8 3/4 restoration. Paint markings, details etc.

[Fm3 Dart]

I'm restoring a 1971 8 3/4 rear end. I noted and photographed all the paint markings etc that were still intact. This is from an all original car, and had never been out. Housing etc never repainted. I've owned it since the 80's.
11" drums.
3.55 Sure grip.
Lynch Road production.

So a couple things I noticed:
The backing plates look to be painted black, on the back sides. The brake shoe sides are bare. Although no paint on the mounting surface, so this doesn't add up to me.

From past experience, I have found the axle tubes look to be bare metal for the last few inches. This one is hard to determine if they were bare at the ends.

What have other been finding on their 8 3/4 diffs?
anyone have photos of unrestored 8 3/4's to compare?

 

[R413]

The backing plates were plated a dark brownish/black color . They were not painted from the factory. You can see it inside the drum side on some that were kept dry or have a covering of brake dust their whole life. Sounds like yours is still on there inside.

Have you ever worked at a car dealership or a repair shop. There are some painting gurus out there.

 

[Fm3 Dart]

The backing plates were plated a dark brownish/black color . They were not painted from the factory. You can see it inside the drum side on some that were kept dry or have a covering of brake dust their whole life. Sounds like yours is still on there inside.

Yes, this is what I have usually found, and the brownish finish was still in place where the axle flange protected it.
It's possible that someone sprayed the backing plates, although I see no trace of repaint on the axle tube, since the yellow paint markings at the ends were still visible. And there was no black paint on the mounting surface of the backing plate, when I slipped it off the axle housing.
I have seen the axle tubes were bare metal on the ends on others. I wonder what method the factory used to paint the housings? I believe they were dipped, but how did they seal up the ends and gear opening to keep paint of the inside?

 

[R413]

I don’t think those were dipped, by looking at nice survivor paint on them

 

[Fm3 Dart]

I don’t think those were dipped, by looking at nice survivor paint on them

Which would make sense to me. They could use a simple mask to keep the paint out of the gear opening, and axle tube ends.
I'd like to confirm if the axle tube ends were unpainted. Or maybe some were and some weren't?

 

[R413]

Have you ever worked in a production manufacturing environment? Lots of guys do the job different, even with the same instructions.

So these cars are from different plants, dates, shifts, and workers. Maybe one boss said to use less paint and time, maybe one worker wanted to do a good job and used lots of paint. Friday night hurry up job, Monday morning hangover, sore shoulder, bad paint gun, etc. So many variables.

it goes under the back of the car, will the customer notice the ends of the tubes are bare? Nope.

When restoring they say to replicate how your car was done. But now 50+ years later things have been changed and replaced. So we ask questions to learn common things done.

some guys swap the whole rear axle to change the ratio.