I own a 72 coupe and am in the proces of restoreing it. I have taken out the headlight assy. and taken them apart and bead blasted all parts, now I need to know the proper colors and gloss shades to use. Any help will be greatly appreciated. thank you
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Re: headlight assy.
Joe,
where are you this man needs the gloss shade on this, if anyone knows Joe can tell you about the gloss on all the parts. -
Re: headlight assy.
Don't need no gloss, Lyndon...except on the top door surface (body color).
Everything else is overspray...body color, gray sealer, red primer, green zinc chromate. We just covered this in a thread three days ago. Otherwise, its raw aluminum where you can see it. Some structural members are black phosphate, some links are aluminum with overspray, two of the springs are orange, the other two are some other color I can't remember. Lots of detail; better to write it all down before you beadblast.Comment
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Re: headlight assy.
well he was asking about gloss an I just told him that Joe was the expert on gloss!Comment
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Re: headlight assy.
interesting quote on the headlight-door spring colors, can you expand your answer a bit and , i did not notice a color on the springs , black out and v/wash was all i saw.Comment
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Re: headlight assy.
As you already know, Kelly, the first step in restoration is to record all the original finishes that can be observed...type of finish, color, gloss level, etc.
Even if it's painted over, the task is to remove any non-original finishes until you get down to what you think is the original finish. Don't give up without making every effort to uncover originality. If there IS NO ORIGINAL FINISH remaining, say, due to corrosion, then you have to determine the finishes by research, either written (if you're lucky) or by observing original cars.
Fortunately for me, my car was abused, but otherwise fairly orignal. When I disassembled by headlight units more than a decade ago, I found the springs (or maybe it was the NOS replacements I bought to replace them) to be different colors. As I recall, one pair was orange and the other pair olive(?) or some other color. If you look at the AIM there are two different springs used on the headlight unit...one is 3926434 and the other 3935516.
Don't be fooled...the paint on the springs is not there for any aesthetic or cosmetic reason. The springs are color-coded to make sure the assembly workers don't try to force them in the wrong positions. You know...a variant of "green side up".Comment
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Re: headlight assy.
Great work , you have uncovered a detail i had overlooked. One of many as you try to rebuild to those factory specs. Can we possibly have a member tell everyone what those springs # colors were. Thanks chrisComment
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Re: headlight assy.
Sorry, Kelly, I wish I could prove my point by providing the exact colors by part numbers, but unfortunately, the springs are buried in a box under a ton of other parts and trim. They can not be easily reached.
I said I had disassembled my headlights more than a decade ago...I didn't say I had put them back together yet.Comment
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