[68ragtop]

Yep, anther question I disassembled the intermediate shaft & cleaned the parts. I can't find any paint on the shaft, but its possible if it was painted, it could have been displaced by light rust? Or were the shafts all natural bare steel when new? There is bare steel under the rubber boot & where it was sandwiched to the rag joint.

Thanks!

[gtoguys]

Some were painted and some are bare steel. My Pontiac built 68 was bare steel. I painted it with a cast blast enamel, so it would look bare. The u-joint end is painted semi-gloss black.

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by gtoguys

Some were painted and some are bare steel. My Pontiac built 68 was bare steel. I painted it with a cast blast enamel, so it would look bare. The u-joint end is painted semi-gloss black.

So the end that connects to the splines of the steering column is usually black? That part on mine is pretty clean steel not very rusted, the rest of the shaft to the rag joint however has light surface rust over all of it. Or should I say "had" I will epoxy coat the parts & probably paint them either black or a natural gray. I have yet to see a paint that looked like bare steel, but would like to try some.

Or....... I have not noticed the paints that are close & are only noticing the ones that are way off. Y

Years ago I bought some Eastwood paint through our host (Ames) that is supposed to look like bright zinc. Tank tone I think its called. It looks like a greenish silver medium, gloss paint. Didn't try that on anything...

[68ragtop]

Anybody else have any opinions? For whatever reason mine seemed like it might have had paint on the main shaft, but the knuckle end that fits the column output shaft was not painted at all that I can see. Kind of the opposite of gtoguys has found on his car.

I put my intermediate shaft in black epoxy primer for now, but easy enough to strip it back off or paint it a cast gray. I have a few parts That I media blasted with fine grit balls, then directional marked the surface with sandpaper & then soaked it in evaporust for 24 hours. sprayed some satin clear over it & it looked pretty good. Nothing
I am saying is correct, just playing around with the finishes to see what I can do. Might try something like this with my hood hinges

[dataway]

I've seen them two ways ... painted black ... and completely surface rusted ... which I assume at some point was bare metal. I've also seen the factory black paint so thin you could scrape it off with a fingernail.

Sometimes I'll go to Frank's Pontiac Parts website to look as his many pics of used parts to see if I can determine what the original finish was.

[68ragtop]

Were they normally all one color? meaning the shaft & the splined joint
I have in the pict above? On a car I restored a number of years ago I had
the joint done in cad & painted the shaft semi gloss. Looks nice, but probably not correct
But, this was in a car that is not followed popularity like our Pontiacs.

I might do it in natural just to set it off from all the black in that area.

[Bentwheelbob]

Here's mine that I just refinished for the Black Car. I used Martin Seymour Stainess Steel on the shaft and Martin Seymour Cast Blast on the end cap. I left the clamp and bolt natural - just blasted it, wire buffed on wire wheel, and coated with Rust Prevention Magic. The link below is the rebuild kit I bought mainly to get the new rubber boot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crown-Steeri...3D301943440640

[68ragtop]

I just ordered a heater core from car-id. Wasn't any cheaper with shipping than my local parts stores, but they claim the APDI has the oem looking copper hose connection just like the picture. Seems everyone has gone to either all aluminum, or aluminum coated copper that would look quite wrong. http://www.ebay.com/itm/311568305909...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


I am surprised there is no clamp on the rubber boot? or is it black? Also, What grease did you use? The original stuff in those joints is so thick & sticky & even after 50 years its really not broken down. Just about every off the shelf brand I have used breaks down some to make a mess eventually. must be a heavy weight grease of some sort.

Looks good!


I had two clamps I sent in years back with other parts. I thought I had one done in yellow cad & one in clear. Turns out they are both yellow. I am guessing that would be very incorrect.

I have been buying different silver paints off the shelf in spray bombs to see what they look like. I found a silver rustolium that looks really close to clear cad plating. I'll post some picts later. I sprayed the inside tube of my steering column with it. only 1" of the tube can be seen though the slot where the shift lever would normally go on an automatic car, so when installed I am not sure if any of it would be seen, but it was bare steel with some rust. like most things bare steel & 50 years old..

[Bentwheelbob]

The original boot did have a black pinch clamp. I tried to reinstall it, but the new boot is much thicker and the clamp even fully opened wouldn't work. The boot fits so tightly around the shaft I am sure it will be fine, but it would have been nice for originality. As far as grease, I just used a high quality synthetic grease.

[68ragtop]

That make sense, it does look a little thicker.

What brand synthetic? The last & current tube I bought was is mobil one. There are red drips of oil coming out of the grease gun as we speak. Before that I tried Mystic. Same thing & maybe worse.

[68ragtop]

Does anyone repop the spline end clamp? I know the nut & bolt is available.
I have two of them, I had them plated in yellow cad many years ago, not only is the color probably wrong, the metal was a little pitted so the finish is not so great either.

Going with natural on both the shaft & splined end. Just need to do something with the clamp. Also need to find a different rag joint. I installed a WS6 steering box on the chassis. Not sure if that was a good idea or not seeing its still going to have the factory negative (head for the ditch) caster.