My 'looks new' 390

[F100builder]

I've been kind of scarce on the site lately as I've been fairly busy. But I thought I'd post some progress pics of my latest work on my '69. I finally got around to swapping the old 2V intake and carb for the brand new aluminum Edelbrock and 600cfm carb I've had laying around. I also came across a set of old Cal Custom valve covers and dressed up the old FE a little! I like it!!!

The before look:

Doctoring up the Cal Custom covers:



The underside of the stock manifold was actually pretty clean!!!



I only wished I had cleaned up the rest of the engine bay before this picture!

[NM5K]

Them valve covers look slick. The fun part will be trying to keep it all
clean.. :/
I had my engine and engine bay all painted up when I installed
my rebuilt long block back a few years ago.. Just to "stock"
look though.. IE: I used all the original parts and repainted
with the same stock blue, and black fender wells. Body color
firewall..
It's starting to look a bit grungy again due to a lack of
cleaning.. :/ And some parts of my repainted valve covers
have the paint starting to flake off a bit.
But I've been more worried about the body paint than the
engine. I really need to repaint my truck pretty bad.

[F100builder]

Thanks! I actually powder coated the valve covers a single stage chrome color to make them look like polished aluminum (before the sprayed red between the fins). The nice part is that they just wipe clean and won't oxidize and turn a dull gray again! I also powder coated the hood hinges and inner fenders. It all is pretty easy to clean and very durable too!

[FORDTOUGHF100]

F-N Ay Nice.

[Skifu]

How do you get the paint between the fins without makeing a mess??

[F100builder]

How do you get the paint between the fins without makeing a mess??

Very tedious masking! I actually used an X-acto knife and a metal straight edge to cut the thin strips for masking the tops of the fins. I realize that thin-line masking tape is available but I didn't want to make another trip to the store or spend more $$$. This blue painter's tape is pretty good stuff.

[F100builder]

F-N Ay Nice.

Thanks!

[fomocoguy]

That looks great! How's she run? When I did this swap on my old 65 it REALLY woke it up.

[Skifu]

so,you spend really more time taping than anytihing else,looks nice,looks like you got a pretty cool shop.

[Ranchero50]

Skifu, You can also paint grease where ever you don't want the paint to stick...


Paint everything


Wipe off the 'grease' once it dries.


F100, nothing wrong with a hookers rebuild either. Red looks good.

Jamie

[F100builder]

so,you spend really more time taping than anytihing else,looks nice,looks like you got a pretty cool shop.

Pretty much. It's all in the prep work!

That looks great! How's she run? When I did this swap on my old 65 it REALLY woke it up.

It runs AND sounds killer!!! I've got full-length PITA headers and 40 series Flowmasters!

F100, nothing wrong with a hookers rebuild either. Red looks good.

Jamie

Thanks Jamie! Not sure I've ever heard the phrase, 'hookers rebuild'!
This was all just to 'get by' for now. I've been taking it to local rod runs and cruisin' it around quite a bit and until now, I haven't wanted to lift the hood much! I've got another 390 sitting on a stand waiting a rebuild. Perhaps it will be this winter's project.

[sideoilerfe]

You need to fix the links as they no longer work. I cannot see it.

[Ranchero50]

Yeah, I didn't know if the censor would flag hooker's bath or not... Tape and paint rebuild, nothing wrong with that.

Jamie

[F100builder]

You need to fix the links as they no longer work. I cannot see it.

Crap! I forgot and I moved some stuff around in my photobucket account. Should be good to go now!

[sideoilerfe]

I see it now. Good job.