Hey all, was working on the beautification of my empty engine bay last night, and came up with an internal struggle.

I have a nice, shiny new engine to go in there, so I want it to look good. Frame is getting cleaned up and painted for sure, and I had planned on painting the inner fenders under the hood with the recommended rustoleum aluminum color, as even though my truck is cherry the passenger's side is rusted from what I expect was a leaky battery at some point. Other than that a good cleaning would suffice to get them looking new.

Now as much as I like things to be new and shiny, my truck is a "survivor" as they are called. Mostly original and untouched. The paint is original, and in very nice shape. Part of me needs to preserve this, so knowing where to draw the line is hard.

I could get away with only painting the inside part (inside the "hump") of the passenger's inner fender, but then the rest wouldn't match even though it still looks nice. No way to blend it really either.

The inspector's paint marks (crayon?) are still on the inner fender and I'd like to preserve them also.

I took a little muriatic acid mix, diluted 50% with water and dabbed a paper towel in it and wiped the fender in a spot. Took the surface rust right off. My question is, did it also take of the galvanizing? Will it last this way? What's a guy to do?


Trial spot :





Paint marks :

 

You could go ahead and clean the splash pan then spray a couple of coats of semi-gloss clear over the surface to protect it.
I'm not sure if the acid wash will remove the galvanized coating or not.
When I did mine the passenger side was too far gone because battery acid over the years had eaten away at it but the driver's side was structurally fine, just too stained and rusty to clean up. I sprayed mine with "silver hammertone" from Rustoleum.

 

It's only original once so I say take pics of the factory markings and replicate it the best you can. A "thoroughbred" restoration it will not be so at least pay homage to its history.... Mustang purists (and Mike!) do it all the time with paint daubs, color stripes on springs, inspection line decals etc.

 

hmmmm, I think they're on to me .

 

It's of no concern... My 70 will also get some of the same for that little extra **touch** of detail. Wait... do you own a set of chassis crayons yet?

Say, I've been trying to find a D0TE valve cover decal (for a 360FE) and all I find are D0AE, etc.... Do ya know of anywhere (Repro or NOS) that are truck-specific???

 

X2 on the silver hammertone paint. Mike was my inspiration

 

I steal paint sticks from work.....shhhh... don't tell anybody.
Not sure about the "bump" engine decal, on the Pumpkin I had to settle for one for a '76 instead of a '73. One of the few inaccuracies on the ol' girl.

 

It may cost a few bucks, but how about having them re-galvanized?
Like was said, it's only new once. Anything you do will "detract" from the survivor status. If you want it to look new, galvanizing is the only real option.

For me, personally, I don't have a problem with "blems" on a clean survivor. Maybe it's the "patina" thing, though I don't care for today's patina craze. The blems, dents, etc. are what set a survivor apart from a restoration. I am going through the same issues with a '64 Falcon Sprint we have owner for over 30 years. ISometines it is difficult to know where to draw the line.

Good luck.

Roger Carter

 

I looked into having mine regalvanized. When they are redone it doesn't look like the original finish. It comes out as a rough dull gray finish, kinda like you see on galvanized bolts.

 

Mine is a "survivor" under hood. I had similar rust under the battery tray. I cleaned, primed and painted the affected area with aluminum paiunt only for protection. Yes you can see it if you look but not noticeable with the battery tray in place.

 

Back in Black on my Bump. Beats the hell outta looking at rust and chalky black:

 

Black looks awesome also. I thought about using black, but settled on silver.

 

I like the idea of the silver hammertone. how hard is it to remove the inner fenders? do I have to take the whole quarter panel off, or can it just "slide" out?

 

X3

Looks good against your green...

 

Relative easy.. it's just a matter of turning wrenches. Spray EVERY fastener with penetrant the day before undertaking the feat. Fenders must be removed... don't forget the bolt forward of the door hinges.

The inners can come out with the core in place but they'll get chipped and scraped upon installation unless the core support is removed.

Btw, it's a personal choice but I'd rather have the inners match the core support than to be a different color.