I have read many places that the factory dipped the bare steel lower control arms in cosmoline to prevent rust for a while. Many people on this forum try to replicate this appearance with various gold and amber spray paints. I painted the LCAs with Eastwood Detail Gray which looks like bare steel. After that dried, I used my spray gun to spray amber shellac over the Detail Gray to copy the cosmoline look. The silver color of the Detail Gray shows through to make an amber gold color. I did not intend all the runs but that probably adds to the authentic look. Amber shellac is not available in spray cans. After I cleaned off the dirt and grease, the rust line indicated the tip was not dipped in cosmoline so I taped that off.
replicate look of cosmoline on lower control arms with amber shellac
- Thread starter Lasalle
- Start date
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When I saw the thread title I thought "how stupid to go that far", but I must admit, you nailed hell out of it. Nice job.
Nice! Let us know how it holds up to driving once you get her all back together.
It turned out better than I ever wouldda thought. lol
Looks really good, but I'm really curious to see how shellac holds up on metal and against the road dust.
I've got 3 full Summers on my Bee now and one on the Dart dipped in Cosmoline factory style. Still look like new.. and I live on a gravel road.
Man yall are just to much purists. I'da just blowed um with a good primer and black paint. LOL
A real purist would have used this....
Cosmoline for Sale - Cosmoline Direct Rust Preventives, Sprays & More
I paint mine, who really cares about replicating chryslers penny pinching techniques.
Cosmoline for Sale - Cosmoline Direct Rust Preventives, Sprays & More
I paint mine, who really cares about replicating chryslers penny pinching techniques.
Mine came powdercoated! Little fancy for me, I just prime and paint the factory ones.
Those headers sure aren't factory. Neither are the stiffening plates.
And to me, that's the thing. Where do you stop? Why go through the trouble of dipping the LCA's in cosmoline if you're not keeping everything factory? Paint will hold up better, powder coat will hold up better than that. And anyone that's looking to see if your LCA's have the proper finish will definitely notice the stiffening plates and headers.
I mean, if it makes you happy, great. But I don't get it. Maybe for some one of none Hemi whatever museum car. But honestly I have a hard time understanding that too, so maybe I should just say it came out better than I thought it would from the description and leave it at that.
Those headers sure aren't factory. Neither are the stiffening plates.
And to me, that's the thing. Where do you stop? Why go through the trouble of dipping the LCA's in cosmoline if you're not keeping everything factory? Paint will hold up better, powder coat will hold up better than that. And anyone that's looking to see if your LCA's have the proper finish will definitely notice the stiffening plates and headers.
I mean, if it makes you happy, great. But I don't get it. Maybe for some one of none Hemi whatever museum car. But honestly I have a hard time understanding that too, so maybe I should just say it came out better than I thought it would from the description and leave it at that.
I laughed at that one. I freely admit the shellac was crazy. I had it on the shelf so I thought I would give it a try. I'm not concerned if it holds up. This is not a show car. This car has been in my family since new and it is very good untouched original condition. I just started out to replace the ball joints and control arm bushings. Everything was dirty, greasy, and rusty. I hate to put dirty, rusty parts back on. It has to be painted so it might as well be the correct color. The shellac was over the top.
Sometimes I do stuff like that just to see how well I can succeed and also just to see if I can do it at all. I do it for the fun and chalk it up to learning experience. I always love to learn new stuff.
Weather it is actually worth the effort and money is not important to me. It the challenge of it all.very nice work Lasalle. I actually attempted to replicate the cosmoline look with powder coat. my outcome was ok but not as nice as yours.
Dan
Weather it is actually worth the effort and money is not important to me. It the challenge of it all.very nice work Lasalle. I actually attempted to replicate the cosmoline look with powder coat. my outcome was ok but not as nice as yours.
Dan
I think they came out great. Had you said "I recoated my control arms in Cosmoline" I wouldda believed it.
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