AO Smith radiator black out

[Randy R.]

If someone has a picture of the black out on a AO Smith radiator I would be grateful if you would post it. I am unsure of how much green shows.
Randy

[Gene M.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Randy
The green generally shows best when viewing the car from the bottom looking up. Reason being the black out was sprayed from the top.

[Tony S.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Randy, I'm glad you asked this question. Think about the blackout painting process. The hood is in place and your core support started off green. Which portion of the core support will receive body paint? Typically, a 64-65 will receive body paint on the bottom of the core support and some will be sprayed through the grille opening. The bottom of the core support on the 66-67 isn't an issue because it isn't exposed to the body paint gun. So now you are about to do engine bay blackout with the hood lifted. Think about the angle of painting that you have to contend with. How much of the green can you realistically cover? There are inaccessible and less accessible areas that the blackout can't reach. The angle of your blackout will reveal those areas if you imagine the angle limitations on the production line. When I judge an AOS chassis, I deduct for finish unless I see green in those inaccessible areas. Don't be shy about leaving some exposed green primer. I like seeing it.

[James W.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

My unrestored '65 built by AOS. This is a picture I took when I had to replace the original radiator back in 2010.

James.

[Gene M.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Another area to look at is the steel reinforcement riveted to body header in front of hood. This will be green phosphate also on AO Smith bodies with varying degrees of primers, black out, and finish paint.

Good to read others evaluate correctly AO Smith vs St Louis production practice.

[James W.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Another area to look at is the steel reinforcement riveted to body header in front of hood. This will be green phosphate also on AO Smith bodies with varying degrees of primers, black out, and finish paint.

Good to read others evaluate correctly AO Smith vs St Louis production practice.

Pictures of my unrestored AOS '65's steel reinforcement that is riveted to the body header. Just so happens that I have the hood off right now doing some clean-up work for future flight judging.

Regards,

James

[James W.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Found another picture of the body header front steel reinforcement for comparison of a St. Louis built, unrestored Duntov '65 that I took back at the 2008 national convention for restoration documentation reference for the '65 396 that I restored.

James

[James W.]

Re: AO Smith radiator black out

Another picture of AO Smith radiator support black-out.

James