Colors For Chassis Down Under

[Greg E.]

Hi Every One

Could some please help me find a Book, Sheet or Photos etc of what color markings go on my 1971 B/B 4-Sp Corvette with A/C P/S and where they go on the Chassis, suspension etc. I can't have a Chassis Restoration Kit send to me here in Australia because of safety reasons with transporting so i will have to use the colors i have here. But i don't know what colors they are and/or where they go.

I have a book called "CORVETTE Chassis Restoration Guide" By Joseph A Tripoli Jr, but the photos are in Black & white and blurry. Dose any one know of another book that has color photos or someone that has color photos so i can put the Color Marking on my Chassis, Suspension etc????

Kind Regards...

Greg...
AUSTRALIA.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Hi Greg,

Are you doing a full body off resto, or body on? At what stage of your restoration are you? Is the chassis/frame unusually rusty?...Dirty and/or greasy? Answers to these questions will help us advise you.

The questions are to assess the likelihood of you being able to uncover and discover the marks that are original to the chassis. There is often a lot more inspection marks hiding under dirt and grease than the first-time restorer realizes. Heavy rust will typically obliterate original chassis marks; you may be able to find traces of marks remaining on the rust if you clean the surface carefully.

Unfortunately, there are not any good books with color pictures to show you which marks are original. Tripoli's book exposes you to chassis marks, but it is deficient for the full spectrum of marks found on C3 chassis. As I said in reply to a similar chassis marks question, the total collection of marks may be similar, but variations and exceptions are typically unique to the car.

[Robert C.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Does "Quanta" still sell the marking kits for different years?

[Chuck S.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Does "Quanta" still sell the marking kits for different years?

I would be surprised if Quanta wasn't still selling chassis restoration kits by year class. I believe Greg is saying they won't ship (?) to Australia.

When I bought one early for my 70, I found later that I wouldn't need everything they had supplied. My opinion is you're better off to see what marks you have (if you still have the marks), and buy what you need to replicate the marks you have. The frame stencil is included in the kit as I recall, and you will definitely need one of those.

[Jack H.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Typically, the story is aerosol cans of spray paint are classified as Haz Mat and can't ship via air. About a year back the US Post Office eliminated traditional international parcel post service (actually shipped via ocean freighter) thus accepting the air borne 'no no' items...

[Greg E.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Hi Guys, thank you for your replies. How are you Jack, long time no talk??

(Jack) Are you saying a full restoration kit can be sent by air??

(Chuck) When i first started the restoration of my Corvette three years ago and i have only just finished it a few weeks ago. I knew of the NCRS, but i didn't know the NCRS had a chapter in Australia and there for i had NO IDEA what an NCRS Standard restoration should consist of.

Long story short, before i joined the NCRS i took to my chassis with wire rotary brushes and emery flapper wheels in my electric die ginder and cleaned the chassis back to bare metal with the BODY STILL ON the chassis the best i could. I didn't then and i still don't have the facilities to remove the body off the frame.

So what my long winded message above is saying, there are no (i hope the photos attached will show you the work i've done) original marking left on my chassis, suspension etc.

(Robert) i did have a look at the "Quanta" site and they do have a comprehensive Chassis Restoration Kit, but do they supply information about what colors go where, the types of marking & what colors they are?? and can it be shipped to Australia. I will have to wait for my friend, Jack to reply .

Again, thank you all for the help in your replies!!!!

Kind Regards...

Greg...

[Chuck S.]

Re: Colors For Chassis Down Under

Nice work.

Yes, Quanta's kit does have instructions for placing inspection marks, but when I bought the kit years ago, it had provisional words and phrases in the instructions like "may have had...", "some cars had..." (not direct quotes, only illustrative). If you had those marks to replicate, you were in good shape. I found you may not have the described marks, or you might have additional marks.

As Jack said, you may not be able to get the chassis restoration kit shipped internationally...the kit has two aersol paint containers, plus stencils, crayons, and several small bottles of red/green dyes and other chassis marking colors. Contact Quanta directly and see what they say about shipping ("Contact Us" bottom of page): http://www.quantaproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=01-03

With the body on the chassis, you will only be able to see shim marks and tape clearly at a few of the body mounts...probably only the two rear mounts, but this is from memory. I would buy some 2" wide regular masking tape and a large marking crayon, count the shims, place the tape across the shims and down the front/rear of the frame bracket, and make a "hurried" numeral just in front of the mount. When I say hurried, I mean just write the numeral quickly and naturally...don't make a slow and studied mark to get the shape "just so" etc. Tear the tape; don't cut it neatly with scissors.

There was a thread recently about crayon color...around March 70, I believe, the crayon color changed from white to green. Since you have an early car, I believe you will need a white marking crayon.

You will need a stencil for the driveshaft part number. See Tripoli's book for placement and the part number you require depending on type of transmission. Quanta sells the driveshaft stencils; you can get the paint materials locally. Some believe the stencil was sprayed...my opinion is it was rolled; spraying would have been an unnecessarily wasteful and messy way to accomplish the objective.

Go to judging...If the remainder of your restoration is the same quality level as what I see in the pictures, you should do fine.