A-arm painting and Springs 63

[Carl S.]

Were the retainers bolts and lock washers attached to the shalfs on the a-arms during painting, or where they added later? What were the head markings on the 63? I have two different markings TR on uper and lower L side and WB on the r Side.
What is the best way to remove the paint from new Springs. My old springs had traces of white paint about one inch wide on each coil on one side. Aney thoughts on this? Should I add the the paint to the new spring. The old springs apear to be original and are well rusted and about 3/4 inch shorter than they started out over 40 years a go.

[Joe L.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Carl------

The retainers were installed on the a-arm bushings after the a-arms were painted. These were natural steel or phospahte-finished and, eventually, rusted to one degree or another.

The "TR" and "WB" are period-correct fastners and may very well be original to the car. Fastners made by these manufacturers (and, consequently with these headmarks) were usually not "hardware store" items. Why are they different from side-to-side? Well, it may just be that the day that they were assembling the right side arms at the manufacturing plant (wherever it was), they were using bolts from one manufacturer. The day they were doing the left side arms, the bin held bolts from another manufacturer.

To remove the paint, the best thing to try would be a powerful paint remover like Jasco in the spray cans. However, some of these aftermarket springs are not actually painted, but are powder-coated. Paint remover will not usually affect powder coating. If it were me and they were powder-coated, I'd leave them just as they are.

[Robert Jorjorian]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Carl
The retainers, bolts and lock washers were attached to the shafts on the arms and were all PAINTED chassis black.Many good pics of this in Noland Adam's book. Both the head markings you mention were common to 63.
Stripping the paint or powder coating and adding the ID white paint stripe on your new springs would be the correct way to go.
Good Luck, Robert

[Joe R.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Carl,

On 1963 and 1964 the retainers, bolts and washers were attached to the A-arms before painting and therefore painted in the process. The entire A-arm was painted (dipped) in the process.

As for the springs (standard) the stripe was light purple or violet spread with a 1 inch brush. Not very neat either. Your color has probably faded but with a little 409 and steel wool you will probably see the color.

Good luck with your 1963.

JR

[mike mccagh]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

joe: as you are usually 100% correct on your posts, i hesitate to disagree but its my opinion(no hard core data to support it) that the 63 front suspensions were assembled BEFORE the blackout. hence , i've "restored" my 63's by painting the front suspensions with satin black after i've rebuilt them. regards, mike

[Michael H.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Hopefully, someone can tell us when the process changed in the C3 run but 63-67 control arm shafts, bushings, washers and bolts were assembled and coated black befor installation on the chassis. I know this is a common mistake made by many 63-67 restorers as I still see cad plated unpainted components on these assemblies. My guess is that this changed in the late 60's or early 70's but I don't remember for sure. What does the JG say about these components for C3?

[Carl S.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

The JG manual has no mention of the upper A-arm but says the lower A-arm are painted gloss black. The cross shafts and bushings are incorporated into the arms befor painting. There is no mention of the hardware. Is gloss black ok for uper and lower A-arams? I find alot of the time the detail in the JG manual I need about fastners and degree of gloss or color of paint is not there or confusing. Thanks to all that have responded. There is a great groop of people out there. We have no Chapter in North Jersey so its hard to share information or experiences with someone local.

[Michael H.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Carl,

The exact amount of "gloss" in the black coating on control arms is very difficult to describe because it's not actually a paint. I would say that if you used a spray can gloss black, the parts will appear far too glossy as most, or all, spray can paint is made with a large percentage of binder/clear and I wouldn't use it for any accurate restoration. Black enamel from a paint supplier would also look too glossy but much better than spray cans. If I were to guess, I would call the original coating an 80% gloss.

The problem with matching the gloss exactly is the fact that this level was only accurate for a brand new vehicle and the gloss level of this coating dulled with time. Often, especially in foul weather, just the trip from the St. Louis plant to the destination dealer would be enough to dull the coating to a 60% or 70% gloss and if the car sat in stock outside for a month, these parts would probably be down to 50%, or semi gloss.

So.... if you're restoring to absolute "roll out" condition, you need one level but if you're going to drive the car when completed, semi gloss would be close enough. Isn't dead on 100% accurate restoration fun?

Michael

[Joe L.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Mike----

Yup---you're right. I always thought that all 1963-82 were the same with respect to the a-arm bushing retainer finish. However, I see that the 63-67 were, apparently, painted with the arm (or, otherwise painted). My 1969 had natural finish retainers (rusty when I removed them, of course). I think that I still have them around somewhere. So, there must have been a change made somewhere between 1967 and September, 1969.

[Page C.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

Hi All,
I couldn,t agree more with Micheal on the degree of gloss black. Most of the cars that you judge now have way too much gloss in the upper and lower A arms. This is because the judging manual calls for gloss black. It is hard to describe, but more of a shade between semi-gloss and gloss. Sometimes you can find NOS ones at swap meets and it's a good chance to see the shade of gloss. The same applies to the Air Cond. evaporator box on the mid-year cars-most way too glossy.
Hope this helps.
Page Campbell

[Mike M.]

Re: A-arm painting and Springs 63

agree with mike and page. mike