I'm going to be installing my H.O. in my '88 T-Bird soon.It's a daily driver.I'm going to detail the engine a little.Now,it's not a show car,but it is a very nice looking car.It's dark Patriot Blue Pearl.I'm going to paint the engine and heads after a thorough clean-up,and I'm curious what color you guys think.....grey (factory Ford grey),light Ford Blue,dark Ford Blue,or something else.I want it to look nice,but I don't want it to look like it's out of place.
I would paint the motor dark Ford blue. I don't think I would go for the light blue if it is lighter than the color of the car. The grey is boring. I know because my motor is grey. One problem is in that your intake manifold will not stand out. Now this may not seem important to you with the stock HO manifold, but if you go to a aftermarket manifold, it would be nice if it didn't blend in with the motor. Are you also painting your valve covers? With the dark blue car with the dark blue block, anything that is polished or bright under the hood will really stand out and will look very clean. The more contrast under the hood the better it looks. Or atleast in my opinion. The block also collects a lot of dirt in some spots and it will be less noticable with the darker color and easier to clean. Here's what I would do.
Block: Dark Ford Blue
Paint accessory brackets silver
Either paint your valve covers silver, Polish them, or go aftermarket
Good luck and be sure to post pics when your done :)
Just for reference, here's (light) Ford blue on a 5.0 intake: (mine)
I'm going with (light) Ford blue on my 5.0 Bird's (the 88) engine. I wanted to use one of the "old Ford" colors.. but since the car will be painted dark green, I thought going with old Ford red would be too holiday-ish.
Thanks.I'm going to gasket match the upper and lower intake,and polish the upper til I can see myself in it like I did to the one I'm using now on my SO engine.Same with the factory aluminum valve covers.I like the looks of the factory parts when they shine.