics for that discussion, but first there's some news about the air cleaner - I think I worked it out. Go to Dad's Air Cleaner for the full story, although the short story is that I drilled the spot welds out on the angled adapter on an HO snorkel, flipped it over so the angle was the opposite, and it worked. And by "worked" I mean that the driver's side snorkel clears the A/C compressor on Rusty and it fits nicely on the mocked-up engine:



But, in all of that work trying it on Rusty I realized that in many ways looking at the colors on Rusty is better than mocking up an engine with no accessories. Yes, you have to imagine all of the accessories being satin black, but at least you have them as well as all of the other stuff under the hood. And, you have to imagine the blue being OFB, but at least it is there.

So, here are three pictures of Rusty's engine, which has a Ford Blue pan, block, water pump, and valve covers. Yes, trust me, it does. But, you can't really tell that, can you? The pan, block, and water pump get lost for the most part. That has me thinking it might be nice to have some blue up higher - at least the valve covers if not the air cleaner. Thoughts????

 

To me, the crowning touch is the air cleaner sticker on the cover, e.g.
Ford Air Cleaner Decal | eBay

 

Sorry, Brad. Ships in the night. (I assume you use that phrase just as the Brit's do?)

Ok, everything painted - at least clear-coated if not a colour.

On the heads, I doubt anyone could see the Trick Flow on the ends. In fact, I'm not sure how much of the aluminum of the heads they can see, so maybe they could be blue.

I guess the brackets could be PC'd to look like bare metal, meaning that powder I used before. It would lighten things up a bit in there, but in a way it introduces yet another color.

But, I'm beginning to really like the 400HO idea on the air cleaner lid. That fits well with my theme. And do the valve covers in OFB with the tops natural aluminum. So, at first look people would think it is stock, but very clean. Then someone would say "Where did that air cleaner come from?" And someone else would say "I didn't realize they had a 400HO!" "Say, isn't that a later 3G alternator?" And "A fuse and relay box - did they have those in the 80's?" "Hey! Is that an aluminum intake?" "Wait! Those are aluminum heads!!" And the aluminum water pump will get completely overlooked.

 

The HO air cleaners just said "351HO" (WRONG! See below) in black letters on the aluminum lid. And that would be a lot easier to replicate than one of those in the ebay advert - especially since none of those is applicable. There's a 400-2V but no 400-4V. But I don't think this engine is aptly described as a 4V. I think HO is a bit closer, albeit still somewhat shy of the mark.

Anyway, which decal were you thinking, Chris?

Edit: The HO air cleaners said "5.8 Liter 4V H.O."