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Old 01-19-2020, 11:32 AM
Yellow Bird Yellow Bird is offline
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Default Engine paint color

I'm looking for the exact engine paint color for my 1977 400 Trans Am. Does anyone know the original Norwood Ohio formula? Or the closest rattle can color. So darn many brands... Original color appears to be a mix of green and blue. Has anyone ever posted the color formula? I've been looking forever.

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Old 01-19-2020, 11:33 AM
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Stuart Stuart is offline
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Check here: http://www.pontiacpower.org/enginecolor.htm

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Old 01-19-2020, 11:43 AM
Yellow Bird Yellow Bird is offline
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Stuart, yes, thanks for replying. As you can see there are 6 different brands each with a slightly different shade of blue. Any thoughts on the one closest to the original? Doesn't anyone have the exact color?

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Old 01-19-2020, 12:12 PM
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The original PPG number for 77-up Corporate blue engine color is 15159. Unsure if the current PPG system supports this color...

Others such as myself have used DE1619 Duplicolor Chrysler Green aerosol with good results.

Here is Bob Bennett's 1978 Y88:





My own '77:








Compare to John Witzke's 11k mile 1977 W72:





400 Mile 1977 L78:


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Old 01-19-2020, 12:14 PM
'ol Pinion head 'ol Pinion head is offline
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Yellowbird, all Pontiac V8 engines were built at the Pontiac engine plant & shipped to eachnassembly plant; being assembled out of Norwood has no effect. For a '77, going to come down to what color was originally applied; the late metallic blue or corporate blue. Have several pair of '77 dated cast 6x-4's & all show remnants of corporate blue paint. The prep work & method of applying the engine paint is what effect the results.

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Old 01-20-2020, 04:30 AM
Aus78Formula Aus78Formula is offline
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Of course, the Chrysler green is a good match for an already heat affected blue engine, it's not how they looked fresh and possibly turns further green with heat. But it is a good match for existing blue. For '77 with updated emission specs, they changed to GM corp blue, and there were variations depending on batch. Plenty of NOS parts in boxes and not all match.

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Old 01-20-2020, 10:40 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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2018-02-22_09-52-01 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Not the best pic, but my car was built Sept '76, although the motor has been restored it was repainted to match original which was the light metallic blue.
I think inline tube is now selling Pontiac engine paint. No idea where mine came from.

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Old 01-20-2020, 06:34 PM
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Canamman's black car's engine looks closest to what mine was.
That early 60's light blue looks close to the corporate blue....to me.

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Old 01-20-2020, 06:42 PM
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I can tell you even between batches of the same manufacturer there are wide color changes. So buy enough to do the whole motor and then some at the same time. Usually batch numbers on the bottom of the cans.

I did repaint some of my 65 GTO's engine when I fired it back up last year. And yes some cans of it looked just like corporate blue. Same deal with different batches.

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Old 01-21-2020, 09:40 AM
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Thank you everyone for responding. I'm making myself nuts going back and forth between Pontiac Blue Dupcolor 1608 or the Corporate Blue. Guess I'll flip a coin. Thanks again

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Old 01-21-2020, 11:13 AM
Grand73Am Grand73Am is offline
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I've tried all the spray can paints that claim to be Corporate blue, but they were not a good match to my original Corp blue engine paint. It was either too light of a blue, or too dark, and not the right shade of blue. So, I didn't use them.

As Canamman said earlier, the original PPG code number for 77-up Corporate blue engine color is 15159. If you want to have some mixed for use with a spray gun, you could check with your local PPG auto paint supply store and see if they can mix it. They might be able to.

At the time I wanted some engine paint a few years ago, I didn't know the original Corporate blue PPG number. So I had some paint matched to my original valve covers that still had good original paint on them. Below are pics of that paint. The paint matched to a Tuscan Blue, PPG #16513, mixed in Shop-line JAU single stage acrylic urethane. Shop-Line is PPG's economical urethane paint. That's the paint on my engine below. So, if they can't mix 15159, I know they can mix this color.

Also, as Canamman said, the Dupli-color spray can paint that is the best match for Corp blue is actually a Chrysler green, #DE1619. It's not really green. It's more blue with a very slight greenish tinge. It matches very well to the color on my engine seen below, and as seen in the pictures in Bob's car that Canamman posted.

So, if I was going to have some paint mixed, I'd try to get the PPG 15159 mixed. If that's not possible, I'd use the PPG 16513 that I had matched, since I'm happy with it. Or if just using rattle can paint, I'd use the Dupli-color DE1619.

002 by grand73am, on Flickr

004 by grand73am, on Flickr

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Old 01-22-2020, 08:00 PM
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I’m toying with idea of using Lucerne blue on my next Pontiac engine build....

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Old 02-14-2020, 02:07 PM
1968firebird455 1968firebird455 is offline
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I used 1619 on my 1978 Trans Am W72 motor and it looks good.

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