Howdy, wondering what color/finish paint I should use for the frame, control arms, and suspension parts. I have everything apart (finally!), and am in the middle of cleaning everything up and want to start planning for the next phase.

I'm guessing black? Satin, flat? Any recommendations on brand of paint? Any other tips for making this look nice?

Thanks!
Tom

Eastwoods extreme chassis black. Blast, heat parts with a torch to get the moisture out,not hot just sweat them. Primer let sit and paint. Just did my subframe and it came out great.

I liked the Chassis saver that I used. Blast, and it goes onto bare metal, no primer. It will change it's color if left in the sun over time (I think they all do this?) but I am happy with the result.

Actually there was an article on the Concours restoration of Jim Mattison's (founder of Pontiac Historic Services) previous '67 Plum Mist RA 1 Firebird that ran in High Performance Pontiac way back in the early 2000's (I think). They had several nice color photos and talked a lot about original finishes on a lot of chassis items on a FGF. I thought somebody scanned the article and posted it here.

The bottom line is that not everything under the car came in satin black from the factory. A lot of items were bare steel for instance like the driveshaft.

I found the info I posted in 2010:

Steering components (center link, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc.) originally came as bare metal, Tie rod ends are "steel" colored as they were shot peened. Center link was heat treated so it's a cast iron color. Inner fenders were 80% gloss black along with subframe, tranny crossmembers and control arms. Starters were "cheap" GM semi-gloss black which is like Eastwoods Underhood Black (I believe 30%)

Front coil springs were either cast iron gray or semi-glass black. The anti-sway bar was also cast iron gray. Anti-sway bar clamps were wither bare or semi-gloss black. Driveshafts were bare metal with the id stripes on them.

The steering boxes are not specifically mentioned, but I thought they were semi-gloss black with the top part (cover) where the adjustment screws are was bare metal. The restorer believes front brake calipers where high temp flat black but it usually burned off so after the cars were driven so this is not certain.

This is great info, thanks very much for digging it up! This forum is such an excellent resource for me. I hope to start paying back some day.

In the meantime, I will undoubtedly be a taker more than a giver. Sigh.

Tom

If anyone has a copy of the article discussed here, I would love a copy. The information seems to fly in the face of everyone stating that most of the engine compartmet was 30% gloss...seems to be exactly opposite of that.

When I pulled off my header panel behind the front bumper, it matched up to a 60% or 75% gloss test panels that I had really well. Other areas of that panel had been repainted or were dulled by the elements, but the front of the panel was pristine. Does this mean all the inner fender wells and firewall are this same 60-75% gloss from the factory?

Apologize to those that have lived through these debates, but find this very interesting and cerrtainly open for others comments.

Dave

This is the best IMO! Looks and holds up better than anything else on the market and we have tried just about everything out there...