OK stupid question probably but my car came with 918 orange. I am going to likely pull all engine items get someone to repaint it did all the body in engine area come originally painted orange? Even the body bracket the radiator bolts to? 

The car was originally painted as an assembled shell: fenders, headlight buckets, hood, valance, doors, rear hatch, fuel lid - all were installed for painting. So... yes, the engine bay including the radiator bulkhead, was part of the paint effort to get a full coat of body color.

S30 Shell Vibration Testing (Painted) ( probably in 67 or 68)

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by 240260280

2 hours ago, 240260280 said:

S30 Shell Vibration Testing (Painted) ( probably in 67 or 68)

Which is all well and good, but I would not advise anyone to use photos of a pre-production test chassis as reference for how the cars came off the production line en masse...

OP: The advice of *everything painted body colour* is good, but somewhere along the assembly line a guy was assigned to put his head into the front end of the car and - equipped with a pot of satin black paint and a suitable brush - his job was to 'black out' two thirds of the front half of the radiator support panel so that it was a little less visible through the front grille. He and his friends also walked around the car blacking out body colour anywhere it was deemed unwanted, like around the insides of the door apertures and where it could be seen through trim gaps and behind grilles and vents.

Being hand-applied, there was inevitably some variation at play on a case-by-case basis with this 'blacking out'.   

22 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

OP: The advice of *everything painted body colour* is good, but somewhere along the assembly line a guy was assigned to put his head into the front end of the car and - equipped with a pot of satin black paint and a suitable brush - his job was to 'black out' two thirds of the front half of the radiator support panel so that it was a little less visible through the front grille. He and his friends also walked around the car blacking out body colour anywhere it was deemed unwanted, like around the insides of the door apertures and where it could be seen through trim gaps and behind grilles and vents.

 

 

Being hand-applied, there was inevitably some variation at play on a case-by-case basis with this 'blacking out'.   

The five grill mount tabs were also painted black for the same reason.

Were the horns black then got body color over spray? That's what my early '72 looks like.

The black-out of the radiator bulkhead and grill mount tabs is commonly overlooked with many repaints.

I'm sorry Mr Arnett, I was wrong. Imagine that!

The 240s are black with no overspray, just a little rust.

Mine is still 1972 except the motor and transmission. They have been reworked.

280s seem to be unpainted, zinc coating?

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by siteunseen

Wow Site.....didn’t know that you were ever wrong LOL......wouldn’t admit it anyway.

One point that people tend to miss. The fenders were bolted on when under the hood was painted....therefore the bolts along the top of the inner fenders were painted. The bolts on shock towers weren’t. 

Edited January 4, 20214 yr by Diseazd

51 minutes ago, Diseazd said:

Wow Site.....didn’t know that you were ever wrong LOL......wouldn’t admit it anyway.

I'm a politician. 

Wait a minute! I am NOT a politician.

That's more truthful.

 

Edited January 5, 20214 yr by siteunseen

3 hours ago, HS30-H said:

 somewhere along the assembly line a guy was assigned to put his head into the front end of the car and - equipped with a pot of satin black paint and a suitable brush - his job was to 'black out' two thirds of the front half of the radiator support panel so that it was a little less visible through the front grille. He and his friends also walked around the car blacking out body colour anywhere it was deemed unwanted, like around the insides of the door apertures and where it could be seen through trim gaps and behind grilles and vents.

Being hand-applied, there was inevitably some variation at play on a case-by-case basis with this 'blacking out'.   

This is good BAT ammo, like asking for firewall VINs.  Kind of bummed that the wave of Z's for sale seems to have passed by.  Only a ZX is up now.

Probably should include the seat mount crossmembers in the list of blacked-out items over body colour.

Here's an example of factory black-out on the inside of a quarter panel vent: