Overspray on clutch fork boot?

[68stangcjfb]

 I Separated a low mileage GT500 engine and transmission. Upon cleaning the bellhousing and clutch fork boot, the bellhousing has what looks like the typical factory Ford blue  overspray on it ( complete with paint runs). There is also some overspray on the clutch fork rubber boot. Is this typical? Was the fork and boot installed when it was painted? I haven't cleaned the clutch fork yet to see if there is overspray on it. The bellhousing is dated 8A18.

[J_Speegle]

Ia that black paint around the throw out arm hole? And just to the right of it in your picture.

Sure is allot of blue

[68stangcjfb]

That's actually leftover dirt that I missed when cleaning it. So far , I've only pressure washed it. I thought the blue seemed excessive also. But this engine and transmission were pulled from a Shelby in the very early 70s and shoehorned into a 57 Thunderbird that was last registered in 1976.

[Special Ed]

I have original take off 429 fork boots & they have the same blue overspray. What is the white top center some writing or color code? thanks

[acman63]

I had 2  66 Crate 427 engines with bellhousings and the boots had blue overspray

[68stangcjfb]

It looks as though the white that appears in the picture looks like paint just coming off from age. The clutch Fork has paint on the front and top but not on the back and bottom and a fairly sharp parting line where the fork came through the boot . This would be consistent with the sprayer painting from the top and front. Thoughts? Bear in mind I'm just putting this out there for the detail Gru's to ponder over as I am a detail Guru myself😁

[TLea]

 To answer your question specifically, yes the boot and fork were in place when the engine was painted with a bell housing on. It's common but probably not typical that there's that much paint in that area. It just varied with how aggressive the painter was but I certainly have seen other examples of what you're showing

[Special Ed]

is that a c8oa  fork dont recall the 2 holes top and bottom by spring clip?

[68stangcjfb]

This is the C8OZ-B fork as used on GT 500s. It uses a wire clip that goes into the two holes unlike the C8OZ-D Cobra Jet Fork that uses a spring clip attached with rivets. So the consensus is the painter that day was spraying pretty heavy?  Old Henry would have been pissed at him for using so much paint!😁