Were the water pump and intake nipples for the heater hoses installed before the engine was painted at the towanda plant? Or would these have been installed later.

Jim,
I believe Mikes CD says they should be natural... which would lead me to believe after the engine was painted. ;)

The water pump was on the motor when painted and the nipples were installed at the line assy plant.

A good way to determine if a part was installed on the line or not, is to see if it's in the assembly manual. If the aim shows it, and a part # for it, it was installed when the car was assembled. If the aim shows it as being part of the "engine assembly" it was done when the engine was assembled.

I'm not sure about 66, but the newer cars, had the bypass hose installed at the engine plant, so technically it should be orange. I'd look in the assembly manual for your year car, and see if it shows when the nipples were installed. Some of the engine parts like aluminum intakes, spark plugs, etc, were covered with a mask, before painting. If thats the case with the nipples, then they would be natural. I would think the nipples would be left natural, so they seal better.

Didn't see that in Mike's CD, will have to look again. Found it?

Couldn't find anything in the AIM that refered to the water pump heater nipples; but it does show the bypass hose as installed. My thought was that they were installed; but probably taped off. How much taped? The whole thing or part. Hadn't thought about the sealing angle; but that makes sence. And of course they could have been installed when installing the hoses as Tom indicated . So no paint at all. Consensus being natural finish. Finish was all but gone on mine, so I just painted them. Maybe in the future I will put in new nipples. Thanks

As long as we are on the topic, a redish tint clamp on the3/4" and a brownish yellow tint on the 5/8" Clamp?

The complete engine was assembled with the by-pass hose they did not tape anything they had a shield that covered the aluminum intake and just painted the cast iron intake the exhaust manifolds were on and the bellhousing on stick cars with slight overspray to heavy overspray I have seen both in my shop, on chrome valve cover cars just the 90* edge should have orange paint on it the by-pass hose a mist the intake a mist, all of the major components carb, studs, nipples, brackets were installed on the assy line. You can go to my web site and see some of the engines that I have done. Good luck.