Late �66 and �67 orange inspection painting of steering knuckles (spindles)

[Gary B.]

^rdKnuckle Undipped.jpg
Knuckle Bottom Dipped.jpg
Knuckle Bottom & Top Dipped.jpg

[Thomas N.]

DSC04273.jpg

DSC04274.jpg
DSC04270.jpg
DSC07305.jpg

[Gary B.]

[Thomas N.]

[Gary B.]

[Thomas N.]

[Gary B.]

Highlighted drip.jpg

[Thomas N.]

[Gary B.]

[Danny P.]

[Gary B.]

DPP_0613-1.jpg

[Gary B.]

... I don't think the paint is an "inspection" mark. It is an "identification" mark. There is no forging P/N on the spindle. The paint was applied to identify the raw forging prior to future machining operations.

Dave,

Identification vs. inspection marks: Gary Chestnut made this same point some years ago and I tend to agree with you both. Maybe the paint serves as an identification mark, rather than an inspection mark.

I also agree that it seems unlikely and unnecessary for both ends to be dipped separately. One dipping would do it. Now that one dipping could cover just the two ball jt ends of the knuckle if the paint level was low in the bucket/vat.

Also, I'm leaning toward the dipped parts being placed on racks for drying, as opposed to being hung on hooks. But that's just speculation.

Gary

[Patrick H.]

[Thomas N.]

Rustoleum Hi Temp.jpg
Masked and Painted.jpg
Completed Spindle Assy.jpg

[Gary B.]

...And, would it have to have been dipped?
Look at the paint on Tom's original examples. It's quite thin. Some sort of paint sprayer applied quickly would also result in drips, and in some cases could account for 2 ends having paint...

In terms of process speed, I suspect dipping would be much quicker/easier for a GM worker to have done. A flow-coat process as described by John Hinckley would be quick if lots of parts were painted at the same time, but no one has suggested that was done with the knuckles. My bet it they were partially dipped; once and done. Too bad there isn't an old-timer around who was there who could describe the process for us.

Also, based on the sketches that Quanta shows for '65 thru mid-'66, much smaller patches must have been painted by bush for the time period. I don't think those patches are consistent with spraying.

But if a restorer is going to paint the entire finished knuckle, with machined areas masked off, then spraying is probably easiest. But unless I hear of an easy more precise way, my plan it to dip the lower ball jt end of my knuckles with machined areas masked off, and simulate what happened when the paint level in the GM bucket/tub was on the low side, aiming for a total coverage of the bottom 20% of each knuckle. I think the odds are extremely low of getting a judge who says my hoped-for appearance is NTF.

If my dipping idea proves to be too difficult, say in terms of the amount of paint required, then I like Tom N's brushing idea.

Gary