I was talking to Carl Rychlik about this topic this morning. To avoid scratching the black paint, did the factory press in the bushings and then just shoot the whole assembly? That's what I did with mine, but I'm wondering what the conventional wisdom is on this? Same question regarding pressed in ball joints. What do you guys think?
All the bushings I have removed never had paint on them. I just did a set from a 70 GS455 that never had the bushings removed. I always paint the arms first. Remove paint with sandpaper where bushings slide into place and install the bushings using a large C-clamp/ball joint press. If any paint is nicked, I do a little touch-up. Same goes for front ball joints.
All I can say is.... :rant: I painted the arms first, using the epoxy. Removed the paint from the bushing holes with a small wire wheel on a die grinder. Left bushings in freezer, to shrink them a bit. Used piece of 2x4 to support the inside of the control arm, and a variety of old bearing races, pipe fittings, or whatever to fit over the bushing to press it in. Used dishwashing soap to lube the bushing. Pressed 'em in.... So far, so good! Then the assembly sat in my basement for a few weeks....the bushings RUSTED. :rant: ...Sprayed rust with metal conditioner, carefully scrubbed with scotch brite, and then spent a few hours painting the bushings with a modeling brush and 'Metal mask' (a 'bare-metal' paint from POR-15). Ball joints were painted with spray-can satin clear. Still have to clear all the bolt heads, nuts, and cotter pins to keep them from rusting.... ou: To assemble, I lubed bolts with white grease (so they don't rust during the next 40 years!), bolted arms to frame, installed springs, then used clamps to compress enough to bolt knuckle in. There wasn't too much clamping pressure required to get these springs in....your springs may be different, so be careful!!
Oh, for the rear bushings, I'm going to zinc plate them first, then install them. Car to date... Rear is going together this week, then I'll drop the body back on!!! Floor and interior of body is painted, exterior paint will be done later... 17 months to get to this point!
Thanks George and Walt for the response. Guess I'll be masking off my arms and shooting the bushings with a natural metal-look finish. I wanted them to be masked off when the arms got painted, but there was a miscommunication between myself and the guy that shot them for me. Walt- Looking great! Love to see a project come together. I just got my frame, upper/lower front control arms, x-member, and rear end back after blasting and being shot with the Tenaco products. Looks real good! Also got my driveshaft back just blasted. I'll start another thread asking how to finish that for best appearance/protection.
I blasted, primed and refinished the arms with urethhane primer. The purpose was to get out the pits. I then had the bushings pressed in at a front end shop. I then taped up things like the ball joints and sprayed the top coat in black epoxy for durability.
Just to add to the list, I had my arms powdercoated (awesome!), bushings were painted natural metal color. Bushings in freezer, arms in sunlight, used some silver antisieze and pushed them in using big vise. No worries, no scratches or nicks. No grinding out of holes either. A 2x4 with a 2" hole cut it in it, then split down the middle works awesome for supporting the arms as the wood goes inside the arm and wraps around the bushing for maximum support. I used electrical conduit as well for pushing in the new bushings (it works very well as it is thin yet very strong so can go between the bushing and arm lip-make sure to use lots of tape for protection of your paint/coating). Detailed pics on my website: http://members.shaw.ca/orangecrush/chassis.html later Tim
I think the new bushings have a gray phosphate coating. So you don't want to use something too "silvery" like a bare steel finish.
GM NOS is bare metal. But they look awesome painted. Correct isn't always nice, natural steel rusts and I have seen NOS bushings that were rusty right out of the box (and that was 15 years ago!!). The pic on my webpage was taken close up with a flash, thats why it looks like that. One or two pics down you can see the side of the bushings sticking out of the arms, its much more gray. Same with my 455, in many pictures it looks orange due to the flash. later Tim
