I’m inching closer to starting to re-assembly of my front end. The a arms, torsion bars, spindles, et al are standing by.
I believe most of these parts should be silver except the spindle carriers and the brake dust plates, which are gloss black?
Going to use good old black Imron on the black parts if so.
Thanks all!
Ron,
Totally depends on what Series and year of car you are talking about. From your handle I figure Series 1 and from the brake dust plates I get the idea it’s a 4.2, but more is needed. Why don’t you put the car info including serial number in your profile, then all can see it when pondering your question.
Jerry
Jerry - done, good suggestion. And I even updated my Avatar with the Matchbox toy that started my affliction. Guess what color my car is going to emerge in when it indeed emerges???
Ummmm…Regency Red? ; -)
Jerry
Ron,
All that stuff (possible exception of the dust shields – I don’t have any!) is cadmium plated. I believe the dust shields are cad plated too. No black on the 1966.
Jerry
Here’s a quick photo I found with Google of a car that looks like it’s going back together. Easy to spot the a arms because the car is black; those look silver to me and look like the parts as finished by the PO. I always thought cadmium plate was more of a gold color???
Ron,
That is what silver CAD looks like, which is what these cars had when new. A lot of cadmium plate these days receives a yellow chromate conversion coating - e.g. common on grade 8 fasteners. My car is a '69, but I think the front suspension colours will be the same as your 66:
I used a silver CAD coloured paint from Eastwoods - a cheaper alternative than silver CAD plate, and it’s held up pretty well. Note the stub axle carriers and dust shield are silver CAD colour. The big nut on the end of the stub axle on my car is a grade 8 yellow chromated nut, though no doubt that is incorrect. To contradict Jerry, there is some black - the anti-roll bar and drop links are black - I think this is correct, but I’m open to contradiction.
-David
No contradiction, my check was restricted to the listed parts…
Jerry
Jerry,
I though that was probably the case, but I wanted to make sure that a casual reader in future didn’t misunderstand the context, and deduce that all suspension components were silver CAD…
-David
Good idea!
Jerry
Not quite Carmen Red… Now the big secret is out. I decided to paint the subframes, picture frame & firewall so I could get everything rolling and running, then I’m going to paint the bonnet/exterior when the weather is AHEM warmer and get the entire car into another space other than it’s primary nesting space.
Note the red overspray EVERYWHERE. Some paintwork was my son’s Xmas gift to me (to give me a respite from all the metalwork I’ve been doing) and he forgot to turn on the exhaust fan. Yikes, but fantastic to see some color on the car since I’ve owned it now too long to admit in various shades of metal and primer…
Suspension components are indeed cadmium plated, dust shields are semigloss black, as are the TBs. Your blanking plates should not be body colour but also cad plated. On the Eastwood spray cadmium, it looks ok in isolation but looks nothing like true cadmium plate when positioned next to it. Too blue. I purchased a rattle can of the stuff to treat the few small parts I missed sending to the platers and was not impressed. I wrote an objective review for the Eastwood site but it was not published. I have been satisfied with almost all other products I’ve purchased from them.
Nick,
You sure about that for the '66s? My TBs are cad plated – or perhaps bare steel? David’s dust shields are cad plated. Are you sure yours have not been repainted?
Jerry
Not sure for '66, Jerry. One of those assumption things for later S1s based on my car. TBs were definitely painted black originally as were dust shields.
While we’re at it my reaction plate is also coated in the same silver as the TBs and most of the suspension parts…
I guess that we’re all not being much help to Ron, as our advice is all over the place! Some of this could be because Ron has a '66, I have a '69, Jerry has a '64, and Nick a '68. I’m prepared to believe that I’m wrong about the dust shields being silver CAD, and that Nick’s black may be correct. I can’t recall who’s advice I took in making mine silver CAD. It sounds like we do agree that the stub axle carrier should be silver CAD. JCNA guides aren’t going to help here, as suspension components aren’t judged. They do help with the pedal blanking panels on the bulkhead (non driver side) which should be silver CAD, not body colour as in Ron’s photos. Sorry Ron…
-David
No worries David on the blanking panels. I’ll fire the painter 
And get them sand blasted and repainted once I figure out what cadmium color they should be! Match the suspension components? Seriously thanks for pointing that out and since the work is being done here we’re only out the paint and not a lot of labor. Ive seen them chrome plated but that was not a look I was crazy about. In fact, I’ve got new gaskets and they’re not even bolted down!
So suspension components are not judged by JCNA? Wow, didn’t know that. Hoping we can come to a consensus on the suspension parts, they are sitting here looking like they may be correct I can post photos…
My reaction plate is black oxide.
Some underside pics from XKEDATA, are all '66 fixed heads:
another, black TBs but not the dust shields
another, black TBs and reaction plate
another with black TBs and reaction plate
Jury’s still out on the dust shields and TBs but looking like at least the reaction plate is black in all cases.
Nick thanks. My reaction plate is silver but a bit chipped up so I can paint it whatever color we decide corporately here!!!
Fwiw these pieces are the only ones I thought I had a smoke of a chance of not having to refinish-Lol. But now is the time! When it’s all correct and re-assembled I’ll post photos to tie this together for posterity.
