[beltrunner]

I can only tell you what I saw when I got my car. #2 owner had the motor rebuilt previously, but no paint or detailing had been done. When I pulled the motor to clean it up a bit (pull the pan and valve covers to see stuff) the heater hose bracket, the motor mounts, and the starter stuff were all old faded black, and bare metal in patches. There was no engine paint on them, or on any of the wires. I'm attaching a picture of a new '71 455 HO motor in one of the books I used as reference. It's hard to see, but the heater hose bracket is black in this photo. Hope this helps, but I really don't know what original was supposed to be. Any of the cars I checked out along the way of fixing mine up were detailed by their current owners, and not reliably original in my mind. Maybe someone who has done more of this stuff can tell you better...

[70FormulaCA]

Did a search but wasn't successful.

I am curious if the 72 HOs with their factory "net" hp/tq ratings performed similar to the 71 HOs (i.e. quarter mile times, etc).

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by 70FormulaCA

Did a search but wasn't successful.

I am curious if the 72 HOs with their factory "net" hp/tq ratings performed similar to the 71 HOs (i.e. quarter mile times, etc).

Similar - but NOT identical.

The '71s had the so-called 800 CFM Q-Jet and the as-cast exhaust ports on the 1971 "197" casting cylinder heads were less restrictive than the "7F6" exhaust ports. That and the '72 carbs were calibrated EXTREMELY lean from the factory.