I need to know if anyone knows the correct stripe color/placement on the driveshaft of a 70 GS455 4 speed built in Fremont. I have the trans out and I am trying to detail things somewhat correctly. Thanks in advance for the help!
Scott, Do you have the assembly manual for your car? It will list the colors. As far as position, they're usually close to the middle; if you have no evidence they were anywhere else, that's where they'd go. I took these pictures of my driveshaft, with position measurements, before I cleaned it up; you could see where the original stripes were (I marked them with white spots). Note that Pic 4 is the reference for Pic 2. Also notice the other inspection marks: The whole front yoke is coded yellow (prob. for TH400), there's an additional ring at the front (looks reddish), and theire's a longitudinal yellow stripe at the rear. BTW, this is a '72 Fremont car.... Good luck, :beer John
Thanks Thanks Jim & John for the info. I have a 70 Chassis service manual and a 70 fisher body manual, but neither make a reference to the color of the stripe. I checked the shaft befor I sent it out to be rebalanced and could find no marks on it at all.
John, my copy off a '72 factory assembly manual says: paint color bands .50 wide for identification approx. midway between welds. Chart says coupe and GS with M-18 trans/manual, also coupe and GS with M-38 trans/auto; 1 yellow- 1 black. GS only, with M-40 trans/auto; 1 yellow- 1 green. GS only, with M-20 trans/manual; 1-red. Not sure about '70 cars Scott, anyone have a '70 factory assembly manual, with driveshaft info? Joe X.
As Jim stated, the correct colors are Black and Purple for the stripes. They should be 1/2" wide and located apx 1/2 way between the two welds of the shaft. The correct way to duplicate the factory look is to take a cheap small throw-a-way brush, dip it in paint and, as a friend rotates the shaft, smear on each color. The sloppier the better. The color information came from the 1970 factory assembly manual on page 4-7.1 .
I'm assuming the driveshaft should be a 'natural', unpainted finish.... what are your methods for refinishing the drive shaft? Beadblast and clear? Paint? ( and what type?) Thanks!
Walt, I can tell you how I did mine. Good ol' sandblasting.... it's way too long to fit in my bead-blast cabinet; so I have one of those J.C. Whitney $20 specials just for such items. I got a bag of fine sand, and donned my protective gear, and went for it. It came out great. I guess you could clearcoat it when you were done, but I use a rust inhibitor called Chemprime that pretty much siezes future rust in its tracks. After blasting, I just wipe it down and it looks "natural" and stays that way. It could be painted over, if desired, too. If you like, I can try to get a couple "after" pic's posted ....
Here's a pic of the finish after sandblasting and treating with Chemprime. It has a slightly reddish hue to it, which I think actually looks more like what the shafts looked like when they got to the dealerships.
What was the spacing, if any, between the two stripes? John's Diaz's pic from the Freemont Plant appears to have them contiguous. If this is correct can someone verify the same contiguous striping was used at the Flint Plant?
Jim, The spacing could be just about anything or nothing. Remember, these guys were not being paid to paint perfect pretty lines. Individual operators had their own way of doing things and were not subject to ridicule as long as the correct color(s) were on the part in about the proper position.
Thanks Brad That makes sense. Any historical input regarding the order of the stipes? For example, was the purple stripe forward of the black stripe on a 4 speed car?
Jim, All mine are automatics...can't be much help but I would apply the black towards the front followed by the purple. The assembly manual lists them in that order and one would "assume" they would list the front first, but you know what happens when you assume..... The best way is to find the original markings on your driveshaft and apply them in that order, if they can been seen, or if someone has seen these before on an unrestored example to view their documentation.
Mine was prevoiously painted and now looks like a mirror so mine is of no help. A friend of mine locally now has Marc B's old 71 unrestored and I will try him.
Just for a laugh, here is a pic I took of the original driveshaft of a #'s matching untouched 72 GS 455. Looking at the assy manual, you would think the stripes are close together but you can see that is not the case here. They were also very wide. Later Tim
