VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Question about Factory Paint - Engine Compartment

1949 3600 -
1) From the factory would the inner fenders have been body color from the engine compartment side, and what color if different from the underside?
2) Were radiator support and radiator both black?
3) Engine detail - ?all blue grey? manifolds painted or bare?
4) On firewall, was it body color to what point (the angle where the underside starts)?
5) Was underside of truck just black? undercoated? or body color?
ALSO, Interior detail Questions
6) Was the whole interior the same color (?champagne?-looks more grey?)
7) Headliner and door panels just basic brown cardboard type - no cover? I ordered this already and it looked r-e-a-l-l-y basic

Any other details are really appreciated - the truck is almost ready for paint and I am trying to get it back to the way it looked 60 years ago from the factory.
If any other details come to mind, I would really appreciate input from all - Thanks in advance, and I look forward to learning from you all.
Lee

I will cover #1 through 5 for now.
The inner fenders were black on both sides. Some where between gloss and semi
The radiator and support was black. Just off hand all the under hood braces, etc. for these parts was black.
The engine was assemled and then painted. The manifolds were attached when painted and the paint burnt off the exhaust man. in a few minutes. All bolts were painted blue
/gray as were the acorn nuts on top of the valve cover and the exposed edges of the gaskets. The flywheel housing and its under pan were attached to the engine when it was painted.
The front verticle part of the firewall was body color. The under side was black. Under side of fenders and hood are black.

Hello again Gene, Thanks so much! I knew I could count on you for the exact details. I've already passed this along to the guy who is doing the paintwork. It's gonna be a beaut! Thanks again, and I look forward to responses regarding the interior. I have to admit that when I saw the 'champagne' paint (kind of grey) for the interior cab, I was surprised to say the least. When I bought the truck, the interior had been painted black, dash and all, and this will really be a departure - Back to the Future.<SMILE>

Thank again, Lee

Click and scroll down.

TRUCK PAINT

Hey Ray, I noticed that the oil filter is painted gray in one of those pictures, I wasn't aware of them ever being painted gray I thought they were always black from the factory or blue/yellow if installed as an accesory by the dealer.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The 1939-42 filters were a light gray with black and yellow decals. Was a different size (smaller-except large truck filter was taller) than the post war filters.

I have "discovered" that the yellow decal for up to '49 and the blue decal for 1950-62 are both available from the Filling Station.......thanks Hoppy

Those pictures were a real help. What can I say... I'm a visual guy. Also, the thread above it about the stuck valves and damage makes me realize that I have really dodged a bullet over the years when I have stored my '49 for extended periods without proper preparation. Never Again!

Lee

Yes, that was an interesting discussion on the stuck valves. There was a lot to read and I may have missed something, I had a hard time following exactly how the MMO was used in prepping the engine for storage. Were they just mixing it with the gas, as the instructions say, 4oz/10gal or with the oil or flooding the cylinder walls with it? Or were they just using it as a solvent as you would use Kroil or PB Blaster?

F&F has MMO, it's cheap, and I can't see where it could hurt anything so I have been adding a dose to the tank whenever I fill up for a few months. Just to see if it may loosen up the carbon build up around the rings a bit. It didn’t! I also can't see where it has made any difference in any other phase of the engine performance. I got'um bad oil scrapers with 56k on the engine and the only thing to my way of thinking that is gonna fix that is a short block rebuild. When your pushing out a quart of Rotella T 30wt every 100 miles or so that is just about as good as an oil change every 500 to 1,000 miles, it's just a little hard on the sparking plugs.

As several of the old timers have stated, the valves should run dry. So in that case I can’t see where MMO is going to help out with stuck valves unless they are just soaked with it or Kroil or PB Blaster. Mine’s a ’50, 216 so it has the valve seals or ”˜O’ rings which, I’ve heard for more than 50 years, is supposed to reduce oil usage thru the valve stems. That never did make any sense to me since the seal is up near the keepers/cap, and the major portion of the stem below is constantly splashed with oil inside the spring. I can’t see where these ever made a difference. Installing Perfect Circle seals on the other hand where we would machine the land around the stem and drive them on, was an effective oil seal. And if you didn’t want the valve stem to get any lubrication, that was one sure way of doing it. I was never an advocate of the PC seals even though we used to install them for customers. I’m not entirely convinced that the valves stems weren’t meant to get some oiling from above. It never made much sense to me and just goes against all logic, why those metal-to-metal parts should run dry when every other metal-to-metal part has to have lubrication.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Before winter storage I pour MMO through the caburetor with the engine running at a fast idle, finally killing the engine. This will lubricate the lower part of the guides, the valve seats, cylinder walls and exhaust system...pouring it in the gas will never do the job.
The majority of the oil getting to the guides runs down past the keepers (when no O rings are used) on the 6 cyl. engines. The small block V-8 splashed the oil on the guides because of the large amount of oil that the rocker arms poured out. You could also oil the guides for winter but that involves removing the valve cover - and then only the guides get oiled. .....and you don't get a chance to smoke out the neighbors in the Spring.

A thought on "sticky" valves - After lengthy storage, I experienced the problem, to the point of bending a pushrod on startup. With soaking and turning the engine over slowly, I managed to get them free enough to run but not like they should be. An old mechanic I knew, all my friends fall into that catagory, suggested a product named "Sea Foam" that was available in most auto parts stores. Comes in pint cans.

While the instructions are to mix with your fuel, he had me use the vacuum line on the intake to feed it slowly, at idle speed, directly into the manifold at full strength. I put in about a cup at a time, shut the engine down, and let it sit. Over a couple of days, I ran the pint through the system. The results were great; no more sticky valves. Its intent is to desolve varnish and carbon deposits and prevent buildup. I periodically add it to the fuel to not only maintain the valve train but also keep the carb clean of buildup.

Just a suggestion--it worked for me.