engine paint
 

What engine paint are you guys using for a 66?

Bill Hirsch. It is awesome.

There was also a recent thread in 'Street' section about paint. The Seymour brand got good reviews for the '59-'66 engine color.
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...=seymour+paint

Thanks for the replies. Just wondering if anyone has found a paint that doesn't burn off the exhaust ports of the heads. I drive all my cars and it's frustrating when that burns off. I believe 66-70 are the same color, correct?

Nope. ‘59-66 is like a Robin egg blue. ‘67-70 has metallic in it.

This page has information on the different colors used over the years, along with suitable paints for each color. http://www.pontiacpower.org/enginecolor.htm Note that Plastic-Cote paint has been discontinued.

As for the paint burning off, I don't think there's any solution that will be 100%. I've had some luck spraying the exhaust port parts of the heads with alight coat of high temp silver paint first before applying the Pontiac blue, but I think it only slows the inevitable.

Stuart
I have seen that one before. Never remember where to find it if I want it. Maybe you should put it on a sticky.

It's easy to find, just do a search on 'pontiac engine paint' and it pops right up.

Wrong! 1959-65 Light Blue, 1966-70 Silver Blue Metallic.

http://www.pontiacpower.org/enginecolor.htm

There seems to be conflicting opinion on what the color of 66 engines were. Stuart, your listing shows 66-70 as the same color, is that correct? Hoping for an original car owner to settle this. I would hate to paint it the wrong color.

If the Hirsch paints are the longest lasting, I'll use them, the only issue I saw with their paint is, it says not to run the engine for 2 weeks after painting or it could wrinkle.

I'm not an authority on colors - I really only know the 1965 and earlier engines - but that page with the colors has been around a long time and my understanding is it's considered to be the authority on the subject.

I agree, however, I just purchased a 66 2+2 convertible and this is my first dive into any Pontiacs pre 69 as far as me owning them. I normally use that very site for my other Pontiacs and trust it. My thought is that the site is correct, just want to make sure.

Thanks for the correction Kenth

Agree that Bill Hirsch engine paints are great. Unfortunately if you decide to go with the Pontiac metallic Blue they have been unable to get the quarts or aerosol for quite some time.

Update: Hirsch paints said it would probably be 2 months before the get engine paints. The 66-70 color he said would likely come in quarts first and then they have it put in spray cans. 2 months for quarts, obviously longer if you desire spray cans.

Just take a valve cover or whatever of the color you need to an ACE hardware and have them scan it and mix up a quart of oil based paint in that color. Of course you need an air compressor, reducer (mineral spirits or turpentine), and a paint gun to spray it. But I have found that paint to be as good as any off the shelf spray bomb. None of them will survive the areas where the paint burns off.

Just ordered some spray paint for 66-71 engines. It's now in stock for anyone interested from Hirsch Paints.

Little side note about exhaust port "burnoff" I recently painted 2 Pontiac engines with aluminum heads. One is an Iron block and Edelbrock aluminum heads. The other is an aluminum block and Kauffman highports. The iron block is painted with DE1610 Dupli Color rattle cans. The all aluminum one with DE 1616 Duplicolor Rattle cans. Both have been through multiple dyno sessions and the one with DE 1610 has about 700 street miles on it. Not a hint of discoloration or burn off on the exhaust ports yet on either engine. My conclusion is the aluminum exhaust ports are not reaching the critical temperature to ruin the paint like the iron heads do. Typically, iron heads have the paint burning to white or flaking off after 2-3 hours of operation. Your results may vary.

Mike, did you do anything special to the aluminum heads before spraying them with the Duplicolor? I was considering using Alodine on mine before painting. I don’t usually paint aluminum parts but I want my heads painted.

I didn't do anything other than make sure the surface was really clean. Painting is really not my thing. Clean and dry and shook the heck out of the rattle can. I also wanted the painted look on the heads. I did not paint the bathtub intake on one engine or the Northwind dominator intake on the other one.