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FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

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Just curious if anyone knows what color paint was used on the underside of the hood for a 67 GTO? Mine is currently the color of the car, but needs to be redone so I want to make sure I refinish it in the factory correct color, either body color or possibly black. Any comments are appreciated. 


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To my knowledge most GM cars the underside of the hood was painted body colour.  There are some that got damaged at the assembly site and a quick fix was to paint it black (rumour that I heard not necessarily true.)


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In the "Pontiac GTO 1964-1972 Restoration Guide", on page 79, under "Front Sheet Metal And Engine Compartment 1964-1967", there is an exploded view of 1964 front sheet metal and what the various pieces were painted. I assume this holds true for the 1965-1967 GTOs because the authors do not give any paint information in those years front sheet metal exploded views. Anyway, they say that the underside of the hood was left in factory-black primer.


 


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Having a copy of the Chassis Service Manual, Fisher Body Manual as well as the Restoration Guide are among a few recommended books for anyone with a '64-'72 GTO.


I will caution you however the Restoration Guide, as good as it is is just that a "Guide" The number one rule of restoration on our old Pontiacs is never say never.


The resto guide contains several discrepancies that have been pointed out over the years.


Now with that said, as far as underhood paint/primer. What you find is a lot of this stuff varied Plant to Plant so again not all things are equal. I would say that 90% of the restored cars we see will usually  have a clean crisp 60% gloss black underside finish which is an excepted finish by most judging sanctions. The above page is correct with the details, but IMO is rarely applied. Most like a cleaner look. Myself included.


underhood.jpg


 


FWIW;


The images below are from a survivor and if you look closely you can see how haphazard the actual painting process was usually conducted.


The black is visible under the pad but notice the heavy overspray on the leading edge and this runs downs the side and rear as well.


Now if you really HARDCORE note the outline/black square that shows across the forward hood brace and shows no Red overspray that is from the hanger/jig that the hood was hung on while being finish painted.


So it would be primed/coated first, then hung up for finish coat, again this would be for the over the top restoration.


PAINT%20DETAIL%2066%20OEM%203.jpg 


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Here's some pictures of an original '66 hood from another forum that shows the overspray on the underhood black primer. I too prefer SPRINT 6's cleaner look.


 


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Thanks Pat for the additional information. I'm with you on the cleaner look like SPRINT6's example. I always struggle with being true to original which in some cases is not always perfect.


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Never in my 30+ with GM, have I seen them paint an underside of a hood Black in any model.  It would be an added step to the paint process and would also require masking.  It is usually an acceptable resto mod to match the black firewall and inner fenderwell and core support.  Damage occures when the heat shield padding absorbes moisture and holds it tight to the inner frame.  YES mine is painted black too after removing MUCH rust, and I added aluminum panels and a path for the cold air to enter from the hood scoop. When the hood is closed, it covers 3/4 of the air cleaners forcing it to breath cool air from outside. Sorry having trouble with photbucket and can't include pic's.  Might be one in the GTO album on my page. 


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  • 8 months later...

Well, it's been a while, but I finally decided to work on my hood. Thanks for all the input. I painted it body color after taking longer to wrap the entire car and engine compartment prior to painting it. It would have been easier to remove and do all of this, but I was concerned about getting the alignment correct and possibly doing some damage to my fenders so opted to paint it in place. I wanted to paint the entire underside even though I'm going to get an insulation pad for it, most likely a molded one. Let me know if you have any suggestions for a source. I looked at Ames and their site doesn't have pictures of the product.

 

 

 

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Edited by rickmpontiac
Sorry for the rotated pictures. Decided the site doens't like portrat mode photos.
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Thanks Jim, I used Duplicolor Perfect Match Torch Red. My car is not an original Pontiac color for 67. I wish it was, but it makes touch up paint easier to find. Took about 3 1/2 cans over a red primer base.

I still need to detail some of the black around the firewall and the hinges.

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