Topic: Convt Frame Paint (engine bay paint?)

[CharlesTurner]

I suppose it is possible that individual parts of the frame may have come painted before assembly, but as mentioned, there is black in areas of the frame that would be darn near impossible to reach with a spray gun.  Again, I am not saying they were e-coated, but there is evidence to support the claim.

[aaatp]

Not sure e-coating would stick to all the plastic bushings that are in the frame. All my bushings had black on them and it was not consistent in
it's application, there were some bare spots, as if the paint from a paint gun did not reach there. That would not happen with e-coating.

John

[Oz390]

On the e-coating vs spray, any chance some of these parts were dipped?  I have seen some thick spots and minor runs, but am not sure if they were original parts or not.

[CharlesTurner]

On the e-coating vs spray, any chance some of these parts were dipped?  I have seen some thick spots and minor runs, but am not sure if they were original parts or not.

I'd say yes, there would be a chance some components were dipped.  Typically, these were parts that had a base zinc plating though.  If you ever saw a bit of a silvery surface when stripping the black, then they might have been dipped.  Ford used zinc plating as a primer surface on quite a few parts.

[bryancobb]

This is PURE SPECULATION.  The frame assemblies had many black parts and they would have been very hard to move around without scratching or chipping, unless the unassembled parts went unpainted until the ASSEMBLED frame was coated all at once.

Chip or scratch repair would have been very time consuming and costly so I'm sure Ford's production method tried to avoid that at all cost.

I watched the Doraville GM plant workers paint similarly intricate assemblies in the 80's as the parts passed by them on a twirling conveyor.  The traditional paint sprayed quickly by hand, from a normal atomizing gun appeared to quickly deposit paint everywhere it needed to get.

My guess for a conclusion is...Fast drying lacquer, hand applied, on a completely assembled top frame, hanging from a twirling conveyor.

[Oz390]

If completely assembled, how no paint on the header pins, J hooks and chrome bits they screw into that are pressed into the latch base?   

I'd bet sub assemblies were used, and assembed and adjusted post paint for those sub units.  Possibly some touch-up after that, and then the fabric applied before shipping the entire thing to the line for installation. 

Seen many apparently unpainted screws for the side links to frame, and the chrome as noted would not be painted (or masked, as that would be even more time consuming as its a fiddly area).

I'd also guess header was off (otherwise adjusting could leave an exposed line of unpainted metal), side rails assembled, but side links and bows done off (again adjustments would possibly show bare spots on eccentric and bow #2 which I don't think Ford would have done).

And yes, it is all speculation...