Technical How-to's

Please stay tuned for the professional restoration series coming this fall....
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by Gilbert Propes

We continue our ongoing series of how-to articles in this issue with engine and driveline detailing. It's hard to pinpoint one particular section of a car as the most important in a restoration since they all contribute greatly to the finished product. Nevertheless, the driveline is easily one of the most scrutinized areas. If you're doing a concours restoration where correctness and originality are the bottom line, the engine and driveline becomes even more important due to the sheer number of small detail items involved.

The engine in our Impala project car was freshly rebuilt and showed great vital signs, so a complete rebuild was not necessary. Since the engine was in good mechanical shape, we started with an extensive clean-up. You might possibly clean an engine well enough with solvents and brushes. But usually the previous paint job was a quickie done in a mechanic's shop, in which case you will probably have to start from scratch.

If your engine doesn't have to go to the machine shop for cleaning and rebuilding. then I recommend sandblasting the entire assembly. That’s right, sandblast the entire thing! Of course, you need to seal the engine very carefully to prevent any sand from entering.
If your engine has a cast iron intake manifold and painted (engine color) valve covers, you can use an engine lift bracket that attaches to the carburetor mounting location to block off the intake manifold. Use the correct carburetor-to-manifold gasket to ensure a proper seal. If your car has an aluminum intake manifold, simply tape over the carb mounting area because you're only going to sandblast along the edges of the cylinder head.

Use a correctly sized plug turned upside down along with your old distributor to-block gasket and the stock distributor hold down to seal the distributor orifice. An aftermarket fuel pump block-off plate will seal the fuel pump hole in the side of the block.

The lack of overspray on the exhaust
manifolds lends a more detailed, if slightly
incorrect, look to this big block. The repro-
duction plug wires and the repainted hard-
ware give a factory fresh appearance.

For smaller openings such as temperature sending unit bosses, heater hose outlets, and dipstick tube holes, use small plastic or rubber pipe plugs. For exhaust ports, use leftover windshield kits from a local glass company. These windshield kits will also work well in the water pump holes in the front of the block. Just take the leftover materials, roll them up into a ball of the correct size and push them into the ports. Wiping inside and around the ports with a cleaning solvent before inserting will help the material adhere to the surface. Be careful around the areas with the improvised soft plugs or around the valve covers when you sandblast the engine.
When you're through blasting, use compressed air to blow off all the remaining sand and your engine is ready for spraying.
Now is the time to remove your aluminum intake manifold (if so equipped) for refinishing. Tape up the intake ports and lifter gallery using 2-inch wide masking tape. To make sure you don't tape up an area on the intake surface of the head that needs painting, mark the head by tracing around an intake gasket with a good felt tip pen. Leave all plugs and block off-plates in place until you are finished spraying.

Your engine should now be spotlessly clean and ready for paint. Since it is so clean, you don't have to worry about the remains of former paint jobs mixing with your new paint to create an odd color, or creating paint adhesion problems. Spraying with most any type of enamel paint will provide excellent results. For Chevy orange engines, Year One offers Martin Senour paint in a spray can which is very high-quality and correctly colored (#MS7887).
The ASL Company can correctly refinish
all types of aluminum, such as this Muncie
case. The shifter linkage received a fresh
coat of phosphate.

If you prefer to paint your engine with a spray gun (as I do). I recommend Martin Senour's 90T 9954 or 99L 9954. The 90T is a synthetic enamel while the 99L is an acrylic enamel. I prefer the 90T because it has thicker body and more adhesion than 99L; however, very few Martin Senour dealers can mix the synthetic enamel these days, so it is almost extinct.
Spray the 90T or 99L reduced at about 25% in 3 coats. The first coat should be very light, just barely tinting the assembly, with the next two coats being progressively heavier. You should wait about 15 minutes between coats. I don't recommend using any type of hardener in the paint. because it will make it too brittle when trying to unmask the engine and when bolting on accessories.

These paints may look a little too glossy for the purist at first, but you have to remember that heat and age will quickly remove much of the gloss. If you don't want to wait for the aging process, add about 25-30cc Martin Senour #3022 flattening agent to the mixed 90T or 99L. This will take away much of the gloss for a more aged look.
As far as accessories go, I usually paint water pumps (and gaskets), bellhousings and bolts separately and then touch up any damaged spots with a brush after assembly. The alternative to this would be to completely assemble the engine and hang it from your hoist, painting the entire assembly at one time.

The owner of this car didn't want the intake and exhaust manifolds or the clutch release arm oversprayed (as they were originally). He wanted a more detailed look, so the unit was painted and then assembled.
The intake manifold, water outlet, transmission case and alternator were sent to ASL Company for refinishing. They have an excellent refinishing process for aluminum parts.
Another crucial service offered by ASL is a complete rebuild for alternators which includes correct pulleys and date-coded diodes (which are visible from the rear of the unit!).
The fuel filter, distributor cap and fuel pump on this engine are NOS items - expensive and rare; the ignition wires, choke tubes, fuel lines, PCV tubes and most other small detail items are available from Year One.
The fan blade, water pump pulley, idler bracket and alternator bracket were painted with GM’s reconditioning black (Year One #6609N) mixed with a liberal amount of Martin Senour #8840 retarder. Martin Senour #7812 semi-gloss black is a good spray can alternative to the reconditioning black, and ill work well for those who prefer not to use a spray gun.
The air cleaner housing lid and base were sprayed using Martin Senour #99L13155 gloss acrylic enamel (30% gloss) with #8871 Martin Senour spot repair hardener added to achieve the desired gloss. Year One carries a large assortment of correct decals to finish off your air cleaner properly.

The carburetor for this engine (425 horse 396) was purchased from and restored by Bob Kunz Automotive. If you have your own carburetor (Holley, that is), Year One offers an excellent rebuild and restoration service directly through Holley themselves.
The original shifter for the car was disassembled and taken to Resto Plate to be recoated in the correct phosphate finish.
All the small detail items such as spark plug shields, crankshaft pulley and the various bolts, nuts and washers were replated in bright zinc, black zinc, gold zinc, and black or gray phosphate by Resto Plate. Be sure to note the original finish on your hardware to determine what type of coating needs to be applied.

The Impala’s driveshaft was sent to Quanta Restoration and Preservation Products where it was polished back to bare metal. After reassembly into the chassis, the green and orange paint stripes were added per the manufacturer’s buildsheet found inside one of the rear seat armrests.
That’s about it as far as engine and driveline refinishing is concerned, but there are a couple of notes I would like to pass along.
First, it’s extremely important that you take your time while refinishing and reassembling the various components. It’s very easy to get in a hurry while doing this work, which almost always means mistakes. Be sure to let freshly painted items dry thoroughly before reassembly. As mentioned before, small nicks and scratches can be touched up with a brush after assembly.

Here's a road's-eye view of the SS Impala with the body
on the frame and the drive-line installed. All your hard work
and patience will really become apparent when the car
starts to come together. Now you know why really nice cars
are shown with mirrors underneath!

And finally, although I’ve used a Chevrolet as an example throughout this series, the majority of techniques and methods will work just as well on any make of automobile. Some of the smaller details may be slightly different, but I’ve done quite a variety of makes and models, and with very few exceptions the processes are the same.
Until the next installment, relax, take your time, and most importantly, have fun with your project.
Visible in the bottom of the Z-bar is the red
plastic plug used to cover the hole reserved
for the grease fitting. During the first chassis
service, the plastic plug was removed and a grease
fitting installed. It can be seen in the circled area of
the photograph. Small details such as this often separate
a show winner from the rest of the pack.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 1995 Issue of Year One's Restoration Review magazine. Restoration Review is intended as a forum for and about the vintage automobile restoration hobby. For more information about Restoration Review or to subscribe, please call YEAR ONE today ! 1-800-950-9503.