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Rear Spring Restoration

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Rut

Rut

Obi Wan
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I've got the rear springs out of my Bugeye disassembled and ready to be cleaned and painted. Any suggestions on cleaning the rust and prepping them for painting? What paint should I use?
Thanks, Rut
 
I soaked mime In ATF for about a month. never thought about painting them. But dip painting would probably be most original way
 
Rut said:
I've got the rear springs out of my Bugeye disassembled and ready to be cleaned and painted.
Thanks, Rut
Click to expand...

Did you have any problems getting them out? I've got to get mine out soon and I understand that they can be quite a bear to get out. :eeek:
 
I had to take a cutting disc to the entire rear bulk head of mine and then several large levers and hammers......
P8124891-33.jpg


And then bought a new body shell lol
 
Thanks guys, mine were easy to pull out. I just unbolted and wiggled them free and they slid right out. I took an angle grinder to mine with an 80 grit disc and they cleaned up very well. I want to use POR15 and after reading the info on their site it looks like 2 coats followed by a top coat for UV protection. They have a chassis black that looks good for the final top coat...satin black. I tried to find POR15 locally, but no luck so I'll just order it from their site.
Thanks, Rut
 
I wouldn't worry about uv protection. They are not going to be in sunlight unless you have a major accident. I have a 56 thunderbird I did about 4 years ago and the paint still looks like new on the springs. I think you will find one coat of por will be plenty. It goes on fairly heavy. Make sure you wear rubber gloves when applying it. If it dries on your skin even kryptonite wont remove it. When you put the cover back on the can put a piece of saran wrap between the lid and cover. This will prevent the cover from sticking fast to the can if you have any paint in the top groves.
 
I did (1) of my springs about a year ago. Really a PITA as I over killed everything. Blast cabinet etc. they came out fine. I put a little anti-sieze(sp)between leafs and painted outside with POR-15. It looks fine, but I was wondering how much a spring shop would charge me so inquired about having them blasted. They told me that they usually do not blast them as it is not worth the effort and cost. They told me to just disassemble, clean up etc. using wire brushes and wheels and reassemble. He told me they do not put anything between leaves. So I will bite the bullet and do the same. Just a dirty job. One man's opinion, but I like it.
 
Nothing between the leaves? BMC products are certainly going to be different but on TR leaf springs there are typically rubber buttons between the leaves and of course... those perish over time resulting in the droopy, severe negative camber appearance of older cars. Teflon or Delrin buttons are installed to restore the original ride height. Again, probably no such application here but it's interesting that the use of leaf springs is so different.

I have a love/hate relationship with POR. You will only get good results if you follow their directions to the letter and really pay attention to the prep work. Sand blasting will create a tooth for the POR to adhere to. If you already have the leaves apart, by all means blast away and treat with the POR Marine Clean followed by heavy etching with their Metal Ready. You WILL need two coats. The first coat can leave pinholes for moisture to get through. Plan on painting being an all day job as you MUST let the first coat become sufficiently try (finger drag test) before applying the second coat. If you put the second coat on too early, trapped solvent in the first coat will blister through the second coat leaving tiny pin holes. When the second coat reaches the finger drag point (almost cured) apply a fog coat of the chassis black you want to use. Just a fog coat, no more. The next day, apply a regular coat of your chassis black.

As a footnote, POR only has about a 6 month shelf life, less once you open the container. DO NOT be tempted to buy a quart of the stuff unless you plan on doing a lot of painting in short order. A better investment will be to buy their mix/match 6-pack of small cans (half pints?). I will put down a color like grey or silver first and use black for the second coat so you know by the contrasting colors when you have applied a complete and uniform second coat.

Spraying POR also gives good results if you want to use it on surfaces that will be seen. You only need to thin it a tiny bit. I have never used it in a full sized gun. I have only used inexpensive single-action air brushes to apply POR. They work well and are easier to clean than a gun.

EDIT: And even though POR is tough, I would still consider at least putting grease on the contacting leaves of the assembled spring so the POR surfaces don't stick together.
 
I have never 2 coated por and never had a pinhole problem in all the years I have used it although this is with brush application. Spraying would probably require 2 coats.
 
I..would start with phosphoric acid dip then clean and spray with an etching primer and finally a fexable paint such as emoron(sp)Rubber is suppose to stop squeeky springs. By the way keep the springs marked R or L because each has a different spring load... Factory compensation for driver weight etc....either right or left hand drive.
 
Well, it's about 8 months too late to mark the springs, but they certainly look the same and there's no reference to it in Horler or Bentley (that I saw). Since the springs were unpainted to begin with I've ordered the POR 15 'kit' in satin black. I think I'll clean, etch, and paint per the instructions on the website and assemble them with some kind of grease between the leaves. I'll stop by the local spring shop and have new rubber bushings installed as well as new thru bolts. Once finished I'll hit the outside with a chassis black top coat and be ready to install. Thanks for all the input.
Rut
 
If you plan on putting a chassis black top coat on after assembly, don't forget to fog coat the leaves with the chassis black when the second coat of POR is almost cured. Very little sticks to POR once it is cured and you don't want to put a full coat of a non-POR paint on top of POR before it is cured.
 
I plan on using the POR top coat made for this purpose and following their instructions. I hope they know what they're talking about!
Thanks, Rut
 
could anyone post a quick dummies guide to overhauling the rear springs? Hadn't realised they had rubber between then....had literally just wire brushed mine off and was going to refit as is....

and had no idea they were R and L handed! ****, any ideas how to work that one out when they've been floating around the garage for 9months?
 
Talonaer,
The Bugeye springs don't have rubber between them, at least mine don't. I'm not sure I buy into the left and right rear spring statement either. Good luck,Rut
 
I read elsewhere of putting boot polish between the leaves, any thoughts on that?

The idea being that any paint between the leaves will quickly wear down and grease or oil will quickly be squeezed out. After they are reassembled the extra is cleaned off with solvent and then the outside gets a heavy coat of paint.

My own springs are sitting in the ready to be reassembled and painted stage.

I also read some place to swap every other leaf left to right as a way to normalize any sag. Not sure I buy into that one, but seems like it could help if there was any sag.

Does anyone have a lead on the round (~.25 x 1.75) spacers that run across the springs?
 
Patrick, metal tubing (often available at the hardware store) can be used for the spacers. I installed thin teflon sheets between my leafs. They didn't creak after that. Then I switched to a different set of springs without the liners and they creak so I'll be pulling them out and putting liner between them as well.
 
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