71 wheelwell finish

[Michael G.]

Can someone please tell me what the actual factory finish was for the inner fenderwell of my 71. It appears to have a "black-out" spray coating but the area adjacent to the rear caliper has a wrinkled texture resembling an undercoating. Is it possible that the entire wheelwell was undercoated at one time and road debris has worn it away. The one restoration manual I posess does not touch on this area. Thanks,

Mike

[Joe L.]

Re: 71 wheelwell finish

Mike-----

The entire wheelwell was blacked out with the semi-gloss black typically used for chassis black-out operations (similar to GM #1050104 which is GM-discontinued but available in reproduction). The rear portion of the wheel wells had some sort of thicker and more protective undercoating applied prior to the blackout. I think that this was done to protect the fiberglass from damage caused by chips, rock, etc. thrown up by the wheels. The area covered varied somewhat from car-to-car as I don't think its application was a precise operation.

[Jack H.]

Echo...

Joe's right on about the amount of undercoating being spotty/erratic! I've seen some original wheel wells that simply had a 'trickle' of undercoating centered above the tire, perhaps 1-2 inches in width and others that had a LOT of undercoating WIDELY distributed in an arc over the tire. It probably depended on how 'aggressive' the person was who applied the undercoating and/or what the quality folks were writing up at that point in time...

[Michael G.]

Re: Echo...

Thanks guys.I guess from your descriptions and the fact I have only 40K on the odometer, I'm not far from how it left the factory. Best news I've had all day.
Thank so much for the info.

Mike

[Kent K.]

Re: Echo...

Mike,
I believe the amount of undercoating remaining on "untouched" original cars is a result of the attention to cleanliness the car received by its owners. If someone washes their car weekly and washes the wheelhousings to avoid that grayish brown wheelhouse appearance, there must have been some deterioation of the undercoating. You be the judge of your own cars. We should apply some logical sense to calculating wear on original items.
Regards, Kent

[Michael G.]

Re: Echo...

Good points Kent,

The remaining material does seem to be out of reach of road debris and even washing.I would imagine it was a bit more extensive at birth. It's interesting that the application varied so on assembly lines and gives me some room to restore without a specific set pattern to mimic. Thanks to you all for the accumulative clear picture of how it was and what it would be now many miles dow the road.

Mike

[Alan S.]

Re: Echo...

Mike,
My 71 had a small to medium amount of the 'undercoating' spray on the wheel well side of both the battery compartment and the jack compartment. It also had been sprayed on the reinforcement plate for the shoulder belt mount. It was all done in a most hit or miss fashion.
Regards,
Alan

[Michael G.]

Re: Echo...

Thanks Alan,

Now for the $5,000,000.oo question. Is there a product that will leave the same wrinkled texture on the surface or is this a shrinking of the material as it dries over time. Or am I just taking this restoration of mine to a ridiculous level.Be blunt folks, I really would like to know where to draw the line.

Mike

[Joe L.]

Re: Echo...

Mike------

You can purchase undercoating in spray cans. This material will produce a finish similar to what was originally used. I've used this for some specialized applications. Will it be EXACTLY the same? I don't think it is, but it will be close. Very likely as close as you're going to get.

[Alan S.]

Re: Echo...

Michael,
I used a product, as Joe described, with a varying number of coats and drying time between coats to gain an appearance SIMILAR to the original. Now, about your level of restoration... it sounds sick to me and I love it !!! I once read a good line about restoring wooden speedboats..." Craftsmanship beyond all reason". You take it as far as you want.
Regards,
Alan