73 Seat Support Brackets

[Roger S.]

The TIM&JG states the support brackets should be black oxide. In cleaning of my brackets it appears they are a light gray color - almost like a light gray primer. Which is correct?
In looking at the front of the brackets that extended beyond the front edge of the seat A flat black color appears to be appropriate to blend in with the black carpet. What have y'all done about coloring the seat support brackets?
Roger

[Harmon C.]

Re: 73 Seat Support Brackets

Roger They should be black oxide and I refinish them to that. If one was to paint them in a flat black they would be much better than light grey. Lyle

[Chuck S.]

Re: 73 Seat Support Brackets

Lyle and Roger, I used to think my seat adjustors (70) were black phosphate (and natural).

Once, on another board, I stated my opinon that they were black phosphate. As luck would have it (you never stop learning), there was an old GM? employee lurking that used to work in the division that made the seat adjusters...he said he was there during those years, and that they were definitely painted with a crummy black paint.

As I thought back, his comments fit because the finish on the adjusters was really rough and they actually did not have the typical sparkles of black phosphate...just a few isolated bright spots that could have resulted from handling. It worked for me, because there is no way you could ever refinish them with black phosphate without complete disassembly (reassembly to original condition would be extremely difficult in my opinion).

Anyone know what the judges are looking for? Are they looking for a specific finish or does it just have to be black or dark gray?

[Harmon C.]

Re: 73 Seat Support Brackets

Chuck I thought they looked like black phosphate on my 73's and will do some more checking. I think I could scrape paint off with a knife but phospate would just scratch. I phosphated the complete unit in a long tank without dissassembly which removed the few glass beads that may have not been blown off. I only worried about the bottom that is easy to see when installed. The top turned out not the original color but most would not see or know what they should look like.. I then blowed them off and greased the balls and they worked fine. The paint method would be faster but removing the old grease and restoring the makes them work alot better. Lyle

[Patrick H.]

Re: 73 Seat Support Brackets

The originals from my 71 are definitely a dark gray, more like phosphate, and not at all like a black oxide or anything like a paint. I keep them for reference purposes and in case I ever find a good way to disassemble them AND replicate the unusual rivet that holds them together.

Patrick