I went to NAPA today, and they didn't have it and couldn't get it... I thought I read somewhere that they had it? I tried Advance Auto Parts a couple days before and they didn't have it either.

Are there any local sources (non-mail order)? If not, which mail order places have it? I would prefer a rattle can since I don't have a spray gun. Thanks. Tom.

 

Fusick's will have it and probably Kanter.

 

For the Olds blue paint you should also consider Bill Hirsch. A guy I know just shot a cast iron intake manifold with Olds Blue (just last week) and I think he ordered it from Fusick. It was WAY TOO DARK...this has been an ongoing problem with some of the Olds blue engine paints. I'm not talking about just a slightly different shade of blue....this stuff was WAY OFF in terms of being the right color.

Bill Hirsch sells a real nice line of high-solids enamel engine paints....spray can or in liquid form (quart or pint I assume) if you want to spray it out of a spray gun. A buddy of mine recently used some of this and it looked pretty nice on his '71 442 motor.

http://www.hirschauto.com/

 

Bough Tamaraz paint and it looked like Pontiac blue. Anybody else available? Fusik was a nice color but I believe to dark.

 

I have the Hirsch paint on my engine and think it is also too much of a light blue in my opinion.
Inline Tube says they carry the closest match. $11 a can but it's not on their web site. You have to call them to order it so it makes me think they're selling someone else's stuff.
The factory documentation I've seen makes the engine paint look like it supposed to be very dark but that's literature so.....
I have seen some pieces that have been protected under brackets and such and they were definitely darker than the Hirsch stuff.
If you get the stuff from inline tube, post back and let us know what you think unless someone else posts up before that with an opinion on it.

 

This " formula" worked for me on my 70 455 and has held up very well.

Spray Engine with Duplicolor Chrysler Blue engine paint and let dry.

Top-coat with a light but covering spray of Duplicolor Car and Truck Paint " Bahama Blue "...

Test a Valve cover until you get just the right amount of the last color. This motor has close to 5000 miles on it and still looks good even in the High Heat areas.

Danny

 

I got mine at Brothers years ago and it was bang on.

DSC_4809.jpg

DSC_4807.jpg

 

Ken, you're spoiled!
Jim

 

x2 on Bill Hirsch

 

Only in the summer Jim. In winter, I think you're spoiled. Phoenix.......

 

I just repainted my valve covers with an old can of NAPA Olds blue, which looks like the Hirsch and Supercars engine paint.

 

Funny you should ask. I found some at Autozone just this morning. I was in there getting some other things, and I thought I'd check their paint because I want to repaint the valve covers on the 455 in my '73 Custom Cruiser. Well, they had on the shelf something called "GM Blue Engine Enamel" at $5.69 per can. At that price, how can you not try it? I bought one.

Below is the paint and the painted valve covers. I don't know about anyone else, but I think they look pretty darn good. They're a little shiny because I took the photos a few seconds after I had sprayed on the second coat.

Fusick wants $13+ for a can of Olds 455 engine blue. It may be better, but I can't believe that this stuff is much worse, and it's right here, and you don't have to pay for shipping.

 

That's that "corporate" color of the late 70's I believe.

 

I agree that, even when dry, it's probably a shade lighter. There's a bit more of a metallic look to what dc2x4drvr (say that three times fast) has, too. But I'll live with it.

 

Yeah color is fairly close, but the real stuff has a lot more shimmer to it. I too used Tamraz's and am very happy with it. I couldn't tell you how spot on it is to the "stock" color, but it looks pretty damn good.
<================== SEE!!

 

I had excellent luck with the paint from Supercars Unlimited:

http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/It...CategoryID=130

Greg Rollin, the owner, is very selective about what he offers. My engine has his paint, it's the right color and has held up well over the years.

 

(ebay) motor city muscle car same as inline tube has it. one of the two brothers runs the ebay store I got a few things from them good so far.

 

I have always used the Bill Hirsch paint for all of my engines.I get the quart cans & brush it on.It dries without any brush marks,& has held up very well.Most of the other paints I have seen are too light,or too silver.The other problem I have found with batches of spray cans is that even if they have the same batch number,the colors can still be different between the cans,which can cause havoc when you are trying to finish an engine,& run out.I have dealt with this with customers that have already purchased & supplied me with the paint.Most of the repop companies ar getting the paint from the same supplier.They don't have their own facilities to make paint.

 

Fusick's is the only one that has the exact engine blue color. I tried everyone. This is in a spray can. Eastwood has in in quarts as well.
You see many close variations but theirs match where I found the existing color on my engine while tear down. Have 1971 442.
AL

 

Forget Eastwood they sent me what looked like General Motors Blue and they said that was as close as they had. More money down the tubes.

 

It would appear that a lot has changed since July 2011 (Date last post was made) and when you may have purchased your paint... Back then it may have been a good match... When the formula actually changed could be anyone's guess...

 

This>

 

The average guy with spray cans will have a 10X better outcome than the factory did back in the day.


Everything GM painted had the absolute minimum amount of paint on it.


If you look at original engines, the sides and bottoms had very little paint.


Just enough to stop flash rusting before it was sold.......

 

Just throwing this out there, it's something im going to try, buddy of mine owns a body shop, he was talking to the ppg supplier a few years ago, the supplier said that a base/clear combo will hold up to engine heat no problem, so when he built his motor he washed it, degreased it let it dry good. No primer and did a few light coats of base and 2 coats of clear, motor still looks awesome and shines like hell, that's was 2 years and 10k miles ago. Ppg rep said the biggest issue is people prime them, the primer is thicker than a base coat, holding heat in and causing paint to blister. I'm just going to pick a color as close to the 455 metallic blue as possible and do base/clear combo

 

If that's the route you're going, then give this a try: PPG DAR2083, LeMans Blue Poly. The prefix may have changed over the years, but I bet the 2083 has stayed the same. It's pretty much a dead ringer for Olds 455 blue.

 

Supercars Unlimited

 

And this is when I redid that same motor due to a cracked block.
This time shot with fresh paint from Supercars.




Lighting was different for the last pictures thats why the paint looks darker.
I compared paint from earlier job. That paint was over 10 years old and still shot well out of the can (rattle cans) and there was no difference between the old and new paint

 

I bought mine from Eastwood. I used the ceramic paint. My builder sprayed it so I don't know about the ease of application but I sure was happy. Bottom line, look at each suppliers color via examples like shown on this thread or by my photo gallery and decide what you like unless you are going for exact original color.

 

i used thorntons i think it looks good but after seeing AZMHs i like the supercars a little better its darker i think.




link to thorntons ebay

 

Rero, Greg states that as you apply more paint the tint will darken (a little). Problem is if you get it too heavy the paint will start to sag.
If you look at my second set of pics you can see some sagging in the top of the valve cover.
I restriped them and repainted them to fix that flaw.


Also if your car has AC the stud on the left head is in the wrong spot. Needs to be forward one spot fot the Alt bracket.
My first pics I had too many studs in the left head. (Fixed that too)

 

thx AZ i already moved that stud LOL

that was 3 cans and at least 3 coats on the VCs i dont think its gonna get any darker but it is under LED lighting although the pic is pretty accurate color wise, I like it but i saw yours and maybe my next 1 gets supercars paint

 

For reference here's Hirsch's blue...

20160515_192647_zpstsrepmho.jpg

VZM%20IMG_20160110_124846_zpsydji8bdc.jpg

 

X2 71OLDS, Bill Hirsch, great looking motor