Right if you can see from the pic below, the front of the Slam Panel in the middle and obove the intercooler is black. Ive noticed on alot of others that theres are the same colour as the rest of the rest.



Would this mean that its not had a paint job.

 

Mine hasn't been painted and is not black, I have never noticed any of them being black?
try PMing DamoV or THE RADMAN they know loads about the Escos
if not I am sure they will pop up on here soon with the answer

 

never seen a black one before,could have been missed,are the wings orig?the front cross member is sprayed black so i suppose it could have oversprayed on to the slam panel, heres one showing mine

 

look's like it has been painted, they have sprayed over the intercooler brackets as well, also there should be a couple of sticker's on the slam panel in front of the air filter, check the seam sealer onto the wing's, feel slam panel underneath the joint if it's been changed you will feel the weld's & give the chassis plate a tap with your finger, if it move at all then chances are it's been off

 

I dont know when it started, but ford started painting the underbonnet area in satin black for dark cars and white for light cars, seeing as this is a small turbo it could fall into this category but i'm not sure (never seen it done to an escoss though) is yours a very late model Glen?

 

the slam panels are painted the same colour as the wing which is a light green/grey primer which is then painted body colour hope this helps mate.

 

I will take a better picture of the area, but its not painted, and its not covering the whole of the slam panel....

 

chasis plate is solid mate, i know this cos i always clean the slam panel after washing and always go over the plate.!!

 

its a larger turbo geez. but it is a very late large turbo, early 94 (L)

it does look satin black. it measure the same width as the end gril screws, rest of the slam panel is the same as the body colour.

but again i will get a better pic up later...

 

sorry mate it looked like a small T, i'm fookin stumped then lol

 

its not uncommon for ford to not paint certain panels to save money hope this helps

 

I agree with some of the comments above.

Firstly need a better pic, but I reckon this has beeen painted since leaving the factory, as Radman says, the front crossmember is painted satin black at the factory (this is so it is less noticable behind the opening of the front bumper), there are a couple of other places on theses cars where this is done also..

It looks like your slam panel is Matt black, not the same as the crossmember, I would suggest this has been done by an owner at some stage, either to help dissipate heat (as this panel does get VERY hot) or so its as the S1 turbos are, (though a little different as you have a darker colour than white obv), they have a black section above the grill, so the gap between grill and bonnet doesnt look odd..

There should be a date stamp on the front panelon the flat surface just above the bonnet catch... funnily enough mine is the same day as my birthday

 

cheers guys, not much help as to why it actually partly painted black, but alot of help to figure out why it is. much appreciated.

but i will take a proper picture with my camera 2nite and i may even get on to the DVLA for a list of all the owners and contact the first owner... see if it was like that out of the factory.

well untill i get the better picture up..... cheers

 

Im 99.9% certain it didnt leave the factory like this

 

ill contact every owner then and see why it was put like this then... he he he

 

look behind the 2 front intercooler brackets,there should be some clear vinyl sticky pads just showing above the top and bottom of the brackets,these prevent the brackets from touching/damaging the paint, if these have been painted then it must have been done after it left the factory

 

couple of better pictures





i scratched a tiny bit off, and it IS painted behind. So looks like some kind of stone chip protecter.

looked at the intercooler brackets and there isnt any rubber gromits betweem them and the panel.

i look in the door shuts and it still has the black plastic bits on the inside of the wings, but they have been painted over, so it has some paint in its life time..........

 

must have been done for some reason as you can see where its been masked up,out with the t cut

 

T-CUT wont get it off, but i kind of dont mind it. bit different, it looks as bad cos its a dark car....... looks as tho it should be there if you didnt look at another like.......

well it was obviously done for a reason, un be known to anyone, but there is a reason out there somewhere.....

 

scrub it with some thinners! this should fetch it off as if it was done with a rattle can it will only be cellulose.. deffo looks like its been done by someone as the intercooler brackets and bonnet catch look like they have aswell..