chassis detaling

[gr8chef@comc]

I am in the process of restoring my 84 svo.
Are there any books or pics that would show me the correct
colors and markings for the underside of the car. I would assume that most of these items are black but just want to make sure.


thanks fellas

pete

[8T6 SVO]

Car underside

There is a book out (so I hear) but I haven't seen it. Some one on this site might know more about the book.

On my car, the underside has a gray primer on the "body" of the car which in most places (besides the engine compartment) has been undercoated with a oil/asphaltic coat for protection. The original owner had the dealer install this undercoating.
At the engine compartment, the gray primer is covered by the body color (mine being white 9L) and does not have the coverage that the exterior finish surface has. the harder the place to get to - ie, nooks & crankies, the weaker the paint coverage is.
The parts that attach to the underside body have there own colors, textures, and markings.

I hope this helps,

8T6

[gr8chef@comc]

under cariage detail

thanks for the info, my svo was not under coated but I am debating weather or not to do this. You being in sunny Cali snow and salt are not as big a problem..I am in NJ and getting some serios snow now.. I will eventualy be moving this baby to
florida and hopefuly show it down there.

thanks again
pete

[svobud]

The underside is primer gray .. with some body color overspray reaching from the engine compartment. IOW, basicly what 8T6 told ya. I didn't redo the underside of mine .. just took a whole bunch of elbow grease, bunch of towels, and couple of bottles of Simple Green to it .... and cleaned it.

As for the brackets, control arms, and such. You'll be able to recognize which ones of these were left "natural" and which ones were painted 'semi gloss' black. Best thing to do is sandblast all the natural parts and paint them med gray or dove gray. YOu can pick up some really nice detailing paints from Eastwood.

[gr8chef@comc]

under detail

thanks again guys...
I'll be tackling this today..once my garage heats up..


thanks
pete

[KevinK]

Pete

I an the original owner of my 84. Anything you need a pictue of. I can take one and email you. My car was a NJ car but shipped to CA 4.5 years ago when I moved. It has 21K miles and is all original.

Kevin

[gr8chef@comc]

chassis detail

hey kevin,
that is asome.. my biggest area of concern is the rear end
slapper bars and any markings the car might of had. The front end seams pretty basic upper and lower arms black as well as the springs. anyway any info or pics would be greatly appreceated.


thanks a million
pete

[Eyelawdoc]

Pete, as far as the front end of my 84 original owner SVO goes (build date 11/22/03), the lower control arms were left natural cast iron by the factory. Springs are black. There are no upper control arms, the Koni struts serve that function. The shold be Koni orange (somewhere between Chevy orange and Ford engine red).

[KevinK]

Pete

Honestly, from what I remember, most of the suspension is natural rust colored. I have shown my car many times in the concours class without any problems. I wouldn't go taking stuff apart just to detail it. But I would detail anything that comes off for some other reason such as a repair. Just a suggestion as the MCA doesn't get too detailed on the 3rd gen. cars. Usually cleanliness will be the biggest factor, unless things have changed in the last 3 years.

[lonchair]

The only little detail things that stood out on the underside of my car were 2 pieces of green tape (one on each front coil spring) with the spring code printed on them. I was able to pull one off with out it totaly disintegrating. I'll see if I can scan it in over the upcomming weekend.

The other thing I remenber was a dab of pink or red paint on the sway bar and evidence of what was a paint stripe or piece of tape on the drive shaft.

[Pat_in_L.A.]

My 85 still has green tape with black lettering but on the right Tie Rod:

BIRD
E2SC
3289 AA
BIRD

[KevinK]

The drive shaft is natural but there is a yellow spay paint mark on the rear side of the drive shaft to line up with a similar mark on the pinion coupling. This is to eliminate vibrations. I found it by looking closely. It's not too small. probably 1" in diameter if I remember correctly. Also, on the older mustangs, the paint codes matched the build sheet for things like springs, etc.

For the paper or plastic tags, there are several companies that would probably reproduce then if you provided a scanned copy showing the measurments. I think that stuff is pretty easy to reproduct electronically. You can get a whole tag kit for the older mustangs.

[indiana dave]

OK... After searching, I decided to revive this old thread instead of creating a new one. Maybe we can create a FAQ with the info.
I decided to do some detailing under my car.
Does anyone know a rattle can paint that matches the Koni red? Mine function great even after 130,000 miles, but have undercoating, overspray and grime on them. I want to strip them down and repaint them.

[Eyelawdoc]

If you can find a rattlecan for 1986 Ford 2R Jalapeno Red, it is right on as far as the correct Koni orange that came on our SVO's.

Later Konis, sold as replacements for our cars, are about the same color as Ford red engine enamel.