VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Engine and components colors

I need some info on the correct paint colors for the engine components for my 48 Fleetline.The engine is a 216,I know the engine it self is gray.how about the rest?
1)engine compartment
2)intake manifold
3)exhaust manifold
4)oil filter canister
5)air cleaner
6)over-flow tank(from radiator)located on the fire wall
Thanks........................chef...............

1)engine compartment
- Firewall is body color, rest is black

2)intake manifold
- Rust colored (or cast iron grey for a while )

3)exhaust manifold
- Rust colored (or cast iron grey for a while)

4)oil filter canister
- Depends on Brand and year. These were after-market. My AC brand is yellow with a black top. Fram is maybe blue.

5)air cleaner
- Black

6)over-flow tank(from radiator)located on the fire wall
- Black

Jim

Jim,thanks for the info!...Question ? If the oil filter canister was after market,where was the filter on the factory stock 48 sedan?Where could I see a picture of a 48--216 engine I would like to see the rust colored manifolds
P.S. nice 41 !!!! ............chef........

CC, as purchased up till 1955 The filter was optional, if you wanted an oil filter the dealer or a garage would put one on for you. They were bypass filters and didn't do that much filtering. If the Chevrolet house or another GM dealer did the job it was usually a A/C Delco unit and if an independant garage did it sometimes it was a Fram unit. My Dad always had a Fram put on his Chevy pickups. "Pay me now or pay me later".
( did that clear up your question? If not, I am sorry and flabbergasted!),but then I am also a senior citizen and easily flabbergasted anyway!

MrMack,its always so interesting to hear the evolution of the automobile.What car does not have a oil filter theses days?
More help needed...My air cleaner is the oil bath type with the copper mesh inside.All the pictures I seen of the 48s the air cleaner looks slightly different then mine?Most are taller and more slender then mine.Was there more then one oil bath type?Are the ones I am seeing the dry type?Or is the one I have just wrong?.........chef.....

chef,
Here's a site with some food for thought on them by-pass filters by-pass filter info

And here's a pic of what late 1930's to 1940's A/C canisters looked like 1940\'s A/C oil canisters .

In the early 1950's the A/C went from black&yellow to a light violet/blue on the bottom and close to Chevy V-8 red/orange on top.

Lots of folks with 1940's Chevies didnt put the aftermarket filter canisters on the car until the mid 1950's when it got popular and thus the correct color for the filter was not the one original to the year!

Some of the dealer diagrams I have seen for 1949 show the intake manifold as the same color as the engine....but they may have "dressed the photo" to show how clean the motor looked to a new Chevy buyer. Heres a fuzzy 1949 truck b&w pic.... 1949 216.5
and a generic 1946-53 Chevy Parts diagram for the 6 cylinder (change the 'fit window' to "largest" for a better view) 1946-53 Chevy 6cyl

Actually, the engine was completely assembled, minus the carburetor, generator, starter and distributor of course, and then it was painted as a unit. Everything was painted......all of the fasteners, the edges of the gaskets, both manifolds and etc. Of course, with a little running time on the engine, the paint on the exhaust manifold burned off and then the manifold slowly rusted. Runs in the paint? Yep, they could be easily found, especially on the valve cover and the push rod cover. :eek: :(

I don't no how you guy's find all this info?but it sure has got me going in the right direction.JYD the painting of the whole engine and the exhaust manifold paint burner off and rusting,is an amazing fact but makes so much sense.I should be ready to proceed now...Thanks..lots...chef...

Sure! Glad to help ya out my friend and good luck with your project!

The correct color for the overflow tank is gray, same as the engine. Decal was also used and is available as a reproduction part.
also if it has a correct oil filter (AC) which was a division of GM it would be black with a yellow cover. If it was a factory installed option it would be all black.Decal also used.Filter was bright blue starting in 1950.(with orange cover)This was true thru 1961---With the factory installed filters still being black.1962 was the first year the oil filter was standard on a 6 cyl. and all were black.Some dealers installed other brands of filters but these would be considered incorrect in VCCA judging. Factory installed filters and dealer installed filters are the same only the color is differnt.

just missed the one on the air filter.the standard air filter was as pictured in most passenger car literature.It was a dry mesh type with the mesh visable. the oil bath was a factory option (also could be ordered thru parts and dealer installed.)It is about the same size as the standard filter but no mesh is visable on the out side but does have an opening in that area.
the trucks had an optional oil bathair filter that was much shorter than the passenger car unit and that is what you have I would guess.It had less sound muffling so you will hear more air induction noise on accleration.It was more common to find the oil bath units in the dusty west and south west parts of the country.

Chevy Nut,I'm realy glad to hear about your verafication of the colors of the over flow tank and oil canister.I have painted both them engine color presently ,I was close anyway.

Is there any opinions about the over flow tank,what is its real purpose,was it factory etc.
Mine does'nt seem to do much of any thing :confused: Looks cool though

the 0verflow tank was a dealer installed accessory.The purpose of it is to catch the water that would be pushed out of the overflow pipe when the engine was hot.This would be most common after a hard run and the engine was shut off.The radiator cap must have a good seal to the filler neck as the vaccum caused when the water cooled would pull the water back to the radiator from the tank.I have had on on my 1939 for years and they do work It is the same as the plastic tank you have on modern cars but the instructions that came with the overflow tank tell you just to add water to the normal level in the raddiator and not fill the tank when cold as you would in a modern car.

Chef---a PS The 1948 was the first year to use a pressure cap.It was only a 4 lb. cap but did raise the boiling point of the water to 220 degrees.
that is why the dash temp. gauge reads up to 212 degrees in a 1947 and 220 degrees in a 1948.The pressure cap was not used again until 1952 on stick shift cars and 1950 and up on Power Glides....but could be used on any of the years today to good advantage.Also imporant to have the hoses installed correctly on the tank.One goes from the overflow pipe to the tank and the other just extends under the car to relieve pressure if the tank fills or over fills.They are teo differnt sizes also

Lil Johnnie, just a note on the link to the article on by-pass filters, the one mentioned in the article is a modern version and is an addition to the stock fullflow filters now in use, The new by-pass filter is supposed to be capable of filtering very small particles from the oil system over a period of running time and are an attempt to eliminate the process of changeing the oil on a regular basis. The stock by-pass filters of the 40s and 50s did not have as much filtering capability as the ones mentioned in the article, and were more on the level of strainers that only removed larger particles, but they did filter out particles that could plug up passages and and cause undue wear on the moveing metal interfaces of the engine. please be aware that the manufactors also reccommended changeing the oil at regular intervals, which is the only way to remove contaminants produced in the engines of that era.

Just to add my two cents worth here.........

The Radiator overflow tank on a 48 was Green,
with a redish-orange stencil on it, saying what it was with a caution statement on it. I have one NOS and still in its original box.

Hope this helps?????????????

Fleetmas 47
I guess I have not run the car much since I put on the over flow tank.Ater I found it and put on I took the car down for a years worth of restoration and still are in the middle of re-building the engine.What color of green is it(forest,olive,army???)Getting ready to make the final color selection after all the help and info......Thanks......chef.........

Sorry fleetmas47 but I respectfully disagree with you on the color and decal for the following reasons.In the last 30+ years I have been to dozens of National Meets and have never seen a green tank.In the 1970S I pulled many NOS tanks of from dealer shelves and sold them also selling new ones thru the dealer I worked for in the 50s.The correct part number for the tank from 1940 thru 1948 was 985528 as all in that span were the same,1939(the first year)was a taller tank. but all of these years used the same gold decal on the tank.the decal had a Chevrolet emblem wiht red wings. A good ilustration of it is in any of the accessory books of these years and also appears in Chevs of the 40s catalog on page 239.The accessory boxes thru 1949 had a green and yellow lable with part number and description where 1950 and up had orange and green numbers and decoration on the box.In 1949 the decal was much shorter and the last years had a red stencil for the instructions and emblem on the can.If you send me the part number on the box I would be happy to research it for you. Sincerely, chevgene

Looks like I see a hand up in the back of the room voting for gray.

Chev nut.

The Box is cardboard color with green bow ties, and green writing. The box reads as follows: Chevrolet accessories
Overflow return Tank
985528
General Motors Parts Division
General motors corporation

The Tank is Olive Green,with orangeish writing
stenciled on it. As follows:

OVERFLOW
RETURN TANK
----- CAUTION------
TO INSURE PROPER OPERATION
RADIATOR FILLER CAP MUST BE
SEALED TIGHTLY
WHEN FILLING RADIATOR
OR ADDING ANTI-FREEZE
TANK SHOULD BE EMPTY
TO DRAIN TANK
DISCONNECT HOSE

FLEET47???

I have also seen them on other 48 fleetlines, and Fleetmasters at car shows around here.

Wow this discussion is getting interesting!!!!

:confused: :confused: :eek:

yes,lets hope we get a little more going on this these later years.Things have been a little too dead .All the action seems to be on the 4 cyl. and 29-32 era cars. chevgene

This is getting fun now.The trivia wars continue. :confused: 1)In my 48 shop manual the plate which accepts the hood latch apears to be a very light color certainly not black? What is the correct color.
2)What color is the sterring colum and brake handle?Has it to do with the trim?or were they a standard color in the 48s?

Once upon a time I found a " radiator overflow condenser" in a box of old NOS Chevy parts. It was a weird Olive Green with Orange-Red logo and lettering. The year was unknown but the parts collection was mostly late 40's to mid 50's.
That strange Green color sure stuck out, and at first I thought it was a military surplus item!Nope, it was definetely GM RPO.

Here's some original Black&White photos of 2 stock Chevy overflow condensers.
1) Chevrolet Accessories Installation Manual for 1952 1952 RPO 986282 (condenser list price $3.85, net price $2.31)
2) Chevrolet Salesmens Truck Data Book 1949 1949 TrucK RPO (Lead coated steel-construction, 3quart cap. For all trucks except COE)

They "looK" like 2 different color shades in the B&W photos, and the logos are different.

The hood hinges,upper lock plate and lower lock plate are cadnium plated. the VCCA accepts cad. paint as OK now. The shift lever,hand brake handle, and steering column are all dark brown. this was the only color used and was also used on the lower part of the dash. Now lets get back to the overflow tanks.I called the 47-48 VAAC tech. adviser tonight and he said the tank was black but was not sure of the decal so I do not know how much water that holds(his advice that is)So that leaves black,green & gray---they used the same part number from 1940 thru 1948 .In that long span of time & thru WW2 changes must have been made in color????? I kwow 1939 was gray as well as 1950 -----have always seen grey in the cars at VCCA events that I judged cars in thru the years so lets continue. Chevgene