I've seen two different POR-15 colors for painting exhaust manifolds, silver and gray. So, which is correct for a stock look? And, how about the heat stove on top of the driver side manifold? Silver or Gray? Then, there's the heat stove on top of the head that the hose going to the air cleaner base attaches to. Red or silver?
Hey Ray I had all four parts ceramic coated in a titanium grey. I have seen some people stating that the heat shield should be black, but in all the cars I have seen, I have never seen it in black. Not saying that it wasn't black. Just saying that I have not seen any.
I don't know what is right, but if you look at this picture from a 1970 road test, you can see that the pipe is not black.
I’m doubting the shield or the stove were black. That magazine photo is very telling. Most of the stoves that I have seen have traces of gray which I always thought was phosphate. The shield I have never noticed any black but most were rust. Who knows? Silver or gray? There are some engine plant photos of Buicks out there somewhere that may prove they were not black. The photos I have seen are black and white. Stage 1 parts were no different than base engine parts. I believe all engines came from the same Lansing engine plants. As far as the manifolds they would be dark gray cast iron and they would have started to rust on the trains and trucks in their way to the dealer.
Interesting photo. Not a 455 but Buick red. Engine and even starter are soaked in red. Oil filter too fir true fanatics. Eliminates the thought that exhaust manifolds were over sprayed. At least at this period in time. Anyone ID year and engines? Nail heads and red painted on same line!
This is from a 1970 factory 36 quality control engine book. Shows what was masked off for painting. A little OT but you may find it interesting.
This chart confirms what I’ve seen on several original Buick fuel pumps. The bottom portion of the fuel bowl is unpainted and the rest is covered with red paint. It’s as if you took a short cup and stuck it up to the bottom of the fuel pump they let the red paint fly. Same for distributors. ***edit I've seen this to be the case for the 1972 Buick engines as well as the '70***
Thanks Ray, and the finish holds up very well. This is a shot of 72 GS. The manifolds were coated and this photo was taken at least 5 years after the coating was applied.
"This chart confirms what I’ve seen on several original Buick fuel pumps. The bottom portion of the fuel bowl is unpainted and the rest is covered with red paint. It’s as if you took a short cup and stuck it up to the bottom of the fuel pump they let the red paint fly. Same for distributors." Gary, That is correct. for 1970, the Factory used "paint mules" to cover the dist and fuel pump and then painted them on the engine. To be honest the paint mule on the dist rested on top of the small nipple sticking out from the vacuum tank, so almost the entire dist was painted red. Many owners do not want their cars looking like that, so they opt for a cleaner look. Historically for Concours we have accepted both paint schemes, as in with and without overspray. For the Oil Filters; we also allow the cars to be judged as they rolled off the lot (with a red painted oil filter, and as they would have looked after their first oil change) with an "un-painted" white factory AC filter. Also, and this is important, Buick did not paint every year motor like they did for the 1970 model year. Some year engines were painted before or after pieces were installed, therefore you need to look at the various engine books to determine exactly how each production year engine was painted to be correct. Duane PS. "OK, all 70 stage 1 , GSX’s we’re built in Flint Michigan. There could’ve been variations in plants ................." This was not the case for Engines. There is no "Plant Variations" as all the Buick V-8 engines were produced at the Buick Engine Plant in Flint and shipped out to the various assembly plants. If you look at the assembly manuals, you can figure out what the "shipped" engine assembly looked like. As an example, if there are no drawings showing that final assembly installed the fuel pump, then it was part of the "sub-assembly package. You need to do some research to figure out how the parts were shipped to final assembly to "fine tune" a resto. Once you see how the sub assemblies were received, like the front steering assemblies, you can understand why things like the cotter pins are different at different locations.
Fwiw, my old GSX had headers installed when the car was virtually brand new. When I got the car, I received w/it the original manifolds which were by far the nicest used manifolds you could possibly imagine or have probably ever seen exc. maybe those who bought new cars solely to be raced & installed headers, and the manifolds I rec'd still had very distinctive traces of black paint on them. I should've kept them when I sold the car but they belonged with it. Had I known what that car would go through after I sold it, I'd have kept them.
Duane, I will change my general statement from the previous post to be more detailed and say I've seen this to be the case for the 1972 Buick engines as well as the '70. Here are some photos from a 25k mile Skylark I bought years ago. The distributor was entirely painted including the vacuum advance and hose, coolant bypass hose painted, fuel pump painted except for the fuel bowl, etc. Also note that this 350-2 engine also had the threaded studs on the T-stat housing for a GS air cleaner support: https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...from-a-true-25k-mile-survivor-72-buick.57254/
Well, that makes things clear as mud, as the saying goes. Think I’ll just finish my manifolds in what looks good and makes the most sense for a 75000 mile GS with a rebuilt engine. It wasn’t restored to be concourse judged anyway.
