If you want your engine bay to really shine and stand out, then use the gloss black. But, if you want the engine color to bring your eyes to it first, and not the shiny bay, then use either a semi-gloss, or a semi-flat. Just a warning though. The gloss black will show every piece of dust and water residue, so if you want to keep it looking nice, it will require high maintenance.

 

now what about what gta said about the colors. red oxide is for San Jose and black for Dearborn? so should i be painting my dearborn car's underside black?

 

yes if its from dearborn ( "f" on the second slot of the vin number) than it is to painted a satin black from the gas tank to the floor boards, than the torque boxes go a low gloss black forward from that.

 

inside and outside right?
i just want to make sure cuz i plan to order the paints tonight from NPD

P.S. meant to ask earlier but do i paint the gas tank underside? I thught that the top is left bare but i couldnt remember the rest

 

no the underside around the gas tank,and the tunnel for the driveshaft outward are all satin black, right where the torque boxes begin is where the low gloss starts, and to replie the gas tank is a cadnium natural (light natural color) the leaf springs are natural, the rear end housing is low gloss, the third member is red oxide, (make sure the bolts are the copper ones that bolt the third member together) e-btrake cables are natural, driveshaft is natural with three stripes for the production year ( give me the door tag and ill tell you the correct stripe colors on the driveshaft) quike note, if you leave parts natural or bare metal of course theyll rust so to prevent that clear coat everything with high temp clear coat like i was talking about, its like stainless steel and wont rust unless it gets chipped hope this helps

 

thanks. that helps a ton. here's the door tag:

Body: 63C
Color: C5
Trim: 3AA
Date: 04C
DSO: 24
Axle: 9
Trans: X

lol, i never knew those stripes on the driveshaft meant anything. thanks again

 

does your driveshaft already have them?? yes they mean a lot actually, the first stripe is the assembly plant, since yours is from dearborn its a single green strip approx. 14 inches from the third member the size of the stripe is 3/4 inches big. The next is in relation to your transmission yours is a fmxauto i think right?if so the next stripe should be pink about 1 1/4 wide and about 2 3/4 away from the green stripe (going towards the third member or the back of the car not going forward) and the last is for the rear end, and yuors is a 3.25:1 non locking so the color of the last stripe is dark blue and is 1 ich wide exactly and is 1/2 inch away from the last.
I dont know exactly why Ford did this, but i do know they did it probably to determine what was what. I have done a ton of research on the paint codes and paint dabs around the whole car, underside and engine included. Im not sure if your going for concourse, or just want a original looking car, but feel free to ask any questions about paint codes, there are a tooooooooooon of them trust me

 

cool. thanks again. ya, the car is not concourse since it was so heavily modified b4 i got it but its gonna be close. paint,interior,engine(correct but not original), other small things. tranny is to be a t-5 maybe. rear end was modified but i dunno how much. i can tell you the differential clicks when one wheel turns though