what color should a 240 6 be? now mines like a robin's egg blue

 

1965: Black engine block and head, blue valve cover.

1966 and later: The entire engine including the valve cover(s) is painted Ford Corporate Blue.

ALL 1960/65 engine bloclks and heads were painted black.

The valve covers were painted specific colors, because this is system Ford used to ID what size the engine was.

 

I understand about the idea that valve color denotes engine size. But could anyone -especially Ford mechanics, possibly confuse a 292 with a 352 or 223 if the valve covers weren't painted specific color ??

I could understand the need for color to distinguish a 260 and a 289-but most Ford engines of this era were easily distinguish without the color--aren't they??(with the possible exception of the 352 and 390s in car applications) And most MY applications didnt have two engines of similiar appearance factory installed in the same vehicle in these Fords-correct?? For example--no Ford car in any one year could had a 260 or 289 installed .Right?? (When I think about it though-didnt the full size 1963 Ford car offer the 260 in the first part of the year and then offer the 289 in the latter part of MY 1963? And the early 1965 Mustangs did have 260 installed and the latter 1965 Mustangs did have 289s-of different horsepower,C,A,K codes. But these had obvious visual differences. )

The only truck example that I can think of is that the slicks had 240s and 262s that may have been installed in the same vehicle. But when I think about it-wasn't the 240s only installed in the F100s and the 262 installed only in the F250s?

Mr Bill -set me straight!! Slap on the minutiae!! If the mechanic wasnt knowledgeable enough about Ford engines to know which displacement would be found in which MY and model of Ford-how would they be knowledgeable enough to know which valve cover color denotes which displacement??

These valve cover colors must have been mainly used to make sure that the factory installer didnt install a 406/6v into a F100. If that happened-poor old farmer John would sure have gotten a surprise at the first stop light in his new supposedly 223 equipped F100. Or the first time he filled up at the gas station!!!

I may have answered my own question as to why Ford used color to denote engine size--back prior to 1966-there were some midmodel year engine changes. 260 to 289 in the 1965 Mustang. And concurrent 352 4v and 390 4v offerings in 1965 full size Ford cars-if I remember correctly.And maybe there was a midyear change from 262 to 300-but I don't think so.

 

When Ford came out with the two new OHV engines (215 I-6; 317 Lincoln Y block) in 1952, after decades of making nothing but flatheads, they felt they had to do something to help mechanics in dealerships, garages, filling stations and body shops ID the engines.

Every year from 1952 thru 1965, Ford sent out charts with the valve cover colors listed that the dealers hung in their service departments. The parts department passed them along to their wholesale accounts: filling stations, garages and body shops.

The blocks/heads were also painted specific colors 1952 thru 1959.

The truck valve covers colors may be the same as the cars, they may not be. The colors changed year to year, engine to engine.

Example: 1965 F100/350 352 2V: Black engine, gold valve covers / 1965 289 2V: Black engine, gold valve covers.

262 engines were only installed 1961/64.

240/300 engines were installed in F100/F600's from 1965 thru 1974, when the 240 was dropped. The 240 was standard equipment in 1965/72 Galaxies/LTD's.

1965 Mustangs assembled prior to 8/23/64 were available with the 260, 289 and 289 HiPo, 170 and 200 I-6's.

Can you tell from looking at it, a:

Y block 239 from a 256 from a 272 from a 292 from a 312?

221 from a 260 from a 289?

332 from a 352 from a 390 from a 406 from a 427?

144 from a 170 from a 200?

215 from a 223 from a 262?

240 from a 300?

330 M/D from a 330 H/D from a 361 from a 391?

Prolly not, and I can't either, neither can anyone else.

This is the reason Ford painted the valve colors specific colors from 1952 thru 1965.

 

Mr Bill:

Very interesting and comprehensive response to my questions. Do you know of an internet site that would show this poster or whatever, that list all of the color codes and the engines that were painted these colors? It would be an interesting FoMoCo artifact!!

 

Don't know of any internet sites that have the valve cover info.

Ford used to put out decoding sheets that gave all the info. I don't have any...but I wish I did.

 

I'm gonna guess black air cleaner too?

 

mine is....

 

Correctamundo.