C3 front suspension paint?

[Doug F.]

My 4th addition TIMJG is somewhat vague about the paint (or not) on front suspension components. I'm clear about the A-arms and their attached hardware, but what about the finish on tie rods, relay rod, idler arm? Thanks.

[Terry M.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

Tie rods, relay rod and maybe idler arm (if it came as part of the steering assembly) was, according to a former Saginaw employee, coated black before shipping to St. Louis. His story was that it was a low quality paint that was applied after the parts were assembled and dimensionally gauged. Purpose was to keep the parts from rusting before assembly. The stuff I have seen looked and felt more like grease residue than paint. All that said most folks leave these items in the "as forged" and clean state.

Maybe John H can comment. I would expect those UAW folks doing the final alignment in St. Louis would have gone through a lot of gloves if that story were true.

[John H.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

Maybe John H can comment. I would expect those UAW folks doing the final alignment in St. Louis would have gone through a lot of gloves if that story were true.

Terry, I'm not sure about C3's, but the steering linkage on all midyears was painted as an assembly at Chevrolet-Buffalo with that cheap chassis-black paint that never dried (and washed off in the rain); the linkage didn't change from C2 to C3 (except for a slight diameter increase on the relay rod), and continued to be manufactured at Buffalo through 1982, but I don't know if the Buffalo chassis-black paint process continued through the C3 era or not.

The toe-in pit guys went through LOTS of pairs of terrycloth gloves during the midyear era due to that sticky, gooey paint.

[Terry M.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

John,
I believe that the coating process was unchanged in the C3 era -- at least for early C3s. It was still on a 3800 mile 1971 that I had a chance to work on some years ago.

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

Note that there is still some black present on mine:

[Doug F.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

Thanks for the info. My '71 still has the original front suspension components, including the front rotors, and no rust, but everything has been painted black. This winter I am going to replace and rebuild as required. Just trying to put the correct finish on before re-assembly.

[Alan S.]

Re: C3 front suspension paint?

Hi Doug,
Although I don't have a good picture like Patrick's, when I started cleaning up my 71's steering components I saw remnants of black very similar to his.
Regards,
Alan