67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

[Kirk McHugh]

Should the screws holding the battery access panel be unfinished or painted black in both the wheel well and engine compartment? In a similar vein, should the screws holding the voltage regulator be blacked out in the wheel well? Thanks.

[John H.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Kirk -

The battery access panel was in place during blackout; the voltage regulator well-nuts and screws weren't installed until the Trim Line, after blackout.

[Kent K.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Battery access panel screws should be zinc plated without paint. At least they were on my '67 A/C car prior to restoration.
Regards, Kent

[Kirk McHugh]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Could there be a difference between engine compartment and wheel well? Wouldn't see how. If the screws were in place as John indicates how would they have escaped wheel well and engine compartment blackout? Does the JG state one versus the other? Thanks.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

I don't think is was. If you look there is not much room between battery tray & panel. Would have been a problem for the body drop. My 400/AIR had unpainted screws.

KEN # 7808

[Kent K.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Re-read John Hinkley's post. If screws were added on the trim line, there would be no blackout or undercoating on them.
Regards, Kent

[Page C.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Another thing I have noticed about these panels is the undercoating. It doesn't seem to match the surrounding fender well area. Looks like it might have been undercoated separately. I anybody else noticed this?
Page Campbell

[Kent K.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Mine had no undercoating at all, but I don't recall if the undercoating even came close to the A/C battery access panel.
Regards, Kent

[Kirk McHugh]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Kent, I understand that the screws for voltage regulator weren't in place, but if the battery access panel was in place to blackout as John implies, how would oit have been held in place if not with the screws? Hence, it seems they would have been blacked out too. Or is John saying the panel was just laying there, painted separately, and then installed? Thanks.

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

I have posted this before. Here is a picture of an original panel.

You will notice that the innerfender was undercoated even in the overlap area. Note the pebble indentions in the rubber seal. So I surmise that the body was built and went through the undercoat proceedure. Sometime later the body was converted to AC. Then the panel was added. After that there may have been some blacking in the engine comptartment, which would in my opinion have blackened the upper screws on the inside of the innerfender, but probably left the lower ones unpainted or shaddowed. Maybe John can comment on when the bodies were converted to A/C.and if there was a difference between SL and AOS.

[John H.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Wayne -

the driver's side inner fender was cut and trimmed/drilled to accommodate the access panel in an off-line fixture in the Body Shop, before the inner fender was loaded into the off-line front clip bonding fixture. I don't recall exactly when the access panel itself was attached.

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

The access panel would have had to be installed sometime after body drop or the innerfender would have hit the battery when the body came down. If there was no further black out touch ups after that stage, then the inside bolt heads should have no paint on them. I took a long look at a panel today and it was definitely painted black first. Then it looks as if the hardware was installed and the wheel side was then undercoated separately.

Note the black under the rubber strip of this gray 66 panel.

There is black paint remains under the hardware on the wheel side.

There is undercoat on the hardware on this 67 panel on the wheel side.

[Kent K.]

Re: 67 AC Car with Battery Access Panel

Kirk,

My SWAG is that the battery access panel was held in place with temporary hardware during under-hood blackout and inner wheelhouse undercoat procedures to prevent contamination (overspray) from one area to the other. This means that the nut devices on the wheelhouse side may have received blackout and undercoat sprays. Then the battery access panel screws were installed at a later stage, maybe the trim line (as John mentioned).

I have no opinion regarding voltage regulator screws, one way or the other.

Regards, Kent

[Wayne M.]

Agree with your SWAG

Kent -- think you're close on this sequence of blackout / undercoat operations being done with temporary / partial attachment of the battery access panel. Then, when it came time for body drop, the panel was removed (or swung forward with a loose top attachment, to clear the battery tray. Final bolts installed sometime after body resting on frame mounts.

Kinda like the rear exhaust valence panel -- hung temporarily for painting; removed for body drop.

[Wayne W.]

Re: Agree with your SWAG

Maybe, but there is full coverage of black out under the panel overlaps, which I would not expect if it was done that way. There is also undercoat applied under the overlaps, and the undercoat on the panel is different from the fender wells, which indicates a seperate operation.