The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 283 Engine color

My husband and I pulled the 283 out of my 1962 C10 Fleetside. I am the second owner of this truck. The original owner said he bought it from the dealer, new, in it's current configuration. The engine runs but has issues and I'm hoping it's condition is restorable. I found a site that says the engine's in trucks were grey not chevy orange. Because the freeze plugs in the engine are not painted and there is evidence that the Engine was originally orange I figure this is not the original engine to the truck. Is that a good assumption?

It may not be conclusive but I'd check the engine number. It may tell you what you want to know. I'm positive someone here can decipher the number if you can post it. its stamped into the front of the block on the left side.

Grey, green on bigger trucks.

As you will find there is much debate and some conjecture. I am not an expert. I found that my 283 may have been grey and I liked the color better, so I went with it and am happy I did.

The '65 I got in high school in 1987, the engine was orange. The '65 I bought in 2005 to replace the one I rolled (I rolled the one from 1987), the engine was dark blue. I have heard it really depended upon what the engine was painted before it was installed, and whether it was a replacement engine, etc. I heard the replacements were gray. Inline sixes were the Alpine Green. I am definitely no expert, though. Maybe check the GM Heritage website.

The 66 I had in high school had a factory 327 that was kind of a mint green color.

I had a 283 in a 57 and a 58 Chevy. Both were orange. A friend's father bought a new 64 pickup with a 283. The pickup was blue/white and the engine was orange. One really nice riding pickup, too.

Thanks for all information. I'm either looking in the wrong place or the engine block was resurfaced when it was last rebuilt. I can't find the engine number. Which actually doesn't matter - I'm hoping the engine can handle another rebuild and I'm going to paint her back to Chevy Orange. The truck is almost as basic as they come. No chrome trim but she has a rear bumper and the 283 engine. She came to me with an oil bath air cleaner and the generator. I'm going to swap over to an alternator and add a vintage air system. I purchased a brake booster system for the drum brakes. I plan on keeping as just a nice street truck.

I’ll add on.
I’ve seen many “color correct” 283ci engines on other C10 truck forums.
Chevy started painting ALL SBC engines orange in 1967.
The correct color for a C10 truck 283ci engine is gray. I have 2 SBC 283ci engines in my shop and can help you figure out what you have, and if it’s a 283ci or not, regardless of what color it’s painted now.
The casting number will be on the back top driver side of the block. See photo.
The other side of the block will have a date code casting at the top of the block. The heads will probably have a 3884520 casting number.
Here are some photos. The collage photo shows examples of correct colors for 1963-66 C10 truck engines.

I can honestly say I have only seen one gray engine. It was the engine going in the '66 C20 that had the 292 in it that I bought. He was installing a 350, but painted it gray. Now I know why, it was the correct color for that year truck. I really like the Alpine Green, that's a sharp color.

I realize decision might already be made but I wanted to throw in 1more resource when answering the original question of color. Recently reviewed a 65 owners manual and found:

That is cool!

There is a machined pad on the engine block ahead of the passenger's side cylinder head. A stamped (not cast) number there is supposed to identify the original application of the engine, usually with a 2 or 3 letter code following the numbers. If the top of the block has been machined during a rebuild. those numbers could be missing. Then you will need to rely on the casting number behind the driver's side head to get a basic idea of the engine size and a general range of applications. It's not uncommon for a casting number to spam several years of production, and vehicle applications, however.
Jerry

Here’s a picture of the stamped number that Jerry is talking about.

The 283 in my 1962 K20 is orange, I wonder if it's been changed out?

or just painted orange after a rebuild by someone thinking chevy v8's were just supposed to be chevy orange!

Bsarts - Applying Jerry's comment about the stamped numbers, does your orange engine have the stamped date and suffix numbers on the ledge?

In 1965 I purchased a new 1965 Custom Cab C20 with a 283 V8 and a power-glide trans, the rear end had 456. gearing. Only engine options in 65 was the 283 V8, 230 6cyln and the 292. I very clearly recall that the 283 was gray, the 230 was gray and the 292 was green.
Chevy came out with the 327 V8, TH 400 trans option in the '66 trucks.. The truck 327 V8 was Chevy orange through 1967, the 350 V8 came out in the trucks.
I'm just finishing up the rebuilding of a '37 GMC T14 1/2 ton. We put a '72 292 6 cyln in the truck, painted it Chevy gray. The person that rebuilt the 292 painted it Chevy Orange because that is what he thought a Chevy engine should be.
Before the factories started to use any engine in any car, the engine color told the mechanic's on the line what the engine was, they did not have computers to do their thinking for them.

Well there you go. 1st hand answer. That's a wrap. Thanks Wm.