Last summer I had a guy put in a new rear main seal on the engine of my 54. He also degreased and then painted the engine. I bought Dupli-Color cast iron for the exhaust Manifolds. It made them look silver almost a match to the argent valve covers.


Then i replaced the heads on the engine. Since I was doing that I thought I would put on a pair of manifolds in better condition that I had upstairs in my garage for years. So now I painted them and the crossover pipe with satin black engine paint good for 400°. Well it burned off rather quickly.


So today I removed the crossover pipe put the wire wheel to it to get off what was left of the flaking black paint. The coat of cast iron silver stayed on. I didn't want to take off the Manifolds so I taped them up. I bought a can of Bar-B-Que grill paint good for 1200°.


I also took the time to put on an oil bath air cleaner decal and a voltage regulator decal that have been on my workbench for several months.

 

Looking good Abe! Hopefully the paint stays on this time!

 

That looks good! My engines never stay looking that nice...

 

That looks great. Were the exhaust manifolds ever coated/painted when new? Don't know. And that crossover pipe, well, I can't say enough about them except I think they should be wrapped. I have burn scars that I know are my fault.

 

I used a high temp primer then used the 1200 degree paint, unfortunately being a work in progress, I have not run it but the primer bond may be the trick

 

Some models came with a heat shield.

 

Yes, from what in have researched they were black, maybe not with high temp paint but were black at one time.
From a 1954 Dealer Catalog


From a 55 or 56 catalog.


I know the above is an artists drawing, but I have color photograph of a 55 or 56 engine at an assembly plant in Buffalo but can't load it now since it is not in jpeg format.

 

Here is the link to a thread that Kevin bigwin shared of the Buffalo assembly plant. I believe this is a 55 engine as I see red engines in the background. The larger truck engines were still painted red in 1955.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal.../66455.520.390

 

did the new paint require baking in the oven to temper to its heat rating? I have come across quite a few hi-temp rattle cans, and reading the directions AFTER having the paint flake off i should of baked it in the oven @350 for a few hours. Thought I would be clever and do it while the wife was at work one time, reeked the whole house up for days.

 

I love seeing everyone's day to day projects . I don't know the ins or outs of high temp paint, but do know how the attention to detail under the hood really makes a big difference. Were lucky to have reproduction decals at our disposable these days, and think yours are cool.

 

No, the directions didnot say to bake in an oven. And I think we've all done truck stuff in the house while the wife was away. Some guys get caught, some do not!

 

Thanks, Jim. My engine was so dirty and neglected from 1979 when it was rebuilt to last summer I just thought I had to take care of her finally!

Thanks for the comments on the decals. I got wrinkles on the air cleaner decal. There is a lip or bend on the air cleaner at that point.

Here is the original air cleaner decal on my 55 F350.

 

I've baked my intake manifolds in my BBQ grill. Doesn't stink up the house and does a great job.

 

I WAS TOLD A LONG TIME AGO TO USE BBQ PAINT BECAUSE IT WITH STANDS ABOUT 1200 DEGREES HEAT WHILE HEAT PAINT ONLY WITH STANDS ABOUT 500-550.I LIKE BJ'S IDEA OF USING THE BBQ GRILL FOR HEATING AND BAKING PARTS

 

Rust-oleum has a high heat engine paint with a claim to resist heat up to 2000 degrees. It is available in orange, red, blue, black, light gray, primer, and clear. If you don't have the ability to bake it on, the instructions for curing it on the engine are "Run vehicle at idle for 10 minutes then allow 20 minutes to cool. Run vehicle at idle for 20 minutes then let cool for 20 minutes. Run vehicle at normal operating conditions for 30 minutes then allow vehicle to cool."