Refinishing suspension components

[fireguyfire]

Just starting the front end tear down on my 73 challenger. The plan is to remove, bead blast, paint,replace all bushings, tie rod ends, shocks, torsion bars, etc and put them back together when done.
The original finish on most of my parts are long gone, so I'm looking for some help on what the original finish/ paint would have been on all of the front suspension parts so I can replicate them before re assembly; as my dad used to always say, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right!
Things I am looking for help on finish colours would be;
Upper control arms
Lower control arms
Steering linkage
Lower ball joint
Strut bars
Torsion bars

Thanks for the help!


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[Chryco Psycho]

There should be some good reference pix on this site
I guess it depends how original you want to be , you could powder coat a lot of the parts for max durability .
Upper control arms , strut rods & Tbars were a semi gloss trim black finish , lowers were unpainted but dipped in cosmoline , kind of gold finish that did not last long so you could powder coat in a natural iron color & paint over to simulate the cosmoline .

[750-h2]

Dave Walden's 1970 Challenger. Highest scoring OE certification Challenger on the planet.

[Burdar]

Upper control arms...bare metal(stamped steel)
Lower control arms...bare metal dipped in cosmoline
Steering linkage...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Lower ball joint...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Strut bars...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Torsion bars...dipped in gloss black paint(the paint used was cheap and didn't have a high gloss that we see today...torsion bar size was indicated by paint stripes so line workers could quickly identify the correct bars)

The above shows the factory finishes.  It's up to you if you want to duplicate those finishes or opt to paint each part to represent those finishes.

[fireguyfire]

My challenger is a 73 and in the restoration book I have it says after 72 most of the components went semi gloss black; is that correct?


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[Burdar]

My challenger is a 73 and in the restoration book I have it says after 72 most of the components went semi gloss black; is that correct?

Short answer is NO. 

What is your cars SPD?  What is the MDH code on the door sticker?

[anlauto]

Upper control arms...bare metal(stamped steel)
Lower control arms...bare metal dipped in cosmoline
Steering linkage...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Lower ball joint...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Strut bars...bare metal(darker than stamped steel due to the forming process)
Torsion bars...dipped in gloss black paint(the paint used was cheap and didn't have a high gloss that we see today...torsion bar size was indicated by paint stripes so line workers could quickly identify the correct bars)

The above shows the factory finishes.  It's up to you if you want to duplicate those finishes or opt to paint each part to represent those finishes.

Darren has it spot on for all years of E Bodies.....the bare metal parts mentioned were never painted black from the factory.

[fireguyfire]

Excellent info; thanks gents.
I'll go with what Darren has suggested


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[fireguyfire]

My sway bars appears to be black; is that factory correct?


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[anlauto]

They were like a black phosphate coating which didn't last too long...Keep in mind, not many parts were "painted" on these things back in the day....they didn't care about rust issues.

[fireguyfire]

Can anyone tell me what the correct finish would have been on the dust shield backer plate on my front disc brakes?


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[Burdar]

In 73, the E-bodies changed to a 1 piece rotor that took a larger inner bearing.  The spindles and dust shields also changed. The dust shields were stamped out of galvanized steel.  They were not painted.

They should have the same appearance as the automatic trans dust shields. The link shows the correct galvanized pattern.
https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/727-dust-shield-small-block.417612/

[BIGSHCLUNK]

If originality is not an issue POR-15.......... 

[Chryco Psycho]

better yet just powder coat & paint over

[jordan]

My car is far from stock.  I did try to make it look as stock as I could with painted parts and I left bare metal parts bare.  On bare metal I used Rust Preventive Magic.  I applied it 5 years ago and still no surface rust.  Looks like new.  They say that if rust does start to show through, you can reapply to make it go away and prevent new from forming.  I recommend it if you choose to keep parts bare metal.