1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

[Michael H.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

The early boxes were natural and certainly will rust. The later boxes were painted with cheap flat black.

I have to disagree with this part. I don't know anything about 68 and later but the 63-67 boxes were coated, especially the early ones.

[Jack H.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

One good ole boy is rumored to have walked onto the judging field of an NCRS Regional. Reportedly, he had a walker and oxygen bottle and mentioned he used to work on the St. Louis assembly line building Corvettes.

Further, he looked at the engine compartment and asked, "What are all those yellow marks on the steering boxes?"

NCRS members replied they were inspector's marks. The club's objective is to duplicate and faithfully restore the cars to a condition typical of factory original production.

To this he replied, "But, they're all 'hockey stick' marked!!! That hockey stick is the letter 'L' and you're telling the world everything we built was junk... 'L' means 'leaker' fellas!!!

[Alan D.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

Gary, will watch mine since no threads are showing however box has never been adjusted (since 9/67) and no slop.
As for finish mine was and is covered with black which you can see by looking at rag joint and box shading. Know we have talked about under coating, but do not believe Dealer would under coat under the hood (would they?)

[Gary R.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

Well fellows, I have done the 63-67's and some were painted and some were not. Now I can't say if they were worked on in the past either. I know some were and again others were not. I did a 63 Z06 box and was told to leave it bare iron. Blueprinted a box a few years ago and was told to leave the 40 year build up of dirt, grease, and oil on it. It was the best built dirtyest box I ever built. Now with that said, I just broke down a virgin 66 box. I know this because the internals were original. It does appear there may have been some black on it and the yellow ID was on the side as a large dot not a long line. As explained earlier the gears were shot. This will be blueprinted but also painted. The owner is more interested in the best box and have a solid coating on it.

So I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong, just what I've seen.

Here it is

[Gary R.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

For those unsure what the finished product looks like. These may help before you start to paint or finish your box.

This is a blasted and brushed box, oiled only.




Here is black box, the witness marks are to prevent an alingment shop from playing with the box. They can be removed easy enough. Notice no yellow marks, I leave that to the owner to duplicate.




There were blasted, etched, POR15'd, and top coated.



Hope it helps and saves you time on the finish question.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1965 Steering Gearbox Finish

.... I don't know anything about 68 and later but the 63-67 boxes were coated, especially the early ones.

Michael, FWIW, I bought an NOS steering gear (in GM box which I still have), back in Montreal, in the early '90s. Part # 7807927, shows in Gr 6.508 of 1970 P&A30B as SERVICE for '63 to '68. When I pulled it out of the box, I got black paint on my hands -- appears to have been painted OVER the oiled casting . Cardboard tubes protected the unpainted splined shafts. But I suppose then service parts were sometimes treated differently than production.