Topic: Painting Engine Bay and Cowl in NJ '69 Mach

[drummingrocks]

I'm restoring a Metuchen '69 Mach 1, built on June 5th, 1969.  The engine bay had been amateurishly repainted at one point, and I'm trying to get a clear idea of where exactly to begin the transition from engine bay black to red oxide on the firewall.  Would anyone happen to have pictures, maybe of a car with a similar date code?  Also, should the cowl panel on this car be the same engine bay black, or should it be black jade?

I pulled the fenders off of the car, and there was some evidence of original Black Jade paint, almost as if the car was originally painted with the fenders off, ans Black Jade was allowed to flow onto the top of the cowl during the process. If that's true, should the sides of the cowl--including the cavities where fresh air flows into the passenger compartment behind the kick panels--be Black Jade as well?

Just trying to get everything as correct as possible!  Thanks!

[cobrajetchris]

The front end was off the car when it was painted at the plant and I believe that to be the case for all mustangs and all plants. I know for sure that all the 69 & 70 models were. The cowls and vent areas get pretty much body color as the doors were on the car when it was painted. As for as the outer aprons and shock towers, most seem to have a mix of primer, body color and a little bit of black overspray. The dearborn cars I have seen the engine bay black out was sprayed on the front and backside of the radiator support and the entire engine bay. Most 69 models do not have blackout above the cowl seam at the firewall, however nothing was masked off. The transition into the tunnel is faded. I believe at the plant the blackout application was one heavy wet coat, based on the amount of runs and missed spots I have seen on original cars. Most people like to do a nicer job on the engine bay than the factory. I have also seen a lot of original cars were neither paint or primer got into some of the tighter crevices which eventually turned to rust. In my opinion there is variations to all of this but I feel what I mentioned is typical.

[J_Speegle]

I'm restoring a Metuchen '69 Mach 1, built on June 5th, 1969.  The engine bay had been amateurishly repainted at one point, and I'm trying to get a clear idea of where exactly to begin the transition from engine bay black to red oxide on the firewall.  Would anyone happen to have pictures, maybe of a car with a similar date code?  Also, should the cowl panel on this car be the same engine bay black, or should it be black jade?

Normally we don't see much if any red oxide on the top of the cowl) body color application typically took care of that   And many times (depending on plant and time period) the window adjuster plates were set there to be painted so there is often plenty of paint in the area

I pulled the fenders off of the car, and there was some evidence of original Black Jade paint, almost as if the car was originally painted with the fenders off, ans Black Jade was allowed to flow onto the top of the cowl during the process. If that's true, should the sides of the cowl--including the cavities where fresh air flows into the passenger compartment behind the kick panels--be Black Jade as well?

The unibody was painted with only the doors, trunk, end caps (loosely attached) and the rear valance together, while the rest of the individual parts were painted elsewhere

As for the cowl application I'll check the photo library and see what other June NJ cars have to offer for details

The front end was off the car when it was painted at the plant and I believe that to be the case for all mustangs and all plants. I know for sure that all the 69 & 70 models were. The cowls and vent areas get pretty much body color as the doors were on the car when it was painted. As for as the outer aprons and shock towers, most seem to have a mix of primer, body color and a little bit of black overspray.

That inner fender area detail was consistent for Dearborn cars but not for cars built at the other two plants typically

The dearborn cars I have seen the engine bay black out was sprayed on the front and backside of the radiator support and the entire engine bay. Most 69 models do not have blackout above the cowl seam at the firewall, however nothing was masked off. ..........

The cowl black out (done or body color) appears to have been an early/late detail on Dearborn cars in general. From original cars there was a point (don't recall the change over date is moment) when the factory switched and the workers started applying the engine compartment black  all the way up

[drummingrocks]

Thanks for the quick responses!  Regarding the transition on the firewall from black to red oxide, did workers typically just stand over the engine bay from the topside and paint the firewall black?  That would give me a decent idea of exactly how much of the firewall was originally painted black.

[J_Speegle]

Always wish there were more nice NJ examples but the rust seems to have limited their availability but with that stated, looked at a number of unrestored 69 NJ cars and it appears that the change over from painted (above the pinchweld) body color to painted (over the body color) black was somewhere in the 16x,xxx's  or sometime in Jan production. So a June car IMHO would have the black like this NJ example

9T02S2106xx for example

Thanks for the quick responses!  Regarding the transition on the firewall from black to red oxide, did workers typically just stand over the engine bay from the topside and paint the firewall black?  That would give me a decent idea of exactly how much of the firewall was originally painted black.

Yes the firewall was painted with the semigloss black on the front face and the amount of overspray and further black application downward was dependent on the height, age and effort of the painter that day

[drummingrocks]

Thanks, Jeff.  That was exactly what I was hoping to find out!