rear sway bar and parts finish or coating

What finish should the rear sway bar leaf spring plates be on a 71 e body.And actually what about the swaybar,links and frame brackets? Im assuming the entire assembly was painted black like fronts are?

This is a late 1970 Ebody (T/A)

Front sway bar: end links bolts, spacer, and washers black phosphate, U-straps, U-strap bolt black phosphate, U-strap I think black phosphate but maybe natural


Rear sway bar: frame bracket is black, bolts zinc, end links like front,

Pics from the late Dave Walden...

That just weird to me that the all those parts: stamped sheet, bolts, forged bar... all have the same color? Even if natural, differ materials have different looks.

Bolt almost always have some treatment finish to them.

Is that the 1970 4 door cuda?

Yes, they’re from his blogs on the 4-Door Barracuda. I’m just putting them out there.

Maybe the flash is doing numbers to it.

My 71 rear sway bar is unrestored yet. It’s got a lot of factory undercoating on it since it’s an undercoating car. The fame bracket does have surface rust. Maybe it was natural.

I've been following this and dug out this NOS rear sway bar I have.
It is natural finish but shows some traces of black paint...perhaps as a preservative.
Has part number stencilled on and
Grey paint/primer also evident near the brackets.

Very interesting

Does the grey primer look to be over some of that black paint ?

The one Walden did looked to have something on bar near bushing.

What’s tough is NOS parts often look a lot different than assembly line parts.

Need survivor pics also.

Original 70 T/A

I have an NOS E-Body rear sway bar.


100% painted black. Everything!


Part number (sales part number in parts catalog) 3402049.


However, the number stamped in yellow ink on the bar itself is 3402043.


Bill Rolik

Dave had said in one of the article on the 4 door Cuda that the rear sway bar was tin butter plated

I just re-rear the article,and Dave found the tinning butter just under the area where the busgings would sit

The original one in my car was black also.


BR

Here is the stamp I had made for the number found on the bar.


Yellow ink.


BR

That’s from the same car I posted the three pictures above from. The FT6 T/A that Troy restored that had like 30k? So Cal miles on it.

Do you have pics of your original bar with the part number stamp?

Is this on your orange 71 340 conv?

The original bar had only the 34 portion of the number visible. Most of the paint was gone. I never took a photo.


On the NOS bar, which I acquired over 25 years ago, I have a photo of the number in its entirety. I have to dig it out, so it may be a day or so. The NOS bar has since been media blasted and painted. Only the stamp needs to be applied.


FYI, my car is a 340 auto, FE5, white top, white interior, white billboards. I have almost 100 tote bins of NOS, and most other components, including all of the fasteners have already been powder coated/painted/plated etc. as needed. Engine in process as we speak. Body/paint is last.


Bill Rolik

I have also noticed that the rear sway bar bushing retainers on the the Walden car ARE THE CORRECT ONES. The retainers available today, AND the ones Chrysler serviced up until perhaps 8-10 years ago, have a flat lip around the perimeter, and are finished in black zinc. The originals have no lip, just a nice rounded shape. I had to go through a ton of them to find some that were not pitted to hell. Same deal for the retainers on the front sway bar. Finish should be phosphate. The rear shock absorber washers were originally made without the lip as well.


BR

Hi Bill,

If you don’t mind sharing, what are the approximate dimensions for the stamping? What location did it show up on the bar?

Thanks!

The gray look is the tinning butter that Dave reapplied.Google his 4 door Cuda build blog from E Bodies only and you will find some detailed pictures and process for what he did to duplicate that

The yellow stencilled number on mine was applied about 13.5 inches in from the bracket.
The 3402043 number measures 2 inches from the front 3 to the end 3.
Like Bill states about his, part number is 3402049 as per book and shipping tag but stamp is 3402043
The 'tinning' as Jim mentioned is on each side of the bracket...bar appears to have been black as evident by traces but most has disappeared.

Hey Bill - Wanna rent that stamp?😀. Or, if you still have the paperwork maybe I can reorder from wherever you got it?

Bruce,

Here are the dimensions: Length 2-3/32 (2.093) Height 15/32 (.468)


Very common font. Any stamp shop can make one!


BR

Here is my NOS bar.


Bill Rolik

Is that tinning butter over the black?

Some of NOS pics and even the original Steve70 posted look to have a grey haze over the black ??

Perhaps, but it has already been painted!


BR

thanks for all the response,some survivor pics would sure be nice to figure this out........I`m sure I have a magazine article somewhere where roger gibson stated entire front swaybar ,links and all was dipped in black or am I wrong?

Awesome. Thanks!

Thank you guys for the pics and dimensions!

The pic that Steve70 posted is a 30k mile survivor.

That car just had that light tan interior that seems to have 1/2 lifespan of black. And the original owner hopped up the motor.

Very cool post with some nice pictures. One thing to keep in mind is many assembly line parts do not have part numbers stamped on them especially Suspension parts. That is a NOS sway bar so that is why there is a stamped number on it for identification purposes. That bar is cool to look at for sure.

So for sure the bar and frame brackets are black,still need to know the finish for the links and the leaf spring bracket/plate that the end link attaches to........any more pics of the 30k mile T/A out there?

It looks like black paint on the bracket

Links and nuts were phosphate. I have NOS. Never have seen natural links.


Washers can be either natural or phosphate. I have seen both. Mine are now phosphate.


Sway bar plates (under the springs) were natural (I have NOS). Mine are now matte clear powder coated by Mike Ross to simulate natural.


Lower shock washers can be natural or phosphate.Mine are now powder coat to simulate natural.


Lower shock washer nuts were generally phosphate, but I have seen some that were clear (silver) zinc.


Lower spring plates (I have NOS) were natural. Mine are now powder coated to simulate natural.


And one more thing, for ANYONE working in this area of the car:


The axle housing ends on an 8-3/4" were NOT PAINTED!!!


I have NOS axle housings which reflect this as well personal examinations of ultra low mileage cars, including Juliano's 10K 71 FC7 Hemi Auto Charger with the 8-3/4" axle. NO PAINT ON THE BEARING AREA. That area is machined (as shown in the attached photos) and left natural, which is why they rust immediately!

The full housing picture is a B-Body unit.


The other pictures (my E-Body housing) show the before (as purchased) and after (wire-wheel cleanup) and the original factory paint application. They taped it off and then painted everything else, including the weld joint for the bearing housing.


Bill Rolik

How is it possible that the yellow ink stamp remains on the picture of the bar that mccannix provided and most of the black paint is missing, isn't the yellow stamp over the black paint ?.

I don’t believe they used “ink” when stamping these parts. Personally, I’ve stamped my parts with Testors’ model paint. In addition. I’m sure the parts we’re given a minimal amount of paint. If the parts were stamped when semi-wet (with black paint) then the yellow paint may have dispersed the black paint.

Thank you

Bremotorsports - Bill Rolik

Mccannix - Terry McCann

Steve 70 - Stephen Cabral

For your time and effort to post pictures.

Excellent thread, and hope others feel free to post their findings and pictures also.

yes thanks to all you guys,i can proceed now !! :-)

I`m assuming the sway bar was bolted to the car before sound deadener(undercoating) application?

Is your car a undercoating optioned car? Or just the standard undercoating?

My 71 R/T has lots of undercoating on the sway bar. But not completely. The frame brackets are pretty much covered. Including the self tapping bracket to frame bolts.

Beautiful!

thanks autox,I will be applying just the standard sound deadener in the wheelwells to the car........

My car is full undercoating

The pictures Steve70 posted and I posted are of a 70 challenger t/a with standard undercoating.