I’ve started my 68 442 convertible restoration. I’m fortunate my car was built in California and spent a majority of its life in southern Arizona. No Rust! It’s a nicely optioned car with AC, power windows, AM/FM, power front disc brakes and tilt wheel. I’m looking for insight on the original rear end finishes and underside finish. I’m pretty sure my car was originally undercoated but not sure. I hit it with a pressure washer and blew some of it off. Bright shiny steel underneath. So was undercoated under side floor pans factory? And how should the rear end be finished. All numbers seem to match. Last week January build date

 

Bolt on chassis components were painted a semi-gloss black. Frames got the same, but only on the sides the customer could see. You should paint the entire frame after dealing with the rust unless you are going for stupid levels of concours accurate restoration. I think they shot the underside with a cheap undercoating. The top side of the floor, inside, was primer, but it had body paint overspray on it. You could get away with the same semi-gloss chassis black on the underside. Some people just paint the bottom body color.

 

I think you are on point. My inside floors are all original and clean. The car finish Provincial white is over sprayed damn near half way through the seat area. Underside appears to be an undercoating. What’s your thoughts on the rear end? All black? Cast center with bare axle tubes? Black brake backing plates? I’ve seen several high point restorations with a mix bag of everything when it comes to finishes.

 

The "undercoating is sound deadner. Some on the floor boards up the kickers/firewall, some in the rear wheel houses. Nothing was factory "undercoated" for rust proofing. If it was it was either a factory added extra or dealer add on.

Bust it all off the floors. Paint it semi gloss chassis black. Keep the coating it in the wheel housings. Its like rhino lining designed for deadening.
A majority of the undercarriage got "dip coated" Control arms and such. Some things left bare to flash rust.
The rear end and other components got semi gloss chassis black. The center section was not masked off for any reason. It was all semi black. The W27 centers were not painted,,,only the W27s which does not apply to any 68.

Do yourself a favor and have the frame checked for straightness before you do anything pretty to it. Then have it dipped/stripped powder coated inside and out. Do something on the inside of the frame if powder coating isn't effective. Eastwood makes an inner frame coating.

Some of the parts that were originally dipped can/should be powder coated.
Unless you are going for museum concourse trailer queen "don't drive it anywhere where" status... apply coatings for durability and ease of cleaning, not pretty.

I assume your 68 a Z code Fremont car? Stick or TH400?
Either way its a low number car. Sticks even lower.

By the way, pictures are required here.

 

Thanks Dr. O. I’ve been researching for my build a bit on this site and your posts and replies have given me some useful info. Question I have is I’ve seen a couple high grade restorations and the have had bare steel looking sway bars and cast appearance front steering box and tie rods. Is this correct? Or all black. My frame is straight and headed to powder coating.

 

What the doc said. I will emphasize, do better than the factory did. Powder coating presents its own problems; you may use it if you see so fit. My intentions on my restored cars are good paint, complete coverage, and indoor storage and nice weather operation. If you're doing that, I don't think you need powdercoating, but you could do it if you wanted.

 

I use the 2K Ceramic black chassis paint from Eastwood on my restorations. You can see pics in my thread when I did my complete restoration. The paint lays nice and is super durable. It's easy to match and touch up if chipped and I've been very happy with it on several restorations.

 

Steering box was natural cast with the aluminum cover.
Interior floors and most of the interior metal were body color or red primer, where the body color wasn't.
Sway bars, not sure. Both mine were painted when I took possession in the mid-80s. They looked dipped not sprayed. Same for the steering linkage except out at the joint ends was bare. A arms were dipped except for the joints. Front and rear springs had a thin coating of something on them, then the tags were applied over that.

Mine is an early build Z code 68. As such, it exhibits many of the first release early production parts such as hood release, window cranks, gaskets under the front eyebrows above the headlights, and other earlier anomalies seen in the first month or two of the 68 model year production.

Fuel & brake lines were natural. Master cylinder was painted black from the factory. The front spindles were natural. Dont remember the finish on the brake backing plates. I want to say black. I can verify the front bake backing plates when I get home, if needed. Is yours disc or drum up front?

When I did the nut n bolt restoration in the early 90s I didn't want anything to flash rust, so everything got a coating of something. I knew it wasn't going to be a trailer queen, so didn't care too much about concourse correctness of colors on the chassis, just wanted it to look clean. Most items, I just duplicated what was there, as it was a low-mileage, unrestored car with most if not all of the OEM finishes intact.

Nothing like a California or Southwest dry rust-free car.