Topic: Leaf Spring Paint Marks

[mustangmann]

 8)I performed a search, to see if this topic had been discussed, so I do not repeat any information, or make a fool of myself (may do that anyway!) and did not find any information, so I thought I would present what I have found recently.  I am working on a 66 GT350 carryover car, and have a question/observation regarding the placement of the rear leaf spring identifying paint marks.

The Shelby was restored about 8 years ago, and I am correcting a few point deductions. 

Many of us have seen the usual paint stripes applied at SJ cars of this period (July-Aug. of 1965) which are a yellow and green stripe, or a yellow and green spray dot on other plants, applied just rearward of the axle housing, on the rear edge of the short or second leaf.  I have an August 3, 1965 (scheduled date on the door tag) 65 SJ coupe, that appears to never have been apart.  It even had the original plug wires and distributor cap (before you get all excited, it is a "T" Code car)!  Here is a photo of the origianal leafs.  The colors are not important....it is the placement of the stripes....On the second leaf forward of the axle housing!  The next photo is of a pair of leafs from a SJ 68 "J" Code convertible.  The i.d. stripes are forward as well. 

I am curious to hear from others, and to possibly form a pattern, so we can all understand the differences.

Thanks!  Ken Mann

[Brant]

Ken,

What number car do you have? 

I have a few pictures just from today from 6S033.  I am sorry that they are not better, but we have not really started the restoration.  We just finished cleaning it up a bit.  After soaking the springs in one of those rust dissolving solutions, we may be able to see more, but that has not been done yet.

Anyway, this is what I have.  At this point, it looks more like a yellow "daub" than a stripe.  Also I note that your photo shows the square hole band clamps on the springs.  The clamps on 6S033 have the round holes.

[J_Speegle]

Thanks for sharing Ken

Must be your day to fond two oddly marked rear springs

Looked though my few hundred rear spring marking pictures and I only found one with a none typical mark location. It was on a March 66  6 cylinder spring marked/stamped C4ZA-5556-M. Might be from the same batch of springs that you found. IMHO a worker at the spring plant/supplier simply marked the springs wrong/differently than usual. 

If restoring a car I would go with the normal location unless you have photo documentation of the car (your building) with a different location.

[mustangmann]

Hi Brant and Jeff;

The car that I am working on is near the end of the carryover run (do not feel comfortable giving the exact number out, as it is my customer's car).  It is the car that was featured in the Motor Trend article, testing the 2007 Shelby GT.  I failed to mention that this car does not have it's original leafs.  They are a pair of C4ZA-M springs.  I did not have the originals to go by, but the 6 cylinder car that I took apart recently (the springs in the first photo of my initial post) is a SJ car, built within 2 weeks of the Shelby, and I also have two other 65 SJ coupes, that have the stripes in the same location.  One car is 145XXX and the other is in the 136XXX series.  In other words, I have 4 pairs of leafs, 2 from the fall of 64, one from the late summer of 65 and one from the fall of 1967, that have the i.d. marks ahead of the axle housing.  I know this is not typical, and that one example of a particular practice does not make it the norm, but I am hoping to gather more evidence, because that is the only way that we can document these cars.  It is also interesting to note the clamps as you describe, Brant.  I have not seen a set of round-hole leaf clamps on any of the cars that I have restored since I have been looking (approx. 4 years!)  I am also restoring a low 100's carryover 66 GT350, and I do not have the original leafs for it either, so I cannot use it for comparison.  It will be interesting to see what your daubs look like Brant.  Post photos if you have time.

Thanks for the imput guys!  Always learning.

Ken Mann

[J_Speegle]

The car that I am working on is near the end of the carryover run ................ I did not have the originals to go by, but the 6 cylinder car that I took apart recently (the springs in the first photo of my initial post) is a SJ car, built within 2 weeks of the Shelby, and I also have two other 65 SJ coupes, that have the stripes in the same location.  One car is 145XXX and the other is in the 136XXX series.  In other words, I have 4 pairs of leafs, 2 from the fall of 64, one from the late summer of 65 and one from the fall of 1967, that have the i.d. marks ahead of the axle housing.  I know this is not typical, and that one example of a particular practice does not make it the norm, but I am hoping to gather more evidence, because that is the only way that we can document these cars. .........

You know I agree about the documentation of cars and the collecting of data - even if it never goes anywhere

IMHO I would not go with the "different" location of the markings on the Shelby even though it was built at San Jose about the same time the springs were not so they were very very likely not marked any different from the standard expectation. Now if you were restoring a 6 cylinder that was built at the same time I would certainly consider the different location. Sort of a apples and oranges thing I think based on what we have

[tomtri66]

Reviving this old thread....

Just wanted to share what I have found on my  Jan 20, 1966 Metuchen Sprint 200 leaf springs and U-bolts over the weekend.  The car is undercoated so it was challenging to carefully remove undercoat and then soak in Evaporust for several days.  Looks like a white paint daub (maybe 2?) on the spring.  They look to me to be applied with a brush rather than sprayed.  Also, each U-bolt had a white paint daub on top (also brushed).  Haven't removed enough undercoat to confirm engineering number yet, but will soon and will update.

[mgmradio]

If you look close you will probably find that the color on the U bolts is pink. That is what is usually found.

[tomtri66]

Thanks.  You know, I thought maybe it was pink but then thought maybe the evaporust tinted it.  Thanks for confirming that.
Tom

[tomtri66]

Turns out the white "dot" I found on my 4th leaf was not a factory mark after all.   After closer inspection it seems this was in the undercoat as I found traces of undercoating under it.  Further careful stripping revealed the true factory marks which were two white stripes about 1-2 inches from the end on the 3rd leaf.  Springs are C4ZA-M.