Engine color

[classical glass]

While I have my engine out of the car what color were the Fe 427 cast iron blocks in 65? Mine is black now, but I got a feeling it should be blue.
Thanks

[blykins]

Black for Cobras.

[1985 CCX]

Small block?
S/C?
Street 428?
Comp?

[1985 CCX]

289 black.......

[1985 CCX]

Many flavors

[DanEC]

I think some street roadster 428s may have been Ford blue but hard to go wrong with black. I believe all 427s put in them were black.

[classical glass]

Thanks all. Just what I thought.

[ACHiPo]

It's a harder question to answer than it seems from the research I've done. As others have said, there are definitely pictures of unrestored cars with blue blocks, manifolds, heads, and surge tanks. A lot of the refurbished cars have black, but I'm guessing some of the original blocks had black. It all comes down to what you prefer between the two--I suspect either would be "period correct".

CSX3360 (restored by Canepa) with an original 427 (top)

CSX3275 (bottom)

[bcrumpley]

Well, in '65 regular Fords had black engines with gold or chrome valve covers. They went to the corporate dark blue for the '66 model year, so I would assume that somewhere around mid August of '65 that they made the color change. No clue how many black 427s were already in the pipeline, but I would guess that the run of the ~100 428 cars as well as the final 427 cars got blue engines. All speculation by me and I'm sure no one cared at the time. I will be painting mine blue with a black surge tank. I've seen a number of them with blue surge tanks, but just don't like the look.

[FatBoy]

My understanding was that all 427's were black. However, I've just stripped and repainted my 427 s/o and the base coat of the paint that I removed was definitely blue. It has now been painted black.

Having said that, my 427 is a 1970 block, which probably has a bearing on matters.

Paul

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by bcrumpley

Well, in '65 regular Fords had black engines with gold or chrome valve covers. They went to the corporate dark blue for the '66 model year, so I would assume that somewhere around mid August of '65 that they made the color change. No clue how many black 427s were already in the pipeline, but I would guess that the run of the ~100 428 cars as well as the final 427 cars got blue engines. All speculation by me and I'm sure no one cared at the time. I will be painting mine blue with a black surge tank. I've seen a number of them with blue surge tanks, but just don't like the look.

This certainly seems plausible. What is commonly called Corporate Ford Dark Blue actually looks more medium blue to me as seen in ACHiPo's pictures. Apparently Ford switched to an even lighter blue in the late 60s.

[bcrumpley]

Based on a number of mid '60s Fords with original engine paint that I've seen over the years, I think the shade of blue varied depending on where the engine was built during that time. Who knows how much time and heat have affected the color? The accepted color in the concours Mustang world is PPG DAR 13358. Painting it black is certainly an easier option.

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by ACHiPo

It's a harder question to answer than it seems from the research I've done. As others have said, there are definitely pictures of unrestored cars with blue blocks, manifolds, heads, and surge tanks. A lot of the refurbished cars have black, but I'm guessing some of the original blocks had black. It all comes down to what you prefer between the two--I suspect either would be "period correct".

CSX3360 (restored by Canepa) with an original 427 (top)

CSX3275 (bottom)

He has a non original exterior paint color on the car so probably not a good source for originality of colors. I thought the low risers were black and medium risers were Ford blue but that is a very foggy memory.

[1985 CCX]

CSX3021 above started life as blue. (S/C)
The oil pan was changed by Mr Turner and it too was stock oil pan in blue trim.
My best guess was either as many things in those days were slightly random and definitive on one is cloudy on others.

289's were black
Comp cars I worked with have been black
S/C low miles blue, before complete resto....
Many 3200 cars blue.....
Remember most restored cars are changed and many not even concours contenders as things fall off, get changed or even fall into the whims of owners preference...

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by Cobra #3170

He has a non original exterior paint color on the car so probably not a good source for originality of colors. I thought the low risers were black and medium risers were Ford blue but that is a very foggy memory.

If I'm not mistaken I think some (or all) of the low risers were left over 64 center oilers so Black would make sense if this was the case.

[Dan Case]

427 Cobra "FE" engines. I won’t claim to be a 427 Cobra expert but I do help with research for a few original car owners and restorers. I play and study with 1963-65 Cobras but occasionally come up with 1966-67 427 Cobra information.

#1 There was not “an” engine for production 427 Cobras sold retail. I won’t begin to try and drop off into what was possible for Shelby team “company” racers CSX30xx chassis.

#2 The final Shelby American purchase order list itemizes three 427 c.i.d. engines and one 428 c.i.d. engine for 427 Cobra production. The purchase order list doesn’t cover race only stuff and the document given to buyers of racing 427 Cobras with a list of recommended spare parts doesn’t cover entire engines.

So what I have factory documentation on variants wise includes:

1965 Galaxie 8V engines most CSX31xx chassis (automatic transmission also used with 1965 Galaxie 8V manual transmission engine after appropriate parts swaps…at least the surviving original engine assembly tags say so) = black

1966 Fairlane 8V engines in some CSX30xx chassis (standard 427 S/C 2-4V engine) = blue

1966 428PI manual transmission (which must have been super rare even new) engines in most CSX32xx chassis = blue

1967? (I don’t have a picture of an engine assembly tag. The Shelby American original purchase order list doesn’t say what the model year was, it just gives the engine code and description “427 CID 4V Special”. ) 427 4V engines in CSX33xx chassis = blue


Ford “blue” engine paint. No it was not the same every year. Ford started with blue V8 engines for the 1966 model year as far as I have experienced.

[1985 CCX]

Dan

Always bring details to the table. Thanks....

Question is how many cars are still original?

[FUNFER2]

10 minute paint job of what ever color Ford wanted that day, like the body color.

"Where's that yellow car you told me about" ?

[Cobra_ZA]

Hi guys, opening this thread again.

I just read a "concourse" guide on Cobras and they indicated that the engine block was black and the water pump blue... Has anyone come across this at all? If this could be a possibility, would the timing chain cover be black too? I guess...

Thanks

[eschaider]

Only if the water pump had a moderately variegated snake skin blue hue to it. Those cars with more heavily variegated water pump coloring using earth tones change the game entirely ...