Motor paint colors

[I_R_DA_ONE]

Does anyone happen to know the correct color for the C4 motor...
I got to looking at mine close and it looks as tho it has never been painted..
Should the motor be Chey organge or black or blue????

[Ken]

My stock block was black.

[c4cruiser]

Black has been the color of the Chevy "corporate" motors since about 1983. I had a 83 Trans Am with a Chevy 305 and it was painted black. Seem to me I had read somewhere that the black color was supposed to have helped with heat transfer.

Ever since the mid-70's Chevrolet motors were painted a blue color. My 78 Vette had a blue motor. There were even two shade of blue; one was sort of a generic blue and another was more a Chevy-specific blue.

[WhalePirot]

Originally Posted by c4cruiser

black color was supposed to have helped with heat transfer.

Black is the best color to radiate heat. Also seems to absorb it when parked in the sun!

My block is also black.

[I_R_DA_ONE]

Thanks guys....I guess it was black but with all the bathes it has gotten, has made the paint come off ....So black it will be again

Thanks
Mike

[Ken]

If originality is a concern, then by all means paint it the factory color. But if originality doesn't matter to you, paint it any way you want. Hot rodders and customizers have been painting their engines to match the colors of their cars for years.

[echoecho11]

Originally Posted by I_R_DA_ONE

Thanks guys....I guess it was black but with all the bathes it has gotten, has made the paint come off ....So black it will be again

Thanks
Mike

mike hold your horses, you may want to check this out. as I recall they built spechel engines for the pace cars? they took the stock motors out and replaced them with a miledly hop up and blue printed motor. check the pad that is located on the block jest below the cylender head on the passenger side. if there is 2 rowes of numbers and the top row numbers end in part of your vettes seral number and on the second row of numbers the last three digtes are letters something like 50399ZTC . if you look up those last three letters in a interchange manual they will tell you what the engine is and the type of car or truck it came out of. that is not to say that they did not beef up the stock motors and that could be why there is no paint on the block. 86 was the first year that alum. heads was offers as a option on L89 tpi engines. the alum. heads are not painted to take advantage of ther abillity to get rid of heat, they dont rust so the paint only holds in heat. I remember that there was a wite up in HOT ROD and in MOTOR TREND about these cars . all the L89 motors were black ( black blocks ) but the ZR1 LT5 motors were a silver paint. hope I helped.. EchoEcho 11. please pardon the spelling

[I_R_DA_ONE]

Thanks again Echo....
I have too much smog stuff in the way to see the location that you are talking about... If I ever take the smog stuff loose I will surely jot down the numbers for further referance....

thanks
Mike