finish on pulleys and alternator braces.69 L78

[daveg]

third week Feb Baltimore 69 Chevelle L78 M22.
The original owner brush painted the motor assy lemans blue lacquer.
This included pulleys and alternator braces.

Cleanup time and it was discovered the pulleys- alternator braces were not painted.
Aircraft paint stripper took the lacquer off easily but did not touch the finish on pulleys or braces.

Did a thread on Team Chevelle on this.
Seems the pulleys- and hood hinges, throttle cable bracket, alternator fan, hood latch assy etc. are phosphate.

Alt braces seem to be black oxide.
What say you?
I always thought they were painted but it does not look that way.
pics of the work.

note defective die on smog and water pump pulleys.
Re- pops are much prettier .

[Lynn]

Seems the pulleys- and hood hinges, throttle cable bracket, alternator fan, hood latch assy etc. are phosphate.

I think all of that is correct... except the pulleys. I am certain I COULD be wrong, but seems all the 69 Chevy pulleys (other than the alt pulley) are painted satin black.

Rick Nelson would likely know.

[daveg]

Link to thread about if anyone is interested.
https://www.chevelles.com/threads/factory-finish-on-69-l78-pulleys-and-alternator-braces.1175205/

[Lynn]

Would like to hear from someone who knows more than me about pulley finish.
Of course, that would be 99% of the folks on this board.

[daveg]

Exactly the reason we joined this forum.
Had a mess of these Chevelle SS cars in the past but was not into this depth of detail.

We found this 1 owner car and it was close enough to try and bring back as far as possible.
Out of the estate so no questions could be asked.
Did get the maintenance records and a couple repair invoices from 1970.

Just an L78 M22 car but Baltimore like the COPO cars and it is pretty plain like them.
Thought the COPO- YENKO folks would be very far into the minutia of how they were when new.


Would like to hear from someone who knows more than me about pulley finish.
Of course, that would be 99% of the folks on this board.

[Zman1969]

I have Feb 3rd week Framingham L78 car, from Camaro world says pulleys and brackets are 60% gloss black - I believe the brackets were dipped and runs present I don't know why Chevelles would be different but I'm no expert

[daveg]

Looking for info on how they were when new.
Not what judging standards are.

I always assumed they were painted. Now that I am paying attention it is obvious to me they are not.
Car does not have power steering so no pulley to look at there.

The pulleys- braces were preserved with Lemans blue lacquer and are in pretty nice shape.

Pulleys are a match for the finish on hood hinges, hood latch [ both lower and upper], alternator fan, throttle cable bracket etc.
Finish is greyish- green and textured.

Alternator braces are satin black and textured a little. Almost looks like runs on upper.
Starter finish resembles this some but is much more weathered.

Thread on Team Chevelle suggested iron oxide on alt braces. Looked into this and "black oxide" sure looks like a possibility.
Some forms can exhibit runs.

Thought folks here would be all over this and I am not doing anything with the blue car.

Her other cars are why i am looking for verification on this. Will be doing this to parts on them and just want to be sure. Will be taking examples to platers to see what they say.
Thanks for the reply
Dave



I have Feb 3rd week Framingham L78 car, from Camaro world says pulleys and brackets are 60% gloss black - I believe the brackets were dipped and runs present I don't know why Chevelles would be different but I'm no expert

[Kurt S]

Depends on the pulley. Many were plated, but there are a few that were painted.
I think I've only seen plated 69 wp pulleys, fwiw.

[daveg]

Thanks Kurt,

This is front view of lower pulley.
The part number is weak and could not get a readable pic of it.
The S is clear though.
Front area did not have as much blue on it and it suffered more.

Sides are good and it is the same finish as wp and smog pulleys.

I have seen painted pulleys also.
This was a surprise to us.

[daveg]

Example of same finish on an NOS 68 hood hinge.

[daveg]

Have the NOS 68 hood hinge in hand now.
Finish is an exact match with pulleys etc.

RF outer 69 Chevelle bumper bracket is NOS and it does not look like paint???? Do not want to try paint remover .

Anyone ever looked into GM's use of black oxide finish before????

[daveg]

To carry this a bit further I put a spot of old Aircraft stripper on inside surface of bumper bracket.
Bracket is an old stock one.

It had zero affect just like on alt brackets. Surely someone has looked into this before????

Finish sure looks like upper alt bracket.

[daveg]

Still wondering about this?
For sure not paint.
We will be doing some work on the "MAROON CAR" this summer so clarity would help. Thanks

[LT1vette]

Most pulleys over the years were made by the same company in the USA. Some were different in Canada, but most pulleys were mounted on the engine before shipping. I've looked at a lot of pulleys over the years as most have, the few that I can remember not being painted were the crank pulleys ( not always either)
Any chance the original owner stripped them before painting them?

[daveg]

some prior work.
Finish on pulleys matches other stuff on car.

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/factory-finish-on-69-l78-pulleys-and-alternator-braces.1175205/?post_id=11815567#post-11815567

[dykstra]

Off topic, but I love that center tachometer!! Way cool!!

[Kurt S]

Most pulleys over the years were made by the same company in the USA. Some were different in Canada, but most pulleys were mounted on the engine before shipping.
There were several pulley suppliers in the US.
And the pulleys were not mounted to the engine when shipped. See http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml#engine for pictures. The pulleys are listed on the chassis broadcast sheet for installation by Chevrolet.

[daveg]

Off topic, but I love that center tachometer!! Way cool!!

Thanks
We would like to have the car it came out of.
6,000 redline and speed warning.
Got the entire dash unit and wiring harness with it but seller had no clue what it was out of.

Note crazing on tach paint.
Sure, see that a lot on 68 tacs.

[daveg]

There were several pulley suppliers in the US.
And the pulleys were not mounted to the engine when shipped. See http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml#engine for pictures. The pulleys are listed on the chassis broadcast sheet for installation by Chevrolet.


Lot to digest here.
Thanks

[LT1vette]

There were several pulley suppliers in the US.
And the pulleys were not mounted to the engine when shipped. See http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml#engine for pictures. The pulleys are listed on the chassis broadcast sheet for installation by Chevrolet.

Interesting read. I was not aware of that. The pulley suppliers... When I was looking for pulleys I became aware of the insignia stamped on a high percentage of them.
Canadian built cars had local (Oshawa) pulley manufactures from what I have seen.