We’re the tie rod ends, center link, PS pitman arm, and idler arm all bare steel? What about the steering arms? Ere the disc brake backing plates plated silver? And the sway bar bare steel. Thanks.
Colors of steering linkage 1966 chevelle?
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, so I'd leave them plated as in '67 
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Saginaw was known to coat the tie rod ends, center link, PS pitman arm, and idler arm in a low gloss black tar type paint that didn't last too long. steering arms where natural cast iron color along with the sway bar. for 67 disk the backing plates would be a cad plated
I guess I should have said disc brakes were swapped from a 70 chevelle. So I guess I will paint them with a aluminum paint. Paint steering arms with a cast iron gray along with the sway bar that I’am having powder coated. And paint the rest with a low gloss black. Now to get everything clean and separate the parts.
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I never saw any painted frontend parts on any of the Chevelle's I owned or worked on.Bare dark steel and black rubber grease boots. On drum brakes the backing plated were black for the most part and for disc brakes the backing plates were plated steel but I don't remember them being as bright as the ones that are sold online nowadays.
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Rustoleum has a spray paint called "cold galvanizing compound " that has the color of galvanized steel when you're done. Says right on the can "zinc rich coating". It's pretty good stuff if you want to try it. I once used this on an exhaust repair as a weld through primer and the amount of zinc in it allowed it to work and not burn through.
I forgot to add that this might be great for the disc brakes backing plates to be painted with.
I forgot to add that this might be great for the disc brakes backing plates to be painted with.
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The component parts of the steering linkage did not come from Saginaw with any paint already on them. Some items had Cosmolene (or equivalent) rust preventative on them, but not paint. The center link had some sort of heat treatment done to it (before the end joints and plugs were installed) which turned it a somewhat shiny gunmetal blue color, while everything else in the steering linkage was bare (except the part of the idler arm which bolts to the frame, which is a black phos or black oxide). Finish of each part (and separate pieces of each part) depends on what it is made of and whether cast or forged or stamped.
Some of the assembly plants (maybe all of them) sprayed a sloppy coat of thick blackout paint over all that bare stuff under the front end (including tie rods, sway bar and springs) AFTER it was all installed on the chassis. It was a cheap, sort of gooey oil based paint, so did not hang around long before road grime and fluids washed most of it away. A rag with WD-40 on it easily removes it.
However, my lowest mileage car (a Baltimore 67) still has all that very messy blackout under it. And yes I know it was done at the factory (and not after the fact) because all the many heavy runs in that paint go straight toward the sky -- because it was sprayed on while the chassis was still upside down on the assembly line (frame was upside down on the line until all the suspension parts were installed, then it got flipped over before engine/trans installation).
I chose not to apply that ugly blackout on my 67 L78 ElCamino front suspension. As much as we strived for assembly line correctness on everything else, I just could not do it on that, mainly because if we had done it "right" then everyone who looked at it would have thought a drunk monkey applied that paint! Plus I don't have a late 67 KC example that shows factory applied blackout beyond a shadow of a doubt, so it is possible that KC didn't do it like Baltimore.
So my Elc has all the correct bare metal finishes that would have been there before any blackout spray (if applicable). Here's a pic. It is in mirrors so everything is upside down, but you get the idea. Note the difference in the finishes of each part (and different sections of a single part) based on the type of metal -- rough cast or forged, or stamped steel (including the round end plugs on the tie rods and center link), etc. -- and the beautiful exact duplication of the bluing on the center link! There is not one molecule of cast-blast spray paint anywhere on this car! Right click on the picture and open in a new tab if you want to zoom in to see more details.
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Some of the assembly plants (maybe all of them) sprayed a sloppy coat of thick blackout paint over all that bare stuff under the front end (including tie rods, sway bar and springs) AFTER it was all installed on the chassis. It was a cheap, sort of gooey oil based paint, so did not hang around long before road grime and fluids washed most of it away. A rag with WD-40 on it easily removes it.
However, my lowest mileage car (a Baltimore 67) still has all that very messy blackout under it. And yes I know it was done at the factory (and not after the fact) because all the many heavy runs in that paint go straight toward the sky -- because it was sprayed on while the chassis was still upside down on the assembly line (frame was upside down on the line until all the suspension parts were installed, then it got flipped over before engine/trans installation).
I chose not to apply that ugly blackout on my 67 L78 ElCamino front suspension. As much as we strived for assembly line correctness on everything else, I just could not do it on that, mainly because if we had done it "right" then everyone who looked at it would have thought a drunk monkey applied that paint! Plus I don't have a late 67 KC example that shows factory applied blackout beyond a shadow of a doubt, so it is possible that KC didn't do it like Baltimore.
So my Elc has all the correct bare metal finishes that would have been there before any blackout spray (if applicable). Here's a pic. It is in mirrors so everything is upside down, but you get the idea. Note the difference in the finishes of each part (and different sections of a single part) based on the type of metal -- rough cast or forged, or stamped steel (including the round end plugs on the tie rods and center link), etc. -- and the beautiful exact duplication of the bluing on the center link! There is not one molecule of cast-blast spray paint anywhere on this car! Right click on the picture and open in a new tab if you want to zoom in to see more details.
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Jeff,
I read your ElCo thread on the Yenko site. What paint did you use to replicate the centerlink color?
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Custom 3-stage concoction. Many hours of trial and error before it matched!
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Did you have something to match it to? A photo or an NOS part?
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I have several NOS centerlinks. Most of the time they are a bit beat up and have some surface rust, as they shipped them loose without any packaging. But I have one fairly pristine one with the GM part tag with a date of May 1967 on it. That's the one I matched it to. I cleaned up one of the rougher ones and refinished it to match the nice one, and that is what went on the Elc.
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This a very interesting thread. I'll be doing this soon and I wanted to match the color with what came original. @jeffschevelle, I love the picture you added of your suspension in the mirror. Question, did you clear coat any of the steering linkage and related parts, or was it single stage paint? Thanks
I've used this product on backing plates. If you polish it with some steel wool, after it is dry, it looks very much like they are zinc plated.
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Been gone awhile, sorry for the extremely slow response. No colored paint was used on any of the steering linkage except on the center link as described above. The bare metal parts are cleared, but there are at least 3 different kinds of clear, depending on how shiny or not shiny the bare metal in a given section was. The gloss level of the clear was done to match the original gloss level of the metal, so as not to lose any of the visible contrasts between the cast, the forged, and the stamped pieces. I had some rough used pieces that I cleaned up and then used trial and error over and over again until I found exactly the right gloss level for each section, to end up with something that looked exactly like the un-cleared bare metal.
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