[Guest]

I have a San Jose built 1970 Mach 1 with a Q code medium blue metallic exterior. I have the car on a rotisary and it is now ready for undercarriage, inside and engine compartment paint. In trying to decide the paint procedure the following questions arose:

Where should the blue stop and the semigloss black begin on the unibody cowl top and sides. The tops of the inner fenders weld onto the top of the cowl, I seem to recall these being black. However, I would think that under the cowl panel should be blue so the black does not show. The vertical portion of the firewall is broken by the sandwich of the cowl panel (1/2" protruding lip) this would be a logical break but still leaves doubts with the tops of the fenders that weld to the top of the cowl.
My undercarriage was a dark green which will be reproduced. Should this start at the tail light panel and proceed to the front of the car where the floor begins to slope?
Should there be any blue overspray on the undercarriage. How much and where? How about black overspray?
How is the black out done on the Rocker panels, where the Mach 1 mouldings are? It seams a shame to paint over the nice finish with black. Was this done prior to putting the Mach 1 mouldings on? Only where the blue would show, or the whole bottom 8-9" of the car?
Was the sound deadener inside the trunk and underneath applied after the paint?
Thanks for the assistance.

 

[roadracer]

Although my car is not San Jose built (and they are special). Try my website and look at the detailed undercarriage shots of my 69' Boss302.

Maybe it will help you

http://home.netcom.com/~jonescha/Photos/DCP_0355_178x109.jpg
"If you're under control you're not going fast enough"
Parnelli Jones
Try my website

 

[Jeff_Speegle]

"Where should the blue stop and the semi-gloss black begin on the unibody cowl top and
sides....."

Well it appears to have varied depending on factory. In San Jose that year a vast majority were painted
black from the bottom of the firewall to the defroster duct. Take note that the wiper motor was in place
during this painting. And it make sense (even non blackout ones received black to the wiper area and the
defroster duct area) since if not painted black these areas (especially with the bright colors) would jump
out to the viewer from behind the dash pad and behind hood stripes if so equipped. BTW take a look at
original cars and you will likely find that the area behind the kick panels was blacked out also

"My undercarriage was a dark green which will be reproduced. Should this start at the tail light panel and
proceed to the front of the car where the floor begins to slope?"

Yes (for others be aware that the by this year Ford was mixing so much left over exterior paint in with the
primer sealer that everyday the undercarriage color changed. And it changed allot

Should there be any blue overspray on the undercarriage. How much and where?"

You should have exterior overspray (starting from the front misting over the floor pan to the rear frame
rails (inward to the driveline tunnel- amount varies between a mist only touching the ribs and heavier at
the outer edge too more but not a full coat) San Jose cars would not show signs of visible exterior color on
the outer side of the engine compartment walls like other plants.

At the rear wheel well we often see very nice color on the rear frame rails (outer side) and on the gas tack
mount. This would be from shooting the car and attempting to catch the lower edge of the rocker and
quarter panels

How about black overspray?"

Pinch welds were blacked out and would mist like the exterior color Only difference would be a heavier
coating on the rear end of the front frame rails and the front most rear spring support.> This paint was
applied before the front fender was installed and when from the front end to the rear valance

BTW a nice little touch is to paint the rear valance on the car as it was done at the factory. It was simply
hung by two mounting screws (normally the second one in from each end. So only these two screws were
painted. After paint they were fully installed. This allows a bit of exterior color to wrap around it and mist
the rear undercarriage at the outer edges.

>How is the black out done on the Rocker panels, where the Mach 1 moldings are? It seams a shame to
paint over the nice finish with black. Was this done prior to putting the Mach 1 moldings on? Only where
the blue would show, or the whole bottom 8-9" of the car?"

It was shot before..... and it really makes a difference once you have seen a Mach without the pinch welds
done like factory

"Was the sound deadener inside the trunk and underneath applied after the paint?

No before generally. Exterior paint did not always stick well or hold up under abuse over the seam sealer


Hope this helps... BTW there are some poor pictures of an original undercarriage (earlier car) here. The
bright red is putty so disregard it. The pieces of tape were placed as markers as to where exterior color
and black out stopped/started Blue exterior color is difficult too see. And this car recieved its fair share of blackout paint to the floor pans

<a href=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1609818&a=12284202&p=44920733>See my photo
<a href=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1609818&a=12284202&p=44924716>See my photo

Jeff Speegle
MCA Shelby Gold Card

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6473/
Mustang & Shelby research, documentation, and help.
Where sharing with one .. means sharing with all

 

[Guest]

Thank you kindly for the detailed reply. How high up the rocker / fender / doors did the black out for the mach 1 mouldings extend? Was the sound deadener on the underneath applied before or after the primer sealer? My car had very little sound deadener underneath, and it mostly washed off with pressure washer, I am considering not putting any underneath, comments? Thanks again, Jeff.

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Jeff for the help you have provided.
I realized that I made a mistake in my original posting. My car is a California car - delivered to San Diego, but it was built at Dearborn on Oct. 22, 1969. Now, I am confused, because my car displayed the "build look" of a San Jose car. For example, the dark green undercarriage color, it was the color there, never been painted over, and because from California, in rather good shape. The engine compartment outer walls, did not have blue overspray as typical of the Dearborn cars. As well, the application of sound deadener was very light (I am contemplating leaving this off the undercarriage, is this OK). So if i paint the undercarriage the dark green per original, would I get questioned or docked if i were to participate in an MCA show? Everyone usually says Dearborn cars had the red oxide underneath. Also, there was no noticable blue overspray on the undercarriage, maybe it wore off? How does the transition from blue to semigloss black on the cowl, defrost plenum change for a Dearborn car?
I am a bit confused about the sound deadener application. Was it sprayed prior to piming, on bare metal? Therefore all colors should go over it? You commented about sticking problems, this was not clear? The color did not stick to the sound deadener, or the sound deadener would not stick to primer?


I put off the painting that was going to happen this weekend, so I can try to sort this out and get it right. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jeff_Speegle]

Answered the rest directly but noticed the following was not included


"I am a bit confused about the sound deadener application. Was it sprayed prior to piming, on bare metal? Therefore all colors should go over it? You commented about sticking problems, this was not clear?
The color did not stick to the sound deadener, or the sound deadener would not stick to primer?


What I've see is that all sound deadener applied to the inside of the rear quarter panels were always under the exterior color that was applied over it. Seam sealer placed along the taillight panel supports (from the trunk floor panels on either side and the ears where the wheel wells met the the trunk floor was made of a different material. Because of the different materials and the wear and tear these areas often see the paint normally does not stick as well. As a Dearborn car I can't for sure tell you if this seam seal is over or under the finished exteriior color applied there. For San Jose it is under the paint but the paint often wears off on the edges and top

Hope this is clearer

Jeff Speegle
MCA Shelby Gold Card

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6473/
Mustang & Shelby research, documentation, and help.
Where sharing with one .. means sharing with all

 

[Jeff_Speegle]

Since your car was a Calif car you are likely not use to seeing factory sound deadener but instead dealer undecoating. Since part of the Mach I package was this sound deadener I would suggest that you replace it but not to copy what you see in the dealer installed stuff. IMHO this distracts from the fine straight floorpans you have and is incorrect if your wishing to reproduce the look for the factory.

Jeff Speegle
MCA Shelby Gold Card

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6473/
Mustang & Shelby research, documentation, and help.
Where sharing with one .. means sharing with all