[8453johng]

I have my engine out and am ready to detail the steering components

were they painted semi gloss black or were they natural ?

I know the power steering gearbox was natural.

Were the calipers natural or painted semi gloss black ?

were the shocks black and spiral type as origional

[78w72]

most suspension components like sway bars, center links, tie rods, spindles, etc were natural, so a cast iron paint is best, or if you domt care about originality a satin black paint makes everything look nice & uniform. the a-arms were painted black with ~4" at the ends of the top arm & possibly bottom were left natural steel. theres pics of guys painting them that way out there & they look nice but all black looks good too.

google or search here or other t/a forums for pics of original low mile undersides or correct restorations to get a better idea of what they look like.

[TAKerry]

Agree with 78w72. Most original cars are a mess underneath. When they were new going to a car show with a mirror on the bottom was the last thing they were thinking about. Not to mention the cars that had an undercoating with everything coated black. I was overly meticulous when I restored my 77 to the extent of having paint mixed to match the red oxide primer. It did turn out nice and nicely detailed but I think I am the only one (other than the shop) that has seen it. On my current 79 resto I painted everything on the bottom satin black. I will detail the rear, and I clear coated the natural sway bar with shark hide. Front end I painted everything black.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by TAKerry

Agree with 78w72. Most original cars are a mess underneath. When they were new going to a car show with a mirror on the bottom was the last thing they were thinking about. Not to mention the cars that had an undercoating with everything coated black. I was overly meticulous when I restored my 77 to the extent of having paint mixed to match the red oxide primer. It did turn out nice and nicely detailed but I think I am the only one (other than the shop) that has seen it. On my current 79 resto I painted everything on the bottom satin black. I will detail the rear, and I clear coated the natural sway bar with shark hide. Front end I painted everything black.

the red oxide was ended after 78 or 79, i forget the exact year... but for 80/81 it was definitely black underneath.

on my 78 & 72 firebirds they were undercoated at the dealer or afterwards & when i removed some areas of it the red oxide was in almost perfect condition, i left the coating there as opposed to trying to remove it all, very messy & time consuming job & my cars are resto-mods so i didnt care too much about 100% correct.

[TAKerry]

Pretty sure that 79 was black primer. At least thats what was on my car. One of the reasons I just shot everything black underneath. Cleaning and painting the bottom of a car off of a creeper with the car on blocks is high on my list of projects I never want to do again. I had my 77 on the rotiss. so much nicer.

[8453johng]

Thanks

I am cleaning / Pressure washing / scraping like Mr. Clean.

I am going satin black to make it look nice.

In the past on a 70 GTO I tore the whole thing apart media blasted painted looking back it is just as nice cleaning the Sh*t out of it.

Maby, I am getting a little smarter and it is not a 70 GTO