1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

[M W.]

Hi all,

Looking through the Judging Guide I was trying to determine if the tie rod adjusting sleeve clamps should be painted or not. The guide say natural but all of the Noland Adams pictures I have seen of the underside car shows them painted. Many freshly restored cars show them painted as well. What's the best way to do this? Painted or unpainted.

Thanks,
Craig

[Joe L.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Hi all,

Looking through the Judging Guide I was trying to determine if the tie rod adjusting sleeve clamps should be painted or not. The guide say natural but all of the Noland Adams pictures I have seen of the underside car shows them painted. Many freshly restored cars show them painted as well. What's the best way to do this? Painted or unpainted.

Thanks,
Craig

Craig-----


They were coated with a black asphaltic coating at the manufacturing plant where the steering linkage was assembled. The complete linkage was shipped to St. Louis as an assembly. Most of the linkage assembly was so-coated with the exception of the very ends of the tie rods which were covered during the coating process.

[M W.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Joe, why does the Judging Guide claim these should be unpainted or natural not painted as you state? Just trying to do these as correctly as possible. Thanks very much for your help.

Craig

[Joe L.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Joe, why does the Judging Guide claim these should be unpainted or natural not painted as you state? Just trying to do these as correctly as possible. Thanks very much for your help.

Craig

Craig-----


That I have no answer for. However, the JG is technically correct if they say they were unpainted. They WERE unpainted. The asphaltic coating is not a paint, per se.

[Tom L.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Joe,

Would 1970 tie rods be finished in the same way? And, do you know of a product that would reproduce that look? Thanks.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Joe,

Would 1970 tie rods be finished in the same way? And, do you know of a product that would reproduce that look? Thanks.

Yes.
Plain old Krylon semiflat back works well. Reassemble the tie rods and linkage as one piece (without Idler arm), place cardboard tubes for protection over the end link threads, hang it from your garage ceiling and paint it.

[Tom L.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Thanks Patrick. Are you saying that the drag link gets painted also? I first painted my drag link black based on a well restored car I saw. I then saw that the TIM says it should be natural, so I stripped it down and coated it with pre-lube 6. Looks like I may have wasted a lot of time.

How do judges view this issue since the TIM says that the drag link and tie rods should be natural?

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Thanks Patrick. Are you saying that the drag link gets painted also? I first painted my drag link black based on a well restored car I saw. I then saw that the TIM says it should be natural, so I stripped it down and coated it with pre-lube 6. Looks like I may have wasted a lot of time.

How do judges view this issue since the TIM says that the drag link and tie rods should be natural?

The tie rods and drag link on both my 72 Corvette (Bowtie) and 70 Cutlass were black. I just pulled up a pic of the 72, and you can still see black paint on the ends of the drag link and tie rod ends (that's not just grease).

Go with black.

[John H.]

Re: 1964 Tie Rod adjusting sleeve clamp?

Joe, why does the Judging Guide claim these should be unpainted or natural not painted as you state?Craig

Probably because there wasn't any "paint" on the tie rods on a known-original car someone looked at for reference, and they assumed the steering linkage came that way; the cheap "chassis black" paint Buffalo used on steering linkages didn't last more than a year or two, especially if the car was driven in the rain.