The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Under Hood Paint Color

Should the underside of the hood of a 47-54 truck be the same color as the body (red in my case) or black?

I failed to take a photo of mine before the restoration started.

Thanks!

My guess is that the underside of the hood was primed black and splotchy over-sprayed near the edges with the exterior body color.

i painted it the same color as the truck on my 40. that's what it was from the factory. as for the AD/ND im not positive what mine were

My all original Mariner blue '50 has good paint all around, but inside the hood (as written above) is a dull black. Of course the fire wall is the original lacquer.

My truck was originally Red

Here is a pic of the underside hood, before I started messing with the truck
...pic...
...pic...

There was some red left over, Some green also, I also found some of the green under the cab, I dont know if its a primer.

I ended up painting the whole underside of hood body color
..pic...

Yep really interesting how the under hood color didnt really seem to matter to GM. Your blue looks fantastic..and the engine compartment perfect.

I am working on a '54 3100 and I noticed two things in your finished picture. First, the speader bar under the hood in the back. Is it supposed to touch the underside of the hood or not? Either way, is there some sort of rubber seal that goes between the hood and the spreader bar?
Second, what heater do you have? The Arvin in this truck looks like a dealer installed option or something because it doesn't pass through the firewall in the same location as yours or the factory holes for that matter. TIA.

Dave

hollywood0007

The heater in my 50 is a Harrison model H-02-47 I don’t think that model Harrison heater was used in the 54.

The hood "Rear Reinforcement Tie Plate" Has no anti squeak under it on my truck, and there is a small gap in some areas.

My guess is whatever rubber was under there has long since failed.

The Factory assembly manual shows there should be a piece of rubber glued under the plate, but not the full length.

if you have a manual it’s in section 11, sheet 5

I never noticed that or knew there should be something there until you asked.
Good eye

Yes, there is a piece of dense foam rubber 10" long under the brace stating at the tie plate and extending out on either side.
Hood is black E-coat on the under side and as Tim mentioned, oversprayed with body color. I imagine that as the hood came down the paint line the painter would come up under with a pass to catch the bottom edges and the over spray would mist the black ecoat. The underside of the hood was not intentionally painted the body color. Also a lot depended on the painter that was handling the gun that day, everyone probably had a different idea of how much time to spend under the edges. one might spay it with a slow wide fan which would overspray a bunch and another might spray it with a fast narrow spray which only left a minimum of overspray. Which kind are you????
I would sure like to see how the hoods, or any of the parts were supported at the factory as they moved down the production line. I've only seen a couple of pictures of the body parts coming off the line but none as they were actually being sprayed. I know the cabs were mounted on a dolly the moved along on a narrow rail track and I've seen the fenders coming down a convayer line.
Anyone with pictures PLEASE, post them or link to them...
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Here is an example of a ‘50, ignore the red, that was slopped on later by the fire department. The original color was Mariner Blue:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/133516800
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/133516793
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/133516797

Here is an example of a ‘54, ignore the dirt, I haven’t started to clean it up yet. All original Mariner Blue:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/133516842
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/133516846

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny,

The 50 is looks blue on the whole underside. Is that over-spray?

Is the 54 also blue on the whole underside?

Looks like I have to go study my red 54 (no yet stripped, so it is original) a little more carefully.

Thanks for the photos.

Nice shots of the Underhood.

Looks to be more than just overspray, on the 50 at least.

I was surprised to find the bed sides on my 50 did not have body color remaining behind the fenders.
...pic...

I found original red paint factory runs.
Must of been a friday afternoon assembly line paint job.

To: DADS50
Thank you for the info and the compliment. I guess your heater setup is the reason for the passenger side cowl vent that is blocked off in my particular case. I think a heater must have been an option back then and not all heaters were designed to use the vent.
To: Denny
Thanks for the pictures. That is exactly what I was looking for and it now makes sense to me. Now for the real question; where do you get replacements for the foam rubber? Someone used what looks like exhaust repair cement under the hood to fill the gap on this one (ugly, terrible and crime come to mind).
And when you say e-coat, does that mean enamel or epoxy? Don't mean to sound dumb but I don't know.
Thank you both for the help and the pictures. I have been using the information on this site for about 5 years now and I have been extermely impressed by everyones willingness to help. Thanks to all.

Yes guys, that's just an over spray, in the right light you can see thru it to the black E-coat. As I said, it probably depended on the painter, if he had enough time and felt like it he probably shot a little extra under the edges which deposited a little extra under the hood.
I also found when removing the fenders that they had apparently been bolted up to the bed side before it was painted as an assembly. I also found a trace of green washed over the area where the fender would have gone. This leads me to believe that a lot of the bed sides were pre-painted the standard green and held in stock that way. If another color was called for then the bed was painted with the fenders installed.

Foam I would get from McMaster Carr, it's available in tons of densities and thicknesses. It only seems logical to me that the stiffener would have been spot welded to the center rib, the foam installed and then the outer section of the stiffener would have had the two rivets installed. I don't know just how you could get the foam in place with out removing the rivets so you could open up the gap.

No body said it was gonna be easy!

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

LOL Boy, You sure take your time saying hello. Now that you're part of the conversation and not eavesdropping you can help some of these neophytes with their questions on topics you have experience with.
Welcome to the Bolt and send us some pics of your project.