I am restoring a 1970 Cutlass Supreme and was wondering about the correct finish for the sawy bar and sway bar brackets. The brackets appear to be natural underneath the rubber bushings. Likewise the sway bar appears to be natural where it was inside the brackets. Thanks for the help

 

Different assembly plants used different paints that were available at different times.

I'm going to say it's something like 60% gloss kinda like the rest of your engine bay and firewall. That's what i used. Each car had most components painted all except for what gets hot (manifold, exhaust etc.)

Perhaps Allan and Rob can chime in, they did a bang-on job with their underhood restorations.

 

Used 'cast' color on the sway bar and steering linkages. I've seen some sway bars in black, but I think those were the W30 ones. The mounting brackets were originally metal color, but I painted mine caliper silver. BTW, when you put the sway bar bushings into the brackets, they will seem too big. They aren't. They will squish down to the right size (torque to 30 ft/lbs). The slot in the bushing goes to the front; there are ridges in the frame that will keep the rubber from moving. Oh, the area where the rubber bushing goes on the stabilzer is not supposed to be painted - found that out after I did it.
Here's some pics of the build as it progressed to a more completed stage

 

When doing parts under the car, you are generally safe with unpainted or semi-gloss to semi-flat black. There were occasional inspector paint daubs, but not a rainbow of colors. Usually the daubs were covered by the black-out (asphalt based coating between paint and undercoating in thickness).

 

I wish i was near my car. My sway bar and brackets are installed and painted to 60% satin black. Looks real nice. Although if i had to do it again, i'd probably go for a matte colour.

For reference, it's the same paint i used on the black parts of the 4-4-2 grilles, i had so much paint i had to use it on something....

 

Thanks for all the help. Allan that is excellent deatailing, thanks for the photos

 

Here is my sway bar

 

I used Seymour's GM chassis black on most of my underbody parts, even the parts that are came from the factory as bare metal, to keep them from rusting. GM chassis black comes pretty close to meeting all the color and sheen needs for underhood and underbody needs.

Randy C.

 

Yup, I agree. I was originally going to go with black on mine too. But that rascal Rob Young changed my mind when he did his suspension during the summer.

 

Uh - yup, sure did...