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I am at the stage to apply finish to a 63 Z06 rear suspension. The judging manual says that "some" 63 rear suspensions were painted black, including the differential, struts, halfshafts, etc. Noland Adams book indicates that "some" 63 rear suspensions were attached to the frame as a complete assembly and painted black. Others not attached as one unit were not painted. My question is to paint or not to paint? Was there a vin number cutoff, date (month), those with F40 Suspension, only Z06's or some other criteria that would indicate if I should paint or not paint. If I elect to paint what components would be painted? differential, struts, halfshafts, springs, spring liners, shocks, shock mounts, trailing arms, etc? and what finish in black, semigloss or gloss? I appreciate any help you can provide.
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
I'll would go for the paint. Semi gloss to satin. It's the best to keep looking good. See Adams pg 176,200,241 - these all appear to be black. then look at 316 which is a clear diff. Michael Hanson has some info on this subject since I've been looking at same question for my 64. In your case, black 63, there appears to be a lot of old pictures showing the black rear assembly and best of all the JG mentions that some 63 were all black. My Mar 64 diff was and now is black, however that will cost me points (I bet).
From what I've seen the spring is still gray, the shocks are semi gloss black, and the shock mount is cad finished. These items must have be installed after the black out process. All the rest are semi gloss black (blackout!)including the spindle support.
I think that if you go for the black - better have some assembly line pictures or expect to loose some points.
Just attacking this problem so others are the experts not me
Good luck -
Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Hello Howard; I believe that the rear end assembly on a 63 was black. I know that the Drums are Gloss black, the backing plates were semi gloss, the Z06 shocks were gray. The half shafts and diff. were semi gloss as well as the struts. I do not believe that the spring was actually painted, but had a protective coating on them that looked like a paint. This is the kind of stuff that drives me and everyone crazy! We all want to do things "Right" but have a hard time finding out what Right is? Good luck, AndyComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
63 z06 f40 shocks are paint semi gloss black not gray that was started in 64, drums are semi gloss black, and the backing plates are believe or not are natural steel with flat black cover air sheilds plates, I had my paint black and later found there were natural the story goes both ways who right the judges don,t know ??? I score 98% top Flight at the nationals with natural steel backing plate, half shaft and driveshafts are natural steel, front coil springs are also natural steel,spindal are natural, differenal is natural,there many things are different and painted colours on the z06 then stock suspension , DannyComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Danny,
You are absolutely correct on the shocks. Semi gloss black ran all the way through the 63 model year and probably part, or most, of the way through the 64 model year.
Correct on the semi gloss black drums also. They were not gloss black.
Backing plates, however, are definitely coated semi gloss "chassis black", along with the screen covers and the bolts that hold them in place.
Half shafts, diff housing, drive shaft etc are all coated in black.
All 63-64's are totally different than 65-67 in the way the rear suspenion is coated. The Z06 part made no difference.
Same for front spindles and backing plates. The "knuckle assembly", including drum and backing plate arrived on the line coated in black.Comment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
me and my 28K mile ZO6 agree with mike hanson's finish interpretation. mikeComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
so your saying halfshaft, diff housing, spindel, backing plates are semi black so what will the chassie judges think about that when they start looking in there AIM book you would lose a ton of points if everything was paint black if that was the case, I seen the front spindel were paint orange and so what happan to all the factory white and yellow and green marking on the front coil springs and spindel and half shaft yokes are they all paint black after, it doesn,t make sence the judges are looking for those marking, they even want to see the blue welding colours on the halfshaft how could they if everything was paint black, ask Carl he tell you also, DannyComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Danny,
The items that you mention as being natural/unpainted were exactly that way as they were being assembled. However, once the control arm/spindle/brake assy was complete, it was coated, almost completely, with chassis black. That would include the brake drum, backing plate and spindle support etc.
The differential would be coated the same way.
After the rear suspension/drive components were assembled together, the entire package was again coated to cover items not previously painted. This would include half shafts.
After the rear susp/drive was assembled to the frame, the chassis received one more final blackout.
The same process was used for front spindle/brake assemblies. The spindle did indeed have several different color paint marks before it was assembled to the brake assy but once complete, the assy was coated, including the drum, backing plate and spindle. That complete assembly was installed on the chassis nearly completely coated. (that's why new 63-64's had black front wheel hubs and bearing caps but 65 and later did not)
I've posted several excellent photos of components on the 63-64 assembly line and also several pic's of low mileage cars that clearly show the items that were coated. I can post again if you can't find them. John Hinckley recently posted a pic of a complete 63 rear susp/drive unit as it was being installed on a new chassis. It is nearly completely coated.
The 63-64 car chassis probably isn't as interesting as 65 and later when restored because of the lack of all the different color inspection and identification paint marks but that's just the way it was. The "final chassis blackout" pretty much eliminated most of rest of the interesting details on 63-64.
This process would change dramatically for 65 and later.Comment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Hello Howard; I agree with Mike Hanson on the finishes for the most part. I did make an error on the shocks as they are black in 63 and gray in 64 and up. I just had in my hands a set of NOS in the GM yellow and black boxes 3 NOS 1963 Z06 brake drums and they were painted with a tar base GLOSS black paint. I also own 6 NOS standard drums in the boxes which are also Gloss black. I also have for my car an NOS Z06 front backing plate which is semi gloss black as well as 4 std. backing plates which are semi gloss black. I also have many factory photos showing the chassis being blacked out after assembly. So even if some of the parts were installed RAW, they did not stay that way for long. Bottom line is that the 63 Factory finished running gear was plain down ugly! Andy CComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
If you tell people that NOS brake drums are gloss black, they're going to paint their drums with gloss black spray can paint and they're going to look like something from the local hot rod show. Assembly line chassis black was not gloss black and does not contain any clear, as does most paints. Big difference in apperance.
I disagree that all 64 shocks are grey. I believe the transition to grey from black occured some time during the 64 run, not at SOP.
NOS brake drums didn't come in yellow/black boxes.
All NOS SERVICE backing plates, both standard and Z06, were dipped in black paint. Assembly line backing plates were absolutely bare metal on the inside, or shoe side, and coated chassis black on the other side.Comment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Michael, so as a jugding point of view, everything was coated black so NCRS judging book forget it then, so there must of been a lot of black overspray on brake line and hand brake cables,leaf spring and link kits, gas tank,and fuel line,and also the bolt marking on the chassie so why put the proper bolt marking when there going to be paint black the chassie judges will start sratching there head, so your saying and I not disagree I respect your expertized as long as everything was painted black the judges are happy, tell me something wern,t all 63z06 tanker and non tanker pulled from the assembly line and build seperated and added the z06 package including special backing plates and brake system and put together on the side, specialty tankers they need special inner and outer rear fender different from stock fenders that took some time to do, also was this done before the the final black coating. DannyComment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Danny,
Since the majority of the rear susp black coating was applied before the assembly was installed on the frame, there wouldn't have been any additional overspray on other frame mounted components from that operation. However, after the susp/drive was mounted, the final blackout that coated the prop shaft, half shafts, mufflers and exhaust etc., may have lightly oversprayed the sides of the fuel tank. I have several good assy line pic's that show this. I'll post a few. Also, recently, Gary Cox sent a few excellent pic's of his ultra low mileage 63 that has most of the original coating left on the diff housing, half shafts and prop shaft. I posted these a while back but I'll dig them out and post again. The pic's tell the story much better than I can.
As far as judging, I think that times are changing and the 63-64 guys are beginning to understand how these early C2 cars are different than 65 and later. The fact that the Judging Guide does recognize at least the "possibility" of a black coating on rear susp/drive components, should clear the way for correct finishes to receive no deductions at any NCRS event. I would bring the JG along when showing a 63-64 that has been properly restored just in case a judge isn't aware of the fact that this is mentioned in the manual.
I wouldn't go so far as to say "everything was painted black", but certainly the main components of the rear susp/drive got a decent shot of chassis black. Many areas were missed. If you just "open fire" with a spray gun, I'm afraid the judges will reject the dipped look the unit will appear to have.
Z06 without N03 fuel tank would have been no different than any other job running down the assy line so no additional time was required for special operations. The only thing on the chassis that was different than reg prod would have been each individual spindle/brake assy for the front and control arm/brake assy for the rear, plus slightly different brake lines. All of these items would install the same as reg prod so no additional time would be required.
The Z06 WITH the N03 was a completely different story. As you know, there were many modifications made to the floor pan for this option. Everything from the bonding strips, fuel line outlet holes, wheel caps etc etc. Supposedly, the floor pan for an N03 car was prepared "off line", and finally set on the body truck after all of the mod's had been done. There certainly wouldn't have been time to do all of this in the normal ten-twelve minutes at any given station on the line. Once these mod's had been completed, the rest of the build would proceed pretty much as normal. The one operation that was supposed to be done on line, that sometimes would up being done in the repair area, was the installation of the painted tank cover. Most were in place prior to interior color which means the cover attaching bolts would have been painted along with the cover. However, a few slipped by the interior paint station minus the cover. The cover would have then been installed later which means the attaching bolts are unpainted. So... all Z06's are not created equal.
What's your month of production/approx VIN? Colors?Comment
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Here's a great shot of the Gary Cox 63. Never been spray canned or tampered with, just washed. Obviously, some of the coating has come off over the years but it gives us a pretty good idea just how things were prepared in 63-64. More pic's later....
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Re: 63 Z06 Suspension
Mike(s), Andy, Danny and Alan Thanks for the great response. What would the hobby be if everyone agreed on everything. I think black (semi gloss) is the way to go. Mike if you could find some of the pics and would post them I would really appreciate it. I was surprised to see the yokes on the trailing arms also painted black. How about the shock mounts were they also black?
Again thanksComment
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