I'm sure this has been beat to death here.

Had some friends over to help install my motor yesterday. Of course restoration do's and don'ts were in much of the conversations. A couple of these guys are involved with the resent discovery/purchase of the 6000 mile HEMI Challenger and have hands on physical evidence of many original details. Engine paint was one topic.

While I'm a big fan of glossy, show stopper engine paint, this time around I went with a fairly low gloss (Frank Badalson-Roger Gibson product) paint thinking it was more in line with factory correct.

[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dht1m6tz8rrwxv/motor.jpg?dl=0[/img]

These fellas weren't on my side on this. They claim they cleaned some areas on the motor that revealed high glossy areas of paint on the block. I guess that could justify a show car shine on the motor but I wouldn't think that's the norm.

Not really wanting to start a "right and wrong" discussion, in general, what is the overall thinking of what is more likely the correct amount of gloss if you want to be factory correct?

I apologize ahead of time for bringing it up

Did they say how they cleaned the engine ? A little rubbing compound, maybe ?

Yeah, argued pretty much everywhere, and complicated by what's appealing and how it should look...
Best authority on what is correct is production line photos, for Day One.
The hundreds of new engines I saw back when these were new cars weren't very glossy.

I'd bet the gloss varied from one drum of paint to the next drum of paint or from one shipment of paint to the next shipment of paint.

I agree, every orange one I saw new back then wasn’t glossy, just dull. Now the blue ones were on the shiny side, (I was the new car pre-delivery guy).

Next time you know your buds are coming over to check out your engine spray the entire engine with a full complete can of silicone spray and sit back, grab a beer and just smirk.......later after they're gone just hose it off or let the engine heat evaporate it

Mike

I buy the paint from Frank. He says to spray it with no hardner. I prefer a little gloss on mine so I add a little hardner in mine. It’s more durable as well.