Valve Cover Color

[YellowRose]

Valve Cover Color

Hi Alan! I got the "Gold" out of this.. Because it said "Gold", but the Part # listed is a C3AZ-A,B-Gold; part. Is that for a '63? When I saw "Gold" I assumed that was a short abbreviation for "Goldenrod Yellow". That color name is NOT found in 7.3.3.2 in the 1960 listing towards the bottom of that page. That color is not even mentioned on that page. That page does not state that the official valve color is Goldenrod Yellow for the 352 engine. Only in the pictures below it does it say that all valve covers for the 1959 are blue and all valve covers for the 1960 is Goldenrod Yellow. Sorry I can't get this lined up as it is in the CD, but here is where I got "Gold" from...

1959--
1960
Svc.
Repl.

Part #-RH
B9AE 6582-D, r/b
B9AE 6582-H, r/b
C0AE 6582-A, r/b
C1SE 6582-B, r/b
C3AZ 6582-A, r/b
C3AZ 6582-D, r/b
C3AZ 6582-L

Part #-LH
B9AE 6582-C, r/b
B9AE 6601-B, r/b
C0AE 6601-A, r/b
C1SZ 6582-A, r/b
C3AZ 6582-B, r/b
C3AZ 6582-E, r/b
C3AZ 6582-J

Notes
Service Repl.-
C1SZ-A,C1SE-B-
Chrome;
C3AZ-A,B-Gold;
C3AZ-D,E-Blue;
C3AZ-L,J-Primer

Reference
FD 7425, Jul 59, p. 83;
FD 7752-61, p. 131;
FD 7632, Jun 61, p. 81;
FD 7752-63, p. 117;
FD 9462, 1964, p. 135;
AF 7632-3, Jul 67, p. 75;
AF 7681, 1969, p. 237

[Tuxedo]

Ok... so yellow is correct, but so is blue and prime? I plan on keeping mine original yellow, but found it odd that other presumably original '60 birds had blue.

[JohnG]

You might try taking into consideration when, in the 1960 scheme of things, your car/motor was made. It might be that there was an interval when another color (blue) was used for awhile.

What is your VIN or manufacturer scheduled date of production?

If a given car had blue valve covers and was very early production (summer 1959) perhaps they were using up leftover 1959 valve covers. If I were a Ford manager and they were available, I would say "why not? A valve cover is a valve cover."

As Casey said "my .02 worth". I like yellow too. Glad to know it is Goldenrod.

John
Black Valve Covered '58 (Krylon SemiGloss Black)

[Coral]

Yeah, COLOR was a big deal, remember the crazy green shag carpeting....

Coral has bits of yellow on her covers, a blue air cleaner (which might be wrong for her...but can't find the post on the talk about it... halp! and she is a '60 with a 352... I otta have a link somewheres for her photo op, lol....

http://picasaweb.google.com/astikenn...eat=directlink

will update shortly....

[Tuxedo]

My '60 is a relatively early '60 with a serial of 102168. I also have the screwed on quarter panel hash marks.

[Coral]

Coral is a 152459 so I've nuttin to worry about her being special to anyone but ME, LOL

yeah, there's 18 of the hash marks total, and a few other bits of chrome scattered about the 60's

[fomoco59]

Cathie, All 58-60 Air Cleaner housings were white.

[Coral]

Ok, thanks Mike....somewhere is the thread about my carb the numbers were C 5 A FF D5 FA which I've written on my index card about Coral sitting here....oh, wait...lemme check my story thread about her, bet its there...but in any case, this is not the "original" carb for the motor, but a common replacement...I think

Yop here it is:
http://squarebirds.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6256

page 2 starts the convo on the carb if ya don't want to read through....LOL

[JohnG]

so Don, your car was only #2168 in the scheme of things so quite early. If your valve covers were/are blue, they still might be correct provided my theory of leftover '59s has any validity to it.

We need somebody else with a real early, unmolested '60 to tell us what they have....

john

[GTE427]

Ray,

Go to Section 7.3 Text, page G3-22 for valve cover colors. Section 7.3 gives exacting details for colors and finishes of many sub-components found under the hood.

[YellowRose]

Valve Cover Color

Hi Ken!

Yes, that is correct. That page G3-22 DOES give the exact valve colors for each year. As do the pictures on G3-33 but 7.3.3.2 VALVE COVERS 1958 - 1960 Listing does NOT and should! The list shows which colored valve covers are official for each year of Tbird. EXCEPT when it comes to the bottom listing for the 1960 352 Tbird by itself, right above the '60 430 list. There is not ONE mention that the authorized color for the '60 valve colors is Goldenrod Yellow. Like the others on the list, that color should be there. Only if you look at G3-22, or G3-33, do you find that out. It also does not tell you, as the others do, that the comb is offset or center mounted, ribbed rim/flat rim, or that authorized valve covers should or should not have FORD on them... The other years do in this listing.. The listing should be updated... But my OFS CD is a couple or more years old now...

[Tuxedo]

Mine are yellow... and are definitely original. In the following thread, also said to be an early car... they appear to be blue... or maybe yellow.

http://www.squarebirds.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6724

I have a lead on another '60 near me that appears to be original and unmolested and has Blue covers. I've asked for the owner to give me the serial so we can maybe narrow it down further. This car is also for sale if anyone is interested, i can pass the info on.

[YellowRose]

Valve Cover Color

It looks like that at some time during the 1960 run, maybe early on, they may have been putting on Blue valve covers. But as I recall, Hawkrod said at one time, I think, that they normally had all the correct parts to go on a car when they first started up the line for new production. However, we KNOW that there are original cars out there that are '60 Tbirds, never been modified, with parts coded B9 on them for example, Gregs Tbird comes to mind. There are '59 Tbirds with B8 coded parts on them that came that way from the factory...

Maybe Alan can shed some light on why some original, supposedly untouched '60 Tbirds have blue valve covers and others have yellow...

[GTE427]

Don, looking at the early 1960 car photos, it appears the valve covers are both yellow and blue. It's stated the car was parked in the 70's. At a minimum, the car was driven 10 years, and I would believe the valve covers would have been removed at some point prior to that date. Between leaking valve covers and intakes, it's likely that most of these cars have had the covers off. Not to mention the intake on that pictured 60 has an additional port I've not seen on our Bird's. Were there California Emission cars in 1960 which may explain the intake?

It's also highly likely that the original covers were repainted when the car was serviced, and they became Ford Blue over the original yellow. When was the last time we saw engine paint called Ford Yellow? Ford Blue was a named color of engine paint in the day, and many of us used Ford Blue with pride when painting a Ford Engine while cleaning and reconditioning the engine bay. I did.

When asking for original colors, service replacements colors wouldn't be considered original as assembled in Wixon. If you stick with yellow on a 1960, you really can't go wrong, especially since you've noted that yours are originally yellow.

[Coral]

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/

no 'engine' colors though.... I still thought it good to see...