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were suspension parts painted or left clear metal on a 73 road runner ? sway bars &

rav440

rav440

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by this i mean parts like , front and rear sway bars , brackets & bolts strunt rods , stearing linkage , tie rods ect , snuber / bumper frame - body mounts ect on the 73 roadrunner ,.
 
From what I could tell, the k-frame, sway bars, torsion bars were painted on my car. Far too much oil, grime, and rust to tell what else was painted or coated, so I just powder coated all of it.

Here is how it looked before I put it back in.
IMAG0935small.jpg
 
Controversial subject material but general concensous is that most of what you have listed were natural metal. Choices are to clearcoat(steel wool to dull gloss), RPM product by ECS, or leave it. You can paint to resemble natural also. Need to be a little more specific on parts for specific answer. Lots of good info on Moparts under restoration section. You will have to do a search because no one will respond to a vague question that has been covered many times on there. Just the way it works. Good way to tell what was natural is by the amount of rust it has now. Anything really rusty was probably natural to begin with.:icon_thumright:
 
That's good insight. But also remember unless you are doing a 1K point restoration, it doesn't matter, and will not add much value to our cars anyway being 100% correct. There are better coatings you can put on things these days to prevent corrosion and that is also something to keep in mind, and one of the reasons I went with powder coating. I think your car would look awesome with everything black!
 
idrivemopar said:
That's good insight. But also remember unless you are doing a 1K point restoration, it doesn't matter, and will not add much value to our cars anyway being 100% correct. There are better coatings you can put on things these days to prevent corrosion and that is also something to keep in mind, and one of the reasons I went with powder coating. I think your car would look awesome with everything black!
Click to expand...

i not doing a 1k point resto nor worried about value , i like detail . painting bolts and clear coating bare metal didnt work out for me . the idea i came up with was soaking parts in WD-40 , i know it wont penatrate into the metal and it is something i will have to keep up with .

any other ideas would be much welcome .
 
rav440 said:
by this i mean parts like , front and rear sway bars , brackets & bolts strunt rods , stearing linkage , tie rods ect , snuber / bumper frame - body mounts ect on the 73 roadrunner ,.
Click to expand...

The K-frame and torsion bars were black on mine. The drag link, tie rod adjusters, steering knuckles, sway bar, sway bar hardware, steering arm, pivot bar, strut rod, pitman arm, and idler arm were all natural. The K-frame shims and bolts are clear zinc plated. The lower control arms are natural with a cosmoline dip nearly to the ball joint hole. The upper control arms are natural although probably also had a cosmoline coat on them as well. I've seen the lower control arms with black paint instead of cosmoline, but I think those were shelf NOS items not what was used when the cars were assembled. The disk brake dust shields are galvanized, the disk brake calipers and adapters are natural. I'm still working on the finish for the strut rod washers. Anyone got any NOS strut rod washer pics they'd like to post?
If it was a driver I think I'd paint or powder coat the pieces. If it were a trailer queen resto then I"d take 1ol74charger4me's advice and coat them with RPM product by ECS.
 
My 73 had the Kramer and torsion bars as the only ones with any paint on them that I could tell. The lower control arms had the same cosmoline dip but went to the ball point about half way. The upper control arm and mounting bracket were the same as the lower I that they were cos online with a lot of drip marks ( in case finish is important). The rest of the components were natural on mine as well....aka rusted.
 
thanks runnin74 & 73runner . does anyone make a STEEL color paint ? CAST IRON color just doesnt cut it for steel parts .
 
73runner said:
My 73 had the Kramer and torsion bars as the only ones with any paint on them that I could tell. The lower control arms had the same cosmoline dip but went to the ball point about half way. The upper control arm and mounting bracket were the same as the lower I that they were cos online with a lot of drip marks ( in case finish is important). The rest of the components were natural on mine as well....aka rusted.
Click to expand...

Hey 73runner, you wouldn't happen to have any pics of the upper control arms and mounting brackets with the cosmoline would you? I love to have them as reference pics.


Still looking for evidence of the correct finish on the strut rod washers...
 
runnin74 said:
Hey 73runner, you wouldn't happen to have any pics of the upper control arms and mounting brackets with the cosmoline would you? I love to have them as reference pics.


Still looking for evidence of the correct finish on the strut rod washers...
Click to expand...

you mean the lower control arms dont you , i just got a few cans of the weather shield cosmoline . i will be doing mine shortly an ill post pics of them for you .
 
rav440 said:
you mean the lower control arms dont you , i just got a few cans of the weather shield cosmoline . i will be doing mine shortly an ill post pics of them for you .
Click to expand...


Actually 73 Runner said,
"The upper control arm and mounting bracket were the same as the lower I that they were cos online(sic) with a lot of drip marks ( in case finish is important). "
That was why I asked if he had any pics. Just like to have one as a reference.
I would like to see how yours come out as I'd like to know how the weather shield looks.
Thanks...
 
rav440 said:
thanks runnin74 & 73runner . does anyone make a STEEL color paint ? CAST IRON color just doesnt cut it for steel parts .
Click to expand...
Just used something like that today that works well. Looks like beadblasted metal that's clearcoated. Stainless steel by Duplicolor. It kind of does something weird where the metalflake stands on top of the paint like a dust but it looks good. Never seen a paint do that but it wipes right off when it dries so no biggy. Just remember Duplicolor is lacquer so prime and clear for durability. I've known guys who did the WD40 thing on 100 point restos and the upkeep is a B ach and it will get away from you. A better idea would be to heat the parts(minus rubber boots) with a propane torch and cool them off in used oil. Used to do that for concours exhaust manifolds. But it will rust. In fact rust is the only truly restored coating for natural parts......
 
Ohhhhhhh lovely ... it took me over a week to get them on THAT board. LOL! Hang tight guys -- lemme see what I can do.

* * *

Afterthought: It'll be a lot faster for you to sign up on the C Body Board. LOL!!!
 
runnin74, here you go. There's a bit of overlap since the page is larger than my camera can clearly capture. It should be easy enough to figure out though between what shows up on the left in one picture and on the right in the one below it. It's the best I could do.

Please feel free to give me a call if anybody runs into any trouble deciphering it -- it's in one of my binders in the shop and I always have access to it through the workday from 10 a.m. to at least 6 p.m. Central time.

001.jpg002.jpg003.jpg004.jpg005.jpg006.jpg007.jpg008.jpg009.jpg010.jpg011.jpg012.jpg013.jpg014.jpg
 
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