59 tie rods painted or not?

[Rob M.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

click the document image to zoom into this photo of a dismantlement NEW 1961 car (by the UK DMV for type approval in the UK back in 1962) and study....

see also image 11 on page 12 (13 if you include the front page)

rest of the report is certainly also a good read!!!

[Troy P.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Third arm was certainly painted. Can't see the tie rod ends.

I noticed in the photo of the restored car posted here that the third arm is not painted for some reason as well as the tie rod ends.

We all know how little time it takes for bare cast iron to rust. It flash rusts almost immediately when exposed to any kind of humidity. John Hinckley, who worked at the assembly plant starting in 56, has written on this Discussion Board about the chassis balck out process. Seems to me the point was that no one wanted to buy a new car that already had some rust on it. So they blacked out everything on the chassis with cheap paint. Thus it seems illogical that in some years some chassis parts are reported to be correctly unpainted. Not saying it couldn't be true, just that it doesn't make sense.

[Wayne G.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Patrick if you noticed how Jerry's frame and front suspension looks with all of the paint markings and such the folks at the GM sub assembly plants then sprayed heavy black paint all over those assembled parts at the end of this process. Over time maybe some of that wash washed off, but in reality all of those colorful dabs of paint were mostly covered up on the front suspension and steering of C1 Corvettes. There are scores of photo's out there and many survivor cars to verify that. All of us who have cleaned up early cars in the restoration process have found those paint dabs under that sticky frame paint. But in Jerry's defense his style of restoration is defiantly perfection.

[Bob B.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Hi all,

Based on the original cars I've looked at, I've concluded that that the yellow and blue marks were not inspection marks, but were put on to allow those putting the assemblies together to quickly be able to match left- and right hand thread pieces. The yellow end of the tie rod is the left hand thread and the dark blue is on the left hand threaded tie rod end. Then the whole assembly was painted as a unit. I'd guess the dust caps also since the tie rod ends come with them on and no painter would take them off before painting.

As far as getting judging points, I'd go with what I believed to be original any day before I'd put something wrong on my car just for a couple of points.

Great pic, Rob!

Bob

[Troy P.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

I agree with your assessment and like your approach. Still, as previously stated, I'm no expert on 58-60s. But logic, Rob's photo and knowledge of the chassis blackout process lead me to believe the TI&JG is incorrect if it calls for bare cast iron. I will leave this up to those of you who know those years well to sort out.

[Joe M.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

i would sure like to document this on Bow Tie cars so that the next revision of the 58-60 JG gets it right. I am not the original owner of my 1960, but there was a thin coat of black paint on all of the front end; no bare metal. I also observed the same black out paint on a 32,000 mile Bow Tie candidate car in Kissimmee. I don't know if the car achieved Bow Tie.

[Joe M.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Attached are photos of the left and right side of my 1960 after I degreased it. You can see the orange paint bands at the top of the steering knuckles and the blackout paint (I assume that is what it is) is over the orange paint. I realize I am not the only owner of the car, but why would someone in the past gone to the trouble of getting under the car and painting the underside of the car? However, I should mention, all of the fiberglass on the underside also has the same "blackout paint", not undercoating. I have always been told that the glass on the underside was clean when it left the factory. If that is the case, someone may have painted the underside after it left the factory.

[Jerry W.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Joe, It happens....Prior to this last body off NCRS resto, I spend many hours under the 62 scraping and peeling road tar from the underside of the car. Then painted it with black implement paint to make it look "like new". the car survived for 30 years that way until we decided to do the resto correctly....The underside was well preserved.

[Bob H.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Attached are some pictures of my original car. You will see there was blackout paint over the markings. They only became clear after cleaning a lot of gunk.100_3729.jpg100_3730.jpg100_3731.jpg100_3732.jpg

[Bob H.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Many rear markings as well. Seen these before? No shortage of yellow paint.100_3733.jpg100_3734.jpg100_3739.jpg100_3740.jpg

[Jerry W.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Lots of great Pics and info on this post about markings and chassis blackout...I have forwarded a link to this post to Dave Heitzman 61/62 team leader...Hope he doesn't mind.

[Jerry W.]

Re: 59 tie rods painted or not?

Here's a link on color markings previously posted by Gary Chesnut

Suspension Identification Paint Marks Informationv1.pdf