Progress Thread Pearl To White - Paint Time

[Fri Guy]

I'm planning on sending my Fox Body to the paint and body shop soon to tackle some rust issues I have in my door post. While I'm there I want to do a complete color change which will require disassembling all the exterior. In 2004 I had the car painted pearl white, original color is white. Plans are to paint it Oxford White that comes on the new Mustangs. But, I'm also toying with the idea of going with a different color like a red or blue of some sort. Two things stopping me is the engine bay and the underside of the car is white. I will not be able to pull the engine along with everything else needed to paint the engine bay at the moment, that will be done at a later time.

Have any of you fellas done a color change without doing the engine bay? As much as I want to do it I feel like it will bug the crap out of me every time I open the hood. I was planning on going with a 2" steel cowl hood and cobra rear bumper but I'm now leaning towards just sticking with the original GT stuff. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[General karthief]

Stick with the white.

 

[ebone84]

Paint the engine bay black you can do that without pulling the engine ..... 2 cents

 

[General karthief]

Stick with white.

 

[Mustang5L5]

If you say you will paint the engine bay to match at a later date, will you actually do it?

If you can follow through, then i say go for it. If you don't think you will, keep it the same matching color.


IMHO, a body color change should involve respraying everything. Jambs, under the hatch, and in the bay. To take it a step further, the fenders and front bumper should be pulled off and the entire front clip should be sprayed the same color. Then the fenders assembled after. That's really the correct way to do it, although others will disagree with me.

Ultimately it's your car so you need to do what makes you happen when you look at it

 

[Fri Guy]

If you say you will paint the engine bay to match at a later date, will you actually do it?

If you can follow through, then i say go for it. If you don't think you will, keep it the same matching color.


IMHO, a body color change should involve respraying everything. Jambs, under the hatch, and in the bay. To take it a step further, the fenders and front bumper should be pulled off and the entire front clip should be sprayed the same color. Then the fenders assembled after. That's really the correct way to do it, although others will disagree with me.

Ultimately it's your car so you need to do what makes you happen when you look at it

They are going to pull the doors, fenders, bumper covers, windows, trim, hood, hatch off to spray everything. Only thing that won't get sprayed at the moment is the engine bay. At some point the engine will come out, but it could be a while before it happens. I'm about 85% sure I'll stick with white.

 

[Fri Guy]

What are your thoughts on the scott rod radiator cover?

Fox Radiator to Bumper Cover - Scott Rod Fab Store

scottrodfab.com

 

[Mustang5L5]

It's on my wishlist. haven't convinced myself to pull the trigger just yet.

 

[General karthief]

Crap, now I want the rad to bumper cover too
Did I say 'paint it white'?

 

[Fri Guy]

Now, is there a better looking white than Oxford White?

 

[General karthief]

Yeah, ahhhh ok, no. Well maybe.
Just paint it white and call it whatever shade you want, nobody will know the difference.

 

[91TwighlightGT]

If you never fix it, it will bother you. Color changes are fine, but you really need to pay attention to get all the jambs. Don't assume something will be covered, because it probably won't be

 

[1hot87gt]

You have a beautiful car. I have a 2” Cervinis cowl induction hood, as well as the Cobra rear bumper. And I love the way they look. But the older I get the more I find myself appreciating the look of a really clean and relatively stock looking example. Yours is definitely one. Don’t start taking off body parts. And leave it white.

 

[2000xp8]

Forget the hood, a 2in is too big. I have a 1.5 and i consider it oversized, if i ever get around to paint work and a stock hood clears, it's gone.
That cover looks cheap, in no way shape or form does it look like it was born there.

IMO, paint the car the factory color and be done with it.
I really don't mind color changes, i just think at this point they should be done on cars stripped down to nothing.

 

[Potomus Pete]

White is good. It would bug me bad if under the hood was a different color. If you were in a car show you wouldn't want to open your hood. White Foxes look nice, but you can't beat that deep blue that guys are doing.

 

[Fri Guy]

Thanks fellas for the advice. Going to stick with white and stock hood, rear bumper. Going to be a couple of months before I send it to the shop but I will report back when it's done.

 

[Boostedpimp]

First thing I think when I see a black engine bay and different color exterior is that there must be hidden issues. It just may be me but I would assume it is a major turn off from an investment standpoint and resale value in the future. So in my opinion I would just bit the bullet and yank the engine and do it right if your going through with a color change.

Or paint it the factory 9L/YO Oxford white color that was offered on these cars

 

[WhiteCobra95]

I'm partial to 1995 crystal white.

 

[Fri Guy]

First thing I think when I see a black engine bay and different color exterior is that there must be hidden issues. It just may be me but I would assume it is a major turn off from an investment standpoint and resale value in the future. So in my opinion I would just bit the bullet and yank the engine and do it right if your going through with a color change.

Or paint it the factory 9L/YO Oxford white color that was offered on these cars

I agree with this but I'm hoping that by sticking with white the engine bay will blend in enough to get me by till I pull the engine. At that time I'll more than likely be cleaning up the engine bay and get some scott rod sheet metal. Then I'll paint it to match the exterior which I'm leaning towards Oxford White that comes on the new Mustangs.

 

[Potomus Pete]

White touches up nice. You can get rattle cans of Oxford White to touch up your engine bay.