Orig parts finish quality

[DjD]

Staying as orig as possible on a restoration some parts (axle tubes, a-arms, even frame rails) get that nice cottage cheese finish after cleaning away the rust. Is that hammered look acceptable or is it time to find new parts? Is there a process that can be done that fills this in? Can the surface be taken down to bring back a smooth finish?

Is this cottage cheese caused more from media blasting with too course of material?

Thanks,
Dennis

[x44d80]

I had a similar problem on axle tubes and used a filling type primer to fill in the bumps then sanding smooth before painting.

[DjD]

Thanks for the input x44d80

Any others got an opinion?

...Dennis

[Mr70]

I like that cottage cheese affect.It shows character and originality to me.I see and feel a 32 year old part.
I was tempted to get Brand new reproduction or NOS clean swaybars for my Chevelle.But I decided to keep the originals and had them blasted.Once done they showed that cottage cheese look.I painted them black and sealed them with a durable coating.
Now I am not a show car judge,but I have been to many carshows with mine,and not ever heard anyone dislike their appearance.
I have seen people bend down and look at my undercarriage and reply"Yep,those are the originals".Just my .02

[SuperNovaSS]

I agree. As long as the original parts are in good working order I would not over restore them. At least at this point a person can be fairly certain they are not reproductions. When too much filler primer is used it also takes away from alot of the cast/stamping lines of the parts and makes them look "too perfect".



Jason

[Edited by SuperNovaSS (04-27-2002 at 08:56 PM).]

[JoeC]

Some parts were dipped not spray painted. I read an article were a guy was experimenting with dipping parts but didn't want to use a 5 gal bucket of paint so he used a 5 gal bucket of water with a top layer of paint. He said the paint floats on the water and you just dip the parts to coat them. I haven't tried it yet. I have seen some original NOS parts with heavy paint runs that do look like they were dipped not sprayed.

[T Billigen]

I believe this is the way that the factory dipped parts also,with a vat of water with paint floating on top. I think quite a few parts were dipped including A-arms?

[SS427]

With regards to the cottage cheese effect, research shows that this is a process created by the heat treating. If you look at an untouched original sway bar you can actually see various shades of black mixed within the cast color. This is not paint but rather caused by the heat treat process. After many hours of trial and error, I was able to closely replicate that process but this can cost several hundred dollars on a fairly inexpensive part. Only for the hard core resto freaks in some of us.

With regards to dipping, many parts were done this way as you've both stated. They include A.I.R. brackets, alternator brackets, misc clips, I believe steering columns, power steering brackets, A/C brackets, and many other parts.

On a survivor LS-6 I am restoring, the hood appears so have been hung sideways during spraying and there are large drips running from the center towards the sides. During the restoration, I left those drips intact. The list goes on and on.

[DjD]

Thanks for the info! Was there a process used to minimize the drips and runs when dipping parts?

...Dennis

[T Billigen]

They did not worry about drips and runs back then, just doing it the cheapest way!