F body upper and lower control arms color from the factory.

volare 77

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Did F bodies come with plain steel, cosmoline or painted control arms from the factory? Not, NOS parts but what was installed on the assembly line.
 

XfbodyX

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Ya got two choices, well three, what the parts were appearance wise as produced which only some were painted, like the bare K and the way they dipped the t bars leaving parts still bare. I think a challenge today for example would be to copy a new made control arm look and how would you prep it to look "just produced" or what I recently did was detail it all in the more or less three color scheme as chrysler liked to portray it there literature and films.

But back to the just produced look, since any media would be out of the question id look to some sort of rinse or dip to get them looking consistent back to bare then maybe hit with a protectant.

Or like many new ones came, the thin rust proof undercarriage black they used on the power parts of the control arms. If you pull a unmolested k down you can tell easily what im referring to.

Ive joked for years with some judges I know and there will never be a o.e. class for a f body so close would be good. UROE would of been cool if one had one clean enough but they wont ever do that either.

I just recalled where I had seen pics of semi new F parts, some of the older chilton books have some real pics where chrysler books just had the diagrams.
 
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Aspen500

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It made a difference of where and what day the parts were made, along with the level of demand for them from the factory. When demand was high, they tended to go out from the vendor bare to save time, for example. Some could be dipped in black paint, others could have been bare or bare with Cosmoline.

The originals uppers on my '79 had traces of black remaining but the replacements I got from Arizona (used) were bare steel. Coming from the desert, they had only VERY light surface rust and no trace of having paint ever. My lowers showed signs of being black originally also.

What I'm getting at is, how a particular car was when it was new, is anyone's guess.
 

volare 77

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The NOS lowers i have seem to have been bare or maybe a light coat of something and the upper arms were cosmoline and bare. I thought maybe they were more consistent on the assembly line.
 

80mirada

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I have seen all three. My Miradas were black, I have seen cosmoline, bare and black on the the three Kit Cars I looked at. Black upper and bare lower with a bare upper and a black lower on the other side on a decently preserved 76 Volare. I think it depended heavily on production schedules, and component supplier.
 

mike2

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I posted pics of my tires on new meats , in the pictures my suspension is factory stock and untouched thats cosmoline all over plus road dirt and some bare areas, its an 1980 volare
 

BudW

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I have been under a lot of new cars and I have seen them made all three ways mentioned (above): light paint (which is inconsistent), bare and bare but coated with cosmoline – with no rhyme or reason.
I have even seen a new car with one arm painted and other side not.

I “think” cars used for dealership showrooms or show cars, got an all-out paint treatment. Again, this is “think” and no facts to back anything up.
I also “think” cars going to some regions got nothing (like to Arizona, where rust is a non-issue). On parts coated with cosmoline, some would be barely touched, and others coated ¼” thick of the stuff.

I don’t have any answers as to those trying to make them look like new.
All I know is: a cleaned and prepped part, which is painted well, will look nice for a long time. Also painted parts are much easier to keep clean.
I prefer to blast and paint my suspension/steering parts black (a few thin coats) when rebuilding them and have had a lot of luck that way (even for “beater” cars).


For my current F & M cars, I hadn’t rebuilt the suspensions, yet – but on those, I will be installing these reinforcement plates to them:
AR053 FMJ LCA plate.jpg

These are made by AR Engineering (part # AR053), but appear to only be available from Firm Feel (part # LCAP4).

This is a picture of Firm Feels lower arms after reinforcement plate is welded on (worms-eye view):
fmj lca.jpg

BudW
 

Aspen500

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Just don't go overboard like SOMEBODY did when they were building their car:confused:
Pay no attention to the arrow, that was added to point out the recall plates for someone.
DSCF0013.JPG
 

XfbodyX

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I also like the painted way, this one I shot with etching primer (not rattle can) and used industrial oil based that I brushed on a light coat and then a heavy coat and then baked it a tiny bit.

The last one I did I did the T bars in copper color, both sorta in the spirit of what the books and films and front end demo displays looked like long ago.

I did use crapese rotors on the one here in the pic simply because I had them. Oem rotors suck semi bad as well.

This one in the pic had very low miles as it was a drag car its first 1.5 years then parked, but it was uglier then Hillary and her Daughter combined. It didnt have cracks, it had sheared metal. One shock tower? Had a rip in it an inch and a half long, flippin crazy. So I replaced everything and welded the K itself in a few spots. I also put the FF lower plates on as it seemed like one of there products that actually made sense and was worth the money.

Sorry its not a really good pic, my flash went out that day.

DSC09047.JPG


DSC00044.JPG
 

Aspen500

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I always say unless you're going for an exact restoration in every detail, do it the way you want it to look. There is no right or wrong. Unless a car is a low mileage "survivor" it's almost impossible to say how that particular car was when it came off the assembly line since there's more than one way it would be "correct". You guys know what I'm stumbling around trying to say.

I find it hard to believe it was uglier than Killary and her daughter combined. That is not even possible.:eek:
 

volare 77

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well it took me a while as I am a slow azz but here is the pic of the K so far. btw, doing those torsion bars were a big pain. do not want to have to fool around with them again.

k.jpg
 
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volare 77

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also, ceramic cast iron spray was darn close to bare metal in color. at least its close enough to satisfy me
 

volare 77

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X body , thanks still have a ways to go. got to clean up the upper suspension now.
 

XfbodyX

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I thought you posted about wanting oem, thats far far nicer?

Even though I blast and etch prime my K-s and then hose them with industrial black they look oem rough up close.

If you dont mind posting it, what did you pay for the powder coating of the K?
 

volare 77

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$200, turned out nice. he really got the inner crevices clean. honestly I was hesitant to pay for the powder coating as i like to try and do stuff myself. I`m happy I did now. Seems to be pretty durable so far. I brought it to him stripped. He had to do minor clean up. It would have been $50 to $75 more if he had to blast it.
 

volare 77

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That assembly looks awesome. Now,,,,,,,,,,,to put it in the car without scratching anything:cool:
Heck, putting it together without scratching anything is a challenge in itself. I don`t want to think about part for now. LOL
 
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