[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by north

I have a 68 Endura buried in my parts room that came in the trunk of a 69 I bought in Arizona 30 years ago, I think it still had it's original Voodoo green paint, I'll dig it out over the weekend.

Logically you'd think the endura material on the inside would have zero coating of any kind and that the metal frame of the bumper was probably dipped just enough in a paint vat to coat the exposed portion well before it was molded into the endura in the mold.

Agreed. The surface is rougher than the moon. Not that I have been there, but It seems like its pretty rough.....
Can't see why paint would be purposely applied over that. I will probably paint mine with a zero gloss black paint to make it look like bare endura

[north]

I thought no one else would notice!

[north]

To paraphrase the 69 sales brochure; His GTO wouldn't have that wide eyed look at night!

[north]

I noticed that the speed nut type clips on my hideaway doors were not the normal dark color and this car was untouched, other side was the same

[north]

Again from my 69 survivor before painting it in 2014. Sure looks like natural rubber

[north]

Here is the upper part of the bumper, note the bumper bolts. The car had been painted once in its life but it was a tape and shoot outer panel Maaco type job with no bodywork or touching of inner areas, they painted right over door dings etc, just to cover sun faded paint in 1993.

[68ragtop]

Hoping you guys are still subscribed to this thread

What color do you think is acceptable for the actuator springs? I bead blasted them & have them in black epoxy primer, which will dry about a 40% gloss.
Should they be flat black, semi gloss, maybe even silver?

Thanks!

I am pretty sure I am going to paint all the brackets in 60% gloss unless you guys feel it should be something different.

[68ragtop]

Also, here is Norths picture I borrowed. I know these parts all get faded, rusty & dusty. They were never intended to last the test of time, so its hard to tell what they would have looked like 48 years ago.

Here is what I was thinking to keep on the contrasting color plan. Let me know your thoughts good or bad. I know this area gets covered up. but seeing they all have to get painted it takes little effort to use different paints & different gloss levels.

Thanks again guys....

( I am going to drive you guys crazy with detail questions & opinions as I get closer to putting my car together. )

.

[dataway]

I'm still listening

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by dataway

I'm still listening

Thanks!

I am getting pathetic. 20 years ago, I would be fine with taking a rattle can & just spray bombing parts so you could't see the rust. Somewhere along the line I kept upping the anti on next project. Now I have gotten to a point where I can't even decide what gloss level, or finish should be a on a stupid spring. (that probably can't be seen when installed) My guess is they were probably a black oxide, as there is no evidence of any other coatings on any of them I have seen.

I have become very nostalgic over the past 10+ years. Must be a middle age thing...? Because of this, I really enjoy the research on our cars. But its gotten to a point were sometimes I can't make a decision on simple stuff.

So, I sit & look for what is correct & then I do things that are not correct like having no overspray onto the primer of the floors or under the hood. I guess I am trying to stay true to what the cars where, but yet I am breaking the rules at the same time.

Sorry.....

[north]

Sounds like you may need a medicinal marijuana permit! You'll then make even less decisions but you won't care!

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by north

Sounds like you may need a medicinal marijuana permit! You'll then make even less decisions but you won't care!

Haha... By the way, You were right about the endura having no overspray too. Just the darker gray/black material exposed on the inside. Now, mine has overspray from my repaint & no way it would ever clean up. I was thinking about seeing if I could match the raw endura color & maybe repaint the inside of it gray & the exposed metal part of the bumper a very low gloss black.

[dataway]

Originally Posted by north

Sounds like you may need a medicinal marijuana permit! You'll then make even less decisions but you won't care!

In a sense this is sort of true .... as I have gotten older, I sometimes obsess about something that really should not be obsessed about. However like you, I take a lot of pleasure in doing this as close as possible to the way I think they should be done.

BUT .... I now try to force myself to do a cost benefit analysis before I go too nuts. I don't mean money cost ... and my cost to my sanity, and the benefit to my car.

I noticed that sometimes while on pain killers for dental work or something ... that I do very nice meticulous work, but don't obsess over what to do, I just do it.

I'm getting better at letting go. I'm shooting for a car that is 95% of concourse correct, and the leaving the very expensive, very time consuming, absolutely crazy last 5% alone.

I am however still looking for a specific stamping 68 steelie wheel if anyone has a pile of them

[Scott Thelander]

dont mount your headlights the way inline tube did with the bumper in the picture

68 ragtop noticed
"I'll bet the guy who setup the inline tube kit above spent some time figuring out what was wrong with his headlight wiring harness.... "

and yes it will look really dorky with the bright headlight on the outside....and the hi lo on the inside ....

just sayin'

looks like a 68 hideaway headlight assembly with the small black plastic headlight adjuster nuts too .. I thought 69's had the wider nuts
with the better clips... hmmmmm

nos this and nos that on the repop inline tube and muscle city ebay ads puts my nads in knot..

never bought anything from em probably never will .. false bs advertising

Scott

[68ragtop]

My 68 has similar plastic nuts on the adjuster but they are more of an off white & look a little different. I agree that inline is marketing things that are close, but not exact in many cases. But, I do give them credit for offering so many detail items that nobody else puts out there. Thats kinda cool.

I wondered why they had the spring bracket & the spring painted flat black & the arm in gloss. Nuts on the actuator brackets are close too, but not the same. I am ok with things being close, but they should really note that they are not "exact" duplications. One thing I always appreciated about Ames, there has always been notes about how close, the item was & how the fit is.

[68ragtop]

Ames now has a headlight kit as well. Looks (based on the picts) they are using the same finish type fasteners as inline tube.