Firewall Forward Finishes and Markings- Part Deux

Mike-

I can tell you for sure my original steering box was not painted black. There's a thread over on the BPG board where smartin put up some pics of a '71 LeSabre with only 42kmi on it. Yeah, I know it's a LeSabre, but the tie rods and sway bar end links look like they *might* be painted black. I can tell you my original center link looks like it was painted black.

Tailpipes? That's a new one on me! Is this info coming out of the factory Assembly Manual?

 

Staight from the assembly manual! I brought it to the attention of Duane some time ago. I think his response was he would take it either way. When I get home, I can point you to the page.

 

Interesting....

I had asked a while back about what the rear diff should look like. Duane said that they sprayed the back side of the diff/axle tubes so it would look good on the dealer lot. Maybe the tailpipes were included in this??

 

The '66 Assembly manual states the tailpipes were to be painted black from the rear axle back. The rear axle and front end components were also 'supposed' to be painted black.
I couldn't find a trace of black paint on my rear, steering box, or front end components, so I'm refinishing them as it found them....bare naked. :moonu:

 

Where's the Pink Dot?

Ken, could you please repost the picture of the spindle with the forest geen paint and put a circle or arrow on the Pink dot? I can't see it in your original picture. If you look at mine, all I have is green and yellow; but then again I might have taken it off when I was wire wheeling it... or that orange/peach color is really pink?! Any ideas?

 

This is a very informative thread. It might be a good candidate for a Sticky also.

 

I stated earlier that a friend is taking apart a Flint built 71 GS 350. It was power brake car no disc and has no crayon mark. It does have paint and top code and it is clearly in white crayon under voltage reg.. Also if anyone has the Motorcade magazine from MArch 1970 the Engine photo of the GS test car clearly shows an M C( 4speed car) behind the Master Cylinder. It is black and white so no color but I am sure it was yellow as all I have seen for brake info were. I can't post this photo as I do not have scanner. Maybe someone else does it is page #59.

 

My passenger side spindle also had a pink dot!

 

This is a great list Ken, however there is on small item that I found to be different having just rebuilt my front end on my 71 Stage-1. My original upper control arm shaft large washers were a gray phosphhate like hood hindges. The replacements from Moog were silver zinc. I painted the replacements with cast iron paint and it was close to original. The original nuts were silver zinc. Were yours replaced? They may have used different colors on different days.

 

Leo-

I'll have to dig up that picture, but basically the pink dot was around the center of the green paint. In other words, right on top of the green. Again, I'll find that pic and see if I can do something with it so it shows better.

Dave-

I'll dig out those washers and have another look. For all I know, they may be gray phosphate but I assumed they were a tarnished silver zinc. The beauty of this thread is that if people like you contribute we can continue to refine the list!

Thanks guys!

 

Ken, one of these days I will step up to the 21'st century and buy a digital camera so I can post some of these pics. :TU:

 

Good post...

...I don't want to rain on your parade but I would encourage you all to not get too wrapped up in this. Having worked in an assembly plant (...granted, it was the truck plant...) some of these things were not a controlled engineering release.

The crayons, for example. I guarantee if the operator lost his, or was running out, he would grab one off the floor or off someone else's desk and use it for the rest of the day.

Where I draw the line is the "silver vs black" bolt debate. I have been 'round and 'round with the Corvette guys on this one, without much success. My example here is that we had a bolt released (pt no 3846202 - pretty good, eh, after 20 years!) that was used pretty much on the whole front of the truck, for the fender nose and radiator support attachments. The problem was that bolts manufactured by "Lang" would cross thread regularly, which was a big repair. Bolts manufactured by "Ferndale" would not cross thread as easily, for whatever reason. One was silver; one was black. Guess which one we used? Naturally, we used the ones that didn't crossthread. When we ran out we would sneak over to the other assembly line, steal pretty much everything they had and run all night. Any that we had left over we would secure in our lockers for use the next night.

Bottom line is that these vehicles were built by individuals, human beings with free thought, and they/we would do whatever it took to get cars and trucks off the end of the line. That's my $.04, for what it's worth. :Smarty:

One other thought: something else to look out for is that in the event we had to rework a part, or repair it prior to its use, we would often mark that with a particular color paint dot. If you ever see some that can't be accounted for this might be the case...

K

 

...I'm such a "thread killer"... :ball:

Sorry guys, carry on...

 

Keith,
The title "thread killer" is usually reserved for me. Glad you accepted the new title/position.
Duane

 

Ken,
I was digging around and found this picture. It was taken from an early 70 Stage 1 4-speed car with the large aluminum front drums. You can see the Orange paint dab at the top outside (for HD spindles), and the yellow on the back for drum brakes. (The picture you posted, "green" would indicate disc brakes).

You can also see the copper cotter pin and that the end of the upper ball joint bolt is painted skyblue.

This same car had bright orange paint dabs on each tie rod adjuster sleeve to verify the parts were torqued. Enjoy.
Duane

PS. Depending on the year the body mounts themselves, between the body and the frame, at the fire wall locations could have been either orange or violet. Thought I would let you know.

 

ttt

 

Re: 70 stage 1

ttt

 

My take is that chassis black has higher gloss to the point of being Semi-gloss, as compared to satin.

Is this a fair assessment?

I'm right in the middle of a quickie underhood clean up before that big red thing goes back in the middle.

 

:gp:

 

Anyones guess. These things varied from batch to batch. Parts came from different plants. Observations I have made on original cars showed the core support and inner wheel wells and brackets and pulleys may have been a bit more glossy than the say the firewall. I have seen some cars with a bit more gloss than expected on firewall also. The air cleaners were gloss black however.