finish of various plates riveted to the firewall 1969

[Michael L.]

Guys,

In getting the firewall ready for paint can someone tell me if the various metal plates were painted semi-gloss black (or chassis black) like the TIMJG says the various underbody plates are, or were they finished some other way, like plated? I realize that they will probably be covered anyway by the firewall blackout but just wanted to do it right in case some parts are peeking out. Thanks.

Mike

[Gary B.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

Year? which ones in particular or looking for every one? I could look at a couple cars here.

Gary B

[Ron G.]

[Michael L.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

Thanks guys. Sorry about the year, its a 69 L46 coupe. I'm going to snap some pictures when I get out to the shop again of what plates in particular I mean. Ron, I realize the black out paint is not the same as chassis paint. I was thinking of using Eastwood underhood black for the blackout. Do you have any experience with this?

[Michael L.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

Sorry this took so long. Attached are the pics of the various plates in question. Again, I realize they may be covered by blackout what I'm asking is prior to blackout what was the finish of these plates? I'm guessing semi-gloss black? Thanks for your help.

Mike

[Gary B.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

I would expect to see dip-painted semi-gloss black on all these brackets. Either the Sems semi-gloss black, John Deere Blitz black, Krylon 5-ball 1613 or something equivalent..
Gary B

[Ron G.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

LikeMaybe the original GM part number 1050104.

[Ron G.]

[Gene M.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

It does appear you destroyed some of the fiberglass original texture appearance by sand blasting. A far better solution would have been to remove the rivets then restoring, sand blasting just the steel brackets and repaint. Then re-rivet them to the body.

[Michael L.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

It does appear you destroyed some of the fiberglass original texture appearance by sand blasting. A far better solution would have been to remove the rivets then restoring, sand blasting just the steel brackets and repaint. Then re-rivet them to the body.

Yes I was not happy with that. They weren't supposed to blast those items at all as we were planning on removing them all for resto. The shop knew the plan but we had the body sent out to have it blasted and it was there that this happened. Since the damage has already been done I have decided not to remove the brackets and just tape them off, including the rivets, and painting them in place.

[Gene M.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

Yes I was not happy with that. They weren't supposed to blast those items at all as we were planning on removing them all for resto. The shop knew the plan but we had the body sent out to have it blasted and it was there that this happened. Since the damage has already been done I have decided not to remove the brackets and just tape them off, including the rivets, and painting them in place.

Mike
Keep in mind the back side will still be rusty if not removed. If sand blasting metal the fiberglass does get somewhat destroyed. Sand blasting fiberglass is not a good practice. Sand blasting opens up the surface of the fiberglass and rosein. Other means of striping should be considered in the future. Always, never not, sand gets trapped between the two mated parts if not separated. It gets where air can’t go..............

[Michael L.]

Re: finish of various plates riveted to the firewall

Yes I realize I won't be able to get the back sides refinished but the front sides had little to no rust on them so I'm not too worried about the back side. I guess I could still pull them off like I'm pulling off all the ones on the bottom of the car. Maybe I'll pull the easiest one off and inspect the back and if it has significant rust I can pull them all off.

I looked into all the striping of paint options and they all had their drawbacks. I went with the sandblasting ultimately. We'll see how it goes.

Mike