Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

[Claus S.]

Is the coil springs painted and if so which color or are they natural/unpainted finnish?This is for a 1964

[Alan D.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

64 springs were shot peen per SAE J442 specifications (SAE 330-390 cast steel shot desired) then covered with Lucas Rustproofing #635 compound or equivalent for rust prevention. (mix 7 parts water with 1 part rustproof compound)
So the final result is a dull natural look - towards the darker not silver side, but not black. Hanson has some original shorts from the assembly line which will give you a better feel of the color.

[Gary B.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

64 springs were shot peen per SAE J442 specifications (SAE 330-390 cast steel shot desired) then covered with Lucas Rustproofing #635 compound or equivalent for rust prevention. (mix 7 parts water with 1 part rustproof compound)
So the final result is a dull natural look - towards the darker not silver side, but not black. Hanson has some original shorts from the assembly line which will give you a better feel of the color.

Alan,

Do you have any more info on the Lucas rustproofing product? A website? A reseller?

Gary

[Alan D.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Gary,
The original product isn't available. Understand SP-350, made by CRC Inc. results in the same appearance and is probably more durable. (contains cosmoline and parafin) Again I'm just repeating what others have reported.
On my springs I simply cleaned the undercoating off (dealer stuff) and they still looked good however a little dark.

[Mike E.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Since we are on the subject of springs, I have mine removed from the frame of my ’65 currently. I'm not sure if I should replace them or not, is it possible to have the old ones tested or should I assume that because they are nearly 50 years old they should just be replaced? I don’t like the idea of arbitrarily replacing parts just because they are old, IMO it somehow detracts from the car when you do this. It seems like the prices for new ones are all over the place, how does one decide what replacements are really correct for the car. What vendor seems to be the most reputable for obtaining the correct spring should I decide to replace them?

After seeing some of the information about the rear spring I’m convinced I should probably just rebuild the old one, because replacements seem to be incorrect in several ways. I know a rear can be “re-arc”, are these services worth it or should I just replace the insulator?

Mike

[Timothy B.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Mike,

My suggestion if they are not rusted bad is to check the free length and re-use. The free length measurement is probably in the archives.

Do you remember how the car sat before taking it apart.

[Mike E.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Mike,

My suggestion if they are not rusted bad is to check the free length and re-use. The free length measurement is probably in the archives.

Do you remember how the car sat before taking it apart.

Thanks Tim!...They have some rust...Not really too bad...I can media blast them so I'm not worried about appearance. The ride height seemed right. I found this post from John Hinckley in 2005.

The free height of the original 3851100 spring was 16.82"; however, the free height measurement is pretty meaningless. Springs are rated by working length at design load, which is 9.98" at 1340# for that spring, with a load rate of 195# per inch (at the spring, not at the wheel) at that design load. Springs generally only lose design load rate if they've lost material (effective wire diameter) due to corrosion.

I measured the free height and they were very close to what John posted. However as John pointed out the rust could effect the rate...Could something like this be used to test a spring?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/REB-260-8620/?rtype=1

Mike

[Terry M.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Sure it could, if you have one. Many, many moons ago when I worked in a metallurgy laboratory we had a similar, but more sophisticated, device that would do the same thing = measure load under compression.

[Harry S.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Is the coil springs painted and if so which color or are they natural/unpainted finnish?This is for a 1964

I like the natural look but living where metal will get surface rust in the garage I needed paint. I media blasted the springs, primed then used Eastwood's Stainless Steel paint.

[Gary B.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Mike,

With 1340 lbs of force on the spring, I'd highly recommend some sort of adequate containment mechanism, just in case your load is a little off center and the spring decides to scoot.

Gary

[Mike E.]

Re: Coil springs on a 1964 Corvette natural/unpainted finnish or painted?

Mike,With 1340 lbs of force on the spring, I'd highly recommend some sort of adequate containment mechanism, just in case your load is a little off center and the spring decides to scoot.Gary

my 20 Ton Press using a beam type load cell like this and probably get better results. Might be a fun winter project.