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

I have seen the grey tanks on the later 30s cars also. But that being said I have seen at least 5 other 47s, ans 48s with the same olive drab green tank, and the same stencil.

I can remember being a little bummed when I got the tank, because I couldnt put that sweet winged decal from Chevs of the 40s on it.....

I just got a new PC, and cant get my digital camera to upload on it yet. So I took a reg. pic of my tank, and will scan it and post it here as soon as I get it back..........

Fleet47...

Well I got another one right! The shifter,emergency brake handle,etc. are or going to be painted dark brown (a coffee brown)
What is the color CADNIUM??? Is it a copper color?Cadium does refer to copper in some applications :confused: ....chef........

hey, chef

Cadium is a silverish color, like nickel.

This is what I came up with on todays research on overflow tank colors.My 1939 accessory shows an overflow tank but only a artists drawing with no decal and in black & white.The 1939 accy. film strip is in black & white with the decal and looks as if the color could be gray. Ditto for 1940, The 1941 film strip is in color and shows the tank mounted on the fire wall of a 41.It is an actual photograph & the tank is grey with the gold & red decal.The next thing I come up with is in the 1953 dealer album.Shown in the accy. page is a gray tank with the red painted letters.

This is what I came up with on todays research on overflow tank colors.My 1939 accessory shows an overflow tank but only a artists drawing with no decal and in black & white.The 1939 accy. film strip is in black & white with the decal and looks as if the color could be gray. Ditto for 1940, The 1941 film strip is in color and shows the tank mounted on the fire wall of a 41.It is an actual photograph & the tank is grey with the gold & red decal.The next thing I come up with is in the 1953 dealer album.Shown in the accy. page is a gray tank with the red painted letters.
Have nothing for the 46-49 period and this is where the color changes must have been.
PS a good silver paint will look much like cad, plating & I see it used on many cars

Evening gents. THe manifilods were painted with the engine and should be the same colour as the engine. That is until the engine has been run for a while. THen they turn basic rust. Although, often a proper burn pattern will allow some of the grey paint to remain intact on the intake side of the manifold.

Hum.....I think that the old mutt mentioned that the manifolds were painted engine color in his June 21st posting. :confused: :confused:

On the issue of the color of the radiator overflow tank, everyone that I have seen, both NOS and good used on 1940 - 1948 Chevrolets have been gray. My NOS one on my 1940 chevy is also gray.

" the toolman "

Gents, there is a Chevrolet overflow tank on ebay now it is item # 1838266966. says it is a NOS 1950, 1953, 1954 ocerflow tank, take a l@@k!

Way to go Mr. Mack!!!!!!!!!!

That is the exact same one I have. Only thing different about mine is the part number on the box. Mine is 985528, The one on ebay is 986282. same exact box though. And see people it is GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will be posting the pic. of mine tomarrow along with the box.............

Thanks Mr. mack.............

My accy. book lists the tanks as the following: 985528- 46-48 pass.& truck
986282-49-52 pass.

DANDYD

I dont doubt that there were green tanks...But just go back to the original qustion.What color was the tank available in 1948.I still say they were gray with the gold decal.My guess would be that the tanks under the 985528 part number may have changed to green in the early 1950s.That part number was discontinued in April of 1952.

I dont doubt that there were green tanks...But just go back to the original qustion.What color was the tank available in 1948.I still say they were gray with the gold decal.My guess would be that the tanks under the 985528 part number may have changed to green in the early 1950s.That part number was discontinued in April of 1952. My thoughts also are that the tanks after 1949 used the painted instructions as shown in my 1950 accessories installation manual.The best way to verify anything would be to check what vechiles are shown in the installation sheets that came with the tanks when new. Well we are having fun and learning too!!!!!

Well there you go Gene, confuseing the troops with documentation and facts! and getting back to the original question, my,my what will this forum come around to?? Gotta Love it!
:confused:

Yes, the center picture on the E
bay tank looks green but the other two look gray on my screen.I am checking with the vendor(he is a VCCA member) to see what he has to say.Rember Kermit the frog said is no fun being green!!!

Well, that is fine with me, Let's have a Red, White and Blue day tomorrow, with stars and stripes everywhere,

Hum......that's interesting, because I checked out the photos on the overflow tank that is on eBay, and on my computer it looks dark brown in all of the photos. Weird! :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Hey Gents,does red,white and blue=Cadnium?I could use a little more info on this color.Is any silver close enough to be correct?If I go to the trouble of pulling the hood hings and throwing off its alignment I want to make sure I have the right color.The auto paint supplier does'nt seem to know.
P.S.my overflow tank will remain grey.When given the option of gray with a hot gold decal :confused: .......chef.....

I vote for brown..chef.. :cool2:

HEY C.Chef, go down to your hardware store or Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware Etc. and look at the bolts, the carriage bolts that aren't Galvanized (Dark Dull Grey) the ones that are shiney and silvery are Cadmium plated!

Mr Mack
Were the pieces painted? Or were they plated polished steel :confused: I hope I'm not starting to sound like a "FORD DUDE" I will admit to be somewhat anile,plus I live spitt'n distance from Donalds auto shop ...chef...

Eastman Company sells cadmium paint in spray cans and it is identical in appearance to the real cadmium plating.

the answer to your question is "Yes they were originally plated , over the years the plateing deteriorated. and you can have them replated, maybe, or like many restorers buff them out and paint with a look like Cadmium paint or use silver paint, the paint Eastwood Company sells looks like original plateing, it can also be clearcoated. They also sell a kit to re-do the gold or yellow cadmimum finish like was originally done on some power brake boosters etc,

Sorry all you green guys I called the vendor that had the tank oneBay.He said the tank was gray.Also just got a copy of the 1948 accessory book .The pictures are not in color but the tank is shown with the gold & red decal.
as that part number was used for so many years it may have had a color change in its last years but then it also had the new emblem.Didnt mean to go so far with this but this info. is seen by many people and they should be aware of the various opinions as they may be preparing a car to be judged in VCCA competition.

Well, I don't think I will worry with the color to paint any overflow tank contraption, since neither of my cars came with one. I just Keep the radiator filled a finger's length below the filler cap with a 50 -50 mixture of distilled water and good old GM extended life (red) anti-freeze, and drain and flush the block and radiator every two years wheather I drive it or not!
YA!

If that overflow tank on ebay was grey, then Im turning to fords

That is as GREEN as olive drab green can get???

Had no idea this topic would be so frustrating??

Hope the vcca judges are following this one....

Sorry fleetmaster47 I did not want to get you frustrated over this.This is a good lesson that if you have a part or accessory on your car and are having it judged have proof with you that it is correct (that it was put on by Chev. or installed by the Chev dealer and is correct for the year the car was manufactored). I have sat thru many judging seminars and this is typical of the discussions you will hear over details.
as far as the color of the eBay tank the vendor told me it was gray when I called him.The center picture did look green on my screen but the entire picture had a green cast to it. Maybe we will meet at Iola this week ...There used to be items like this for sale up but they have become hard to find these days . Remember we may disagree on things but we are all in this hobby to enjoy it this can be typical of discussions that may take place at gatherins but eveyone still departs as friends.

The judges are watching!!!! you six cylinder guys are starting to sound like Vette guys :p But I like it!!! It is good to see research like this being done. Being a V-8 era guy, I am sure there was more than one supplier, so color variation is possible, isn't it :confused: What ever the color is that is used it is the owners job to prove it
John 348/340HP

John, Guy you kill me! HEY real Vettes ARE SIX CYLINDERS!
HOTH2O6's forever! and HotH2O4's

Hey chev nut. Didnt mean to sound negitive.
In fact its about time we get some good discussion on this fourm. we will be leaving for IOLA EARLY friday morning. We always go the full 3 days. got a hotel in appleton for the week end. CANT WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!

Being so so close to each other we should meet up sometime...........

Well you know we have met many times I am the old part time tool man that stops at Gordie Boucher.
At least we agree on which cars are best.Still waiting to see your 47.Have a good time at Iola-I will be going up on thursday so hope to get the good things before you--if there are any.

so thats who you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember you now. How are you doing???

I must admitt I dont miss working at boucher.

Just some of the people. You will have to say hello to Eddie, and Dale for me next time you see them. Hope you have a good time at iola, and hope to bump into you there.........

My first ever AWARD to a threaded discussion!!!! This was outstanding... I hope someone here prints this out and saves it to their scrapbook for future judging discussions.

In recognition, I have created a unique, one-of-a-kind picture which symbolizes your walk through the cornfields while reaching for the stars !!! :love: :cool2:

Signed copies will be available for a small handling fee. - not!

Again, an outstanding discussion which stayed true to the original query and used a lot of sluthing to get to the salient points of the answer!! Congrats to all who participated!!!!

Well I"m glad it was a happy ending to a long story. Fleet47,Guess what I found at Iola today?Two tanks--one gray and one green....opps then the alarm went off and it was just a dream
did bring some goodies home and will be back on Fri. for more.Only about 60% of the vendors were there today.