transformula87

iTrader: (2)

Well, search is still broken so I'll just post this. Does anyone have decent quality pictures of the underside of these cars? I dont think it matters, but this is for my '83 DT500 Pace Car.

I need to know what everything looked like fresh off the showroom floor, so low mile cars, or restored cars only. I dont want to see any undercoated stuff, or modified rear ends. I also need it to be able to tell what color everything was.

I've looked and looked on here, but most stuff is either exhaust work and doesnt show much of the rear end, and others are modified.

Thanks.

wildjeff

iTrader: (1)

I'd be interested in this too. I almost have all the undercoating removed from my car and will be putting it back together soon. I'd like to keep it stock looking.

hwcoll95

iTrader: (6)

cant find better pics???

Dens71TA

iTrader: (5)

I have a friend with an '84 T/A that he bought from the original owner in 1987 with 10,000 miles. It still only has 55,000 miles and is super clean. I'll have to see if I can get some pictures although it might already be put away for the winter.

Seems to me that in the early years of the 3rd-gen when the cars were done in single stage paint, the factory was much more generous with the paint overspray on the bottom of the car. I've peeled some of the undercoating off on my '84 T/A and the royal blue paint goes all the way to the driveshaft tunnel. When they switched to the base/clear system like in hwcoll95's picture they were very stingy with the overspray.

t_towner

91 Formy Firehawk underside

[IMG][/IMG]

okfoz

Well...
Your axel SHOULD be bare metal NO PAINT, as should your drive shaft as the 10 bolts were never painted AFAIK and the steel driveshaft was not painted either.

The control arms, springs, sway bar, pan hard bar, Torque Arm and the cross brace were all Semi-Gloss BLACK. On the ends of the Pan-Hard bar were painted Light Blue, the torque arem should have a GREEN dot on the center, and likely a stripe on the driveshaft from when it was marked. On my 89 the Pinion Bolt that goes into the axel was painted YELLOW or "Gold", and one Axel was painted RED and the other was Gold.

THere should be a thread (not more than 3 months old) with some pix in it that I made.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ge-photos.html

John

1991Formula350

Those look like they were over sprayed, mine were (are) solid grey underneath, no red (white)anywhere around the bottom. Hummm! Andy

Iroctopless

My undercarriage is 100% stock and looks very much like t_towner's. I too have the red overspray covering a white-ish background. This is very normal. I even still have the factory little "sticker" labels on my coil springs, etc.

coolram62

iTrader: (2)

The underside of my '83 has overspray but it blends into the white/light gray because she beige(code 59)and it's the original paint.And she still has some remnants of the stickers on the coil springs.Okfoz I thought the blue paint on the stock panhard rod was odd but it's supposed to be there(but it's just on the underside).I found it when replacing it for an aftermarket one - but I'm keeping all stock hard parts for the future(just in case for showS).

okfoz

I BELIEVE the markings were a part of the assembly process, probabaly to indicate that the arm was torqued...

John

coolram62

iTrader: (2)

That makes sense as to the markings.How else would someone down the line,or at a line inspection station,know if it had been done.

LOL...I like how you use the I believe clause.

transformula87

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I've gotten the whole rear end out, and am cleaning it all up a bit. The rust always look minimal when you by the car, then it seems to grow.

Do you think theres any hope for this rear end? Its rusted pretty bad. I'm trying my hardest to get it cleaned up, but like everything else thats rusted this bad, it still looks pitted, no matter how much I clean it up.







By the way, these pictures are of the rear end untouched. I didnt get a chance to take pictures of it after about 3 hours of cleaning. I will soon.

okfoz

It takes TIME TIME and more time, did I mention it will take some time...

to be honest, remove the sway bar, the brake lines etc etc, and then use a wire brush... then get some POR-15 or some other rust encapsulator... It might look worse than it really is because of the extra dirt & caked on mud from over the years... mine did thats for sure...

John

Jproz1167

iTrader: (3)

Wow .... I've never seen a rearend that rusted out ... what is the bottom of the car like? ..... At first I thought maybe it was just left out side in the elements but then saw the sway bar bushing were really shiny. So I guess it was removed like this.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

What I did with mine, was to have all the welding done (tubes welded up, LCARBs installed in my case, you may or may not want to do either of those things but DEFINITELY get the spot welds touched up so they don't leak) and then take it to a powder-coating place. I had mine done in a sort of gunmetal gray metallic color, so it doesn't look foreign or out of place. I took off all the other pieces of course, the brake lines, brackets, and so forth, first. They sandblasted at the PC place. Came back looking AMAZING. Doesn't look "Concours" original, but it doesn't look "preened" and "detailed" either, or some oddball "I DON'T BELONG HERE!!!!" kind of color like red or yellow or something.

1991Formula350

Wow, was that car siting in a puddle of water? Did you guys check out the blue formula on hawks main page? That guy had a white formula, stripped it down and did an excellent job. Andy

transformula87

iTrader: (2)

Well, those pictures are of the rearend untouched, ALOT of the rust came off with only a couple hours of work. It had alot of mud on it as well. It doesnt really look like its mud, but it was just caked on.

I'm begining to think this car may have been a flood car or stuck in a muddy yard or something. The rust it has is either very thin surface rust on parts higher up on the car, or bad, pitted-metal rust on everything below the center console with exception of the floor boards. For some reason, the floor boards dont have a spot of rust on them. Not like I'm complaining.

As for the rest of the underside, its not that bad. Decent rust on the gas tank, but again, its surface rust, it comes off with your finger. Oh and the brake/fuel lines are rusted bad, but still surface rust. I'd say this car was driven quite often in the winter and the salt/ice built up on everything. Thats the only thing I can think of. Cause the floor boards are 95% rust free.

Whenever I can get a free second, I'll take some pictures of the progress I've made on the rear end.

Anyways, heres some pictures of the underside.







By the way, sofakingdom do you have any pictures of your rear end after being painted? I'd like to keep this car as original as possible, but thats easier said than done. I want to keep the same rear end, unpainted. But I need to get it cleaned up and protected in some way.

Joey9011

Hey Transformula87,
This is off topic.... but, would you know what the "filter like" unit (blue/green) next to the shock coming from the fuel line is ???

Thanks

wildjeff

iTrader: (1)

I think that is an overflow valve, correct me if I'm wrong.
My car has it too.

okfoz

I think it is actually the breather, to eliminate a vacuum in the tank as you use gas.

JOhn

bdiamond

Theres a picture on here somewhere that has a early third gen on its side in the showroom. If the site search is down try Googleing it.

okfoz

It was a 1989 TTA that was sitting on its side in a showroom.

JOhn