Now Mike, this is for whatever it's worth department. An old man that eventually became a robotics specialist for Chevrolet told me back in 1992, told me the following; He was originally hired by GM as an engineer in the paint division and stuck with it for 46 years. He told me that at one time up until Chevy started painting engines orange that almost all fan blades were grey, but wait there's more........He said that grey was preferred by the old time mechanics because a grey fan was easy to see against a black or oxidized radiator. He also told me at the time this was going on all L-6 engines had a problem with the fan blade cracking at the base rivets. Which was a problem that lasted much longer than GM cared to remedy (another reason along with many more cooling issues), for fan shrouding. He also said that there never was a direct paint number for engine grey or blue, this was up to whatever paint company's price was less. Engine paint codes have become more popular as more folks like us restore older Chevrolets. However, he was a great help to me restoring a pristine 62 Vette. However I had just pulled the 235 out of my 54 AD and put a new coat of blue Chevrolet engine blue and he never said a dang word. In the near future I'm pulling the 54-235 out and painting it the proper grey. He also painted the newly rebuilt engine of the Vette the wrong color of orange. So there it is for whatever it's worth. Oh by the way the GM parts department only sold black replacement fans back in the day. Go figure. Doc
