Hello all, hope everyone is safe and well!!! I just have a quick question about the engine colour of my 58 oldsmobile. It has now just turned over 110.000 miles ,it pretty much uses no oil or water , does not blow any smoke at all , has heaps of power . i'm just curious as to why the rocker covers are gold and the rest of the engine re: block , intake manifold is blue? If i look close enough it seems like there is an old gold colour under the blue it spots. Does it seem possible this engine may have had work done on it in the past and someone has touched it back up with blue paint? Also the pan on the transmission is the same blue as the engine. Was just interested in peoples thoughts, Cheers, Ray. I'll post a couple of pics.

 

If it has 110,000 miles on it and uses no oil, I guarantee it has had some work done on it. I believe those engines were originally gold. Somebody could have put a rebuild long block in and the rebuilder painted it blue.

 

i re painted this rocker cover

this one is original paint

 

Somebody sprayed it when it was in the car. It has blue paint on the carb linkage and the water pump pulley which should be black.

 

And as far as I have everseen transmissions are all natural in color as it came from the factory, any paint is a add on.. That baby needs a clean up and a couple coats of gold paint..... Tedd

 

Hello all , hope you all had a safe Christmas and New Year !!!. just on the blue engine paint issue i found another 58 Olds on You Tube with the same blue paint on the engine. His You Tube name is , A Special Blend, There is an Unrestored 58 Oldsmobile with the 371 that has Blue on the engine, I read somewhere that the small block engines could be painted either gold or blue from the factory. Is a 371 considered a small block? Any further input would be great, cheers Ray.

 

1957-58 Olds engines were GOLD from the factory. The blue overspray on the top radiator hose at the water outlet is on a radiator hose that didn't come from the factory. Gold is the correct color.

 

Just a after thought. could it be a low compression export engine? And were those even painted a different color? I realize the over spray rather disputes that thought....Tedd

 

Hello there Tedd , I was going by an article i read on Wikipedia.. Not sure how up to speed they are but they were saying that Olds small blocks could be painted either gold or blue. did you happen to check out the video on youtube? Its a pink 58 Olds, i just thought it was odd to see another 371 the same colour? Cheers Ray.

 

This is not considered a small block or a big block. In those days Olds only had one displacement engine in a model year. Although the 215 cubic inch engine came along in 1961 it was not until the sixties that the small block big block thing came along. Small blocks were comprised of 330, 350 and 307's. Big blocks were 400, 425 and 455 engines. I believe some or all 307's were painted blue. Most or all 350's were painted gold. One of the experts will speak up if I am wrong about the color.

 

They started to paint the 350’s blue after awhile somewhere between 73 and 77 I think. My wife bought a 77 Cutlass new that had a R code 350 in it that was painted blue. Then they were painted black eventually

 

And it matches the valve covers ?

 

I think everything got painted corporate blue, which was not 455 blue from 70, in the mid 70s with some corporatization. The engines got painted black in the 80s to hide their shame at putting out such gutless wonders.