Painting- Parts installed C-3

[Harmon C.]

I am in the final steps before painting on my 73 convertible. I have the body dolley made out of 2" square stock with all the body mounts and shimed so doors and hood lines are as good as the general did it. The jams , hood edges, rear deck are in body color. The parts I plan to paint off the car are gas cap lid, front and rear valence, rear quarter metal trim four parts,headight covers and three grill vents. I have the doors, hood and rear deck,installed and fit with correct gaps. I plan to install the headlight doors with the springs. Was the stop for the up position installed before painting? I never saw body paint on the vacumn canister so it must not be installed before paint either. Did they paint the edges of the headlight doors and then lower them? I chose to paint the rear valence off the car. Lyle

[Chuck S.]

Re: Painting- Parts installed C-3

Lyle, I hope you get some good feedback on this question, because it has reminded me of my own paint questions.

I can't say with certainty, but my gut feel is the headlight doors were installed with all the linkage (up stop adjusting screw in the large link), but without the springs. Having the springs installed would make movement of the doors more difficult during painting, whereas the doors could be easily raised/lowered without the springs.

My recollection is that the linkage, particularly the large aluminum link, will have slight color overspray on 70-72; I can't remember the condition of the springs. Actuators were installed after paint.

If you paint the rear valance off the car, you can simulate anal on-car detail by installing some bolts with washers on two of the mounting holes after primer (assuming you use red oxide primer). You probably know they painted the cars with the rear valance attached with only two bolts with washers, leaving the washer shadow around two holes. Front valance is not removable on 70-72; the air dam that bolted below the valance was natural black plastic.

[Bill W.]

Re: Painting- Parts installed C-3

It sounds like your trying to paint it just like the General did. two questions ,what color is it & what type of paint are you using ? The reason I ask is if you are painting a non metallic color in lacquer you would be better off removing the hood and headlamp housings.you will get a neater job in the jambs. also be carefull not to leave a tape line in any of the jambs.When the factory painted your car they used a high dispersion lacquer.it was much thicker and heavyer coats than we can spray.in most cases the upper body got three coats the lower a little less.the paint job had heavy orange peel & was very dull . then it went into an oven where it was hot enough to reflow the paint . This turned it back into a liquid & let it level & flow and giving it a little shine. Whith metallic colors it made all the metallic lay flat which made matching tuff. The Corvettes did not get baked as hot as the pass. cars and trucks because to much heat would cause bubbles .If your using bc/cc nevermind ...Bill

[Harmon C.]

Re: Painting- Parts installed C-3

Chuck I have checked many bow tie cars and am sure that the springs were installed before painting in 70-73 Corvettes as I have seen body paint on them on all original cars. This is an area I check closely when Bowtie judging. I painted the jams on the headlight door openings but not the doors. I think maybe the general started by painting the headlight doors in the up position and then shut them for the body painting. I need to see if a push on the top would close them or if you need to break the knee joint. My 73 is medium blue metalic code 922 so I have the metalic thing to add to my concerns. Thanks for your reply. Lyle

[Tom R.]

[Chuck S.]

Re: Painting- Parts installed C-3

Lyle, I believe the over-center condition CAN be reversed by simply pushing down on the door. Try it gently on a friend's C3.

GM engineers would have had to design around Murphy by considering that the vaccum system would eventually fail (as they do), and owners would try to close the doors by pushing down on the doors (as they do, but to no avail; the doors spring right back up). Designing the door linkage to "lock up" unless the actuator reversed the linkage would guarantee inadvertant owner damage to the doors.

HOWEVER, if you paint them with the springs on, I would consider getting down under the front (not a cool thing in your painting togs...maybe a helper) and "pulling" the door down easily (with both hands ); if you "break the knee joint" without the resistance of the actuator to slow the door down, that spring-loaded door could do some damage. I am not sure exactly how the linkage design works, but I would go slow until I figured it out.

Thanks for the info on the springs.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Painting- Parts installed C-3

Tom I will have the oven done in due time as I have the temperature control allready. Lyle

[Chuck S.]

CORRECTION: DO NOT TRY TO CLOSE MANUALLY!

I really hate it when I post stuff that is absolutely incorrect.

Headlight doors on C3s CAN NOT be closed manually by simply pushing down on the doors. I thought I had seen this done; if I saw doors pushed down, and they returned to a semi-open position, the linkage had not fully locked. Once the linkage is locked, the doors can not be depressed by hand without damange.

From my 70 Owner Manual: "Do NOT attempt to close the headlamps by hand. See your Authorized Chevrolet Dealer as soon as possible."

My apologies for this mis-information.

[Greg L.]

Re: CORRECTION: DO NOT TRY TO CLOSE MANUALLY!

So am I to assume that the headlight door assys,linkage and springs were installed prior to body painting in 1969 also?

[Chuck S.]

Re: CORRECTION: DO NOT TRY TO CLOSE MANUALLY!

Greg, my opinion is...it is a very safe bet that the headlight doors were installed before paint in 69, and probably a good bet for all C3s.

But, for me to feel comfortable about a restoration question like this, I would have to make my own observations on known original cars; OR, if I had to do the restoration before I could see an original car, I would look for consensus from two or three members well known as authorities on my year class.