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Hello all. Thank you in advance for your feedback and guidance. I am restoring a 72 Corvette and the original rear leaf springs were replaced with aftermarket. I have secured a really good condition original see the picture below. What was the correct shade of gray for painting?
The rear spring was light to medium gray primer; however, the retaining cups are natural and crimped into position. The above paint should be fine the original was very dense and heavy paint. More like a coating then paint 1 pint of it weighed like 3 to 4 pints of paint. I forget the name but it was still available back in the 90's but most likely not today.
not sure your year, but here is a couple threads in my search and paint on a 79..
there was a podcast on the Eaton site with the GM person who described the process. sponge or coarse brush on one side, then assembled, then dipped in a rust inhibitor. So i mistakenly painted both sides, but is it one only.
Good luck! also i would consider a new spring as i did exactly as you trying to convert to OEM Gymkhana 6 leaf rear.
found the google podcast but no longer available? maybe someone can find?
my notes ... ( i used fluid film for all surfaces and cold galv for paint wiped..) I ran across this podcast..very interesting and insightful from how rear leaf springs were made shipped and even painted on the corvette. fascinating..like only the tension side was painted anddone by wallpaper brush or sponge depending on who made it. it was water based zinc containing paint borrowed from heavy truck industry. Then all assembled were dipped in corrosion resistant dried in place coating.. other things like why are the ends tapered etc..
I just sprayed mine a matte Black from a spray can and it looked just great to me. I bought the rear spring rebuild rubber parts kit, Black Rust-O paint and a tub of grease.
When the rear spring was removed, we pulled it apart and sand blasted each of the leaves of the spring. Once clean, the leaves were repainted individually and after parts were dry they were re-assembled with new rubber pieces and grease, lots of grease in between the parts and then re-assembled the spring and wipe all the excess grease off when done. It didn't take the many hours of work and the end product was great. No squeaking for a while!
It will probably last another 50 years and look great while doing it. It looks pretty close to the way they normally look. I don't do "NCRS" color restoration on wear parts. Being color blind helps a bit....
The rear spring was light to medium gray primer; however, the retaining cups are natural and crimped into position. The above paint should be fine the original was very dense and heavy paint. More like a coating then paint 1 pint of it weighed like 3 to 4 pints of paint. I forget the name but it was still available back in the 90's but most likely not today.
Rear Leaf
