What color should my valve cover and air cleaner be?

[colocounty4]

Hi!

I have a '65 FB with a 200. Factory motor. It's painted Ford Blue because it's a 7/15/65 car and the paint color changed in June or something like that. However, my valve cover and air cleaner are both red like an earlier 65 would be. Is that correct or did my dad (original owner!) paint them and not remember what color they were to begin with. If there is a definate correct answer I want to fix it but if we don't really know for sure I'll leave them red because it really confuses people who see it. Everyone tells me my engine is wrong but it is not. Cover and cleaner could very well be wrong.

Thanks!

 

[sparky]

Don't know about the straight 6, but the V8 was gold on the breather & valve covers.

 

[pyroman]

I guess you're going for original colors but have you thought of mixing it up and going for a non-original scheme? This is what I've done with mine:

 

[tx65coupe]

The I6 engines were painted differently than the V8 engines. The 200 should look like this.

1965 was red/orange and 1966 was blue for the 200. The air cleaner, valve cover and oil pan are all the same color.

Here is a 65 200. Thats the way it should look. FYI, those bars in the engine bay are supports because its a convertible.

1965 Ford Mustang Convertible Engine0 Photo

 

[colocounty4]

I'm going for original. The factory 65 block was chassis black and the cover and air cleaner were red/orange. Ford changed over in June 65 and started using the 66 colors of block/cover/cleaner all blue.

my deal is that i have a late 65 (July 15) with what I know to be a factory blue block (my dad is the original owner and the block has never been touched.) Problem is in the early 80's he wanted to freshen up the cover and the cleaner. For the life of him he can't remember if he painted them red/orange because that's what they were from the factory or if he did it because that is what all the other 65s were. He can't remember if they were blue or orange/red when he bought it.

 

[2+2GT]

I'm going for original. The factory 65 block was chassis black and the cover and air cleaner were red/orange. Ford changed over in June 65 and started using the 66 colors of block/cover/cleaner all blue.

No, they were 2-tone, sort of. The engine assembly was gloss engine black, with semi-gloss pulleys and brackets. The valve covers varied, depending on which engine, the 200 had a Ford Red air cleaner and valve cover, the 260 had light Ford Blue, the 289 had gold, others had beige, yellow, etc. In 66 Ford chucked all the color codes and painted the whole engine Ford Corporate Blue. I have always found a well detailed pre-66 engine impressive, because it requires a lot of attention to detail.

 

[EP429]

Chip off some of the spray paint and see whats underneath there

(Unless he did his prep work and sanded it all down first!)

 

[tx65coupe]

If your Mustang is a 65 then I would paint it black with red/orange cover, pan, cleaner.

Back when my 65 was still an I6 I had a 66 engine in it and painted it accordingly with 65 colors.