tank restoration

[ZLP955]

Matt, whereabouts in Aus are you?

[Matt f]

Hey tim is it?

Im in South Australia.

The state with all the laws against driving LHD vehicles on the road

Pretty much anywayz

[ZLP955]

Yep, they do seem to be unnecessarily strict in SA on things that really shouldn't matter....

[Mike S]

Mine is definitely paint on the tank, no undercoating except the wheel wells. The covering is a typical factory application in that it has a lot of large runs at the bottom of the tanks lowest shape so application technique was quick and not exact. It most certainly is not a well masked off and carefully applied spray job that one would usually do if painting themselves. I'll take some picture and post later.

 Any other LOS Camaro owners out there -or- appraisers who have black sprayed tanks?

Mike

 Attached are images of my 67 4B LOS tank that is painted black. Due to the flash and dried dirt on the tank, it looks lighter but I can assure you it is black. I looked closely and used my fingernail and is definitely paint and not undercoating. As you can see it was applied in a typical production line fashion freehand. No masking at all. The paint stops on the edges of the tanks visible bottom. You can clearly see the overspray on the springs including dried drips with some overlapping the remaining gray paint of the spring. The bottom of the tank has the largest amount of runs that gravitated to the lowest parts. It is obvious the paint has been on the tank for a long time and not some carefully applied job that one would expect to do if painted after delivery.
  Any members from the Camaro Pace Car group present and care to chime in? I know you have seen this before.

Mike

[69Z28-RS]

That lumpy 'paint' you refer to, sure looks like the old undercoating I've seen on many many cars.. 

[ZLP955]

I parted out an 01B of 1969 Los Angeles car late last year and the underside of the gas tank is painted black; will take and post some pictures tomorrow.

[Mike S]

That lumpy 'paint' you refer to, sure looks like the old undercoating I've seen on many many cars.. 

You have to see it in person to realize it is paint. The upper portions of the tank have a smooth black covering and only the lower portions where wet thick paint would gravitate to are lumpy. Same type of lumpy paint runs I have on the firewall cowl edge and inner door jambs. If it were undercoating then why stop at the tank and not do the whole underside? The floor boards are not coated with anything aside from years of grime. I can leave my fingernail imprint in the undercoating in the wheel wells and it still has that  tar texture, but the tank drips are hard and I can't leave any nail prints.

Mike

[69Z28-RS]

Mike, Did you buy your car new?  if so, then I won't argue with you..  but I can assure you from having scraped it off the bottom of many old chevys, 25yr old undercoating is HARD as a rock (unless it gets soaked by a solvent like gasoline etc).  That 'lumpy' crap on the lower portion of your gas tank doesn't look like any 'paint drip' I've ever seen; paint runs and drips off and doesn't lump up like that.   Undercoating is much more likely to lump up.   

....Scrape some off and do a test .....?

[janobyte]

Uggg...undercoat scraping brings back horrible memories of what I was doing last year ! After the first 40 hours ,the thrill was long gone. And that was working under a lift.

[Mike S]

 No, I am not the original owner but I did buy it from him in 1980 after it sat in his garage covered with beach chairs for 6 years prior.
Like I said, you have to see it up close to see it is just thick paint buildup in those areas. The shadows from the flash exaggerate it to look more pronounced.
The runs don't look any thicker than those in the cowl and door areas.
Putting the runs aside, it still shows a black painted tank that apparently LOS did.
I hope Kurt can get the photo he stated.

Mike

[Mike S]

 Using a gas soaked rag and rubbing for several minutes I cleaned off a section of the tank (now the rest of the car looks like poop).
What is shown is a thick film of dried paint. It looks very much like the runs you would see on a parts that were flow coated with runs that collected and dried, though we know the tanks were not flow coated.
 I noticed in the vast majority of the dried droplets there appears to be what looks like solvent popping. Typical of a paint film going on too thick and something undercoating doesn't do. I included a rear shot of the car (excuse the flat tires) to show the age and patina.
  Maybe this should be a new topic and a poll taken?

Mike

[ZLP955]

I parted out an 01B of 1969 Los Angeles car late last year and the underside of the gas tank is painted black; will take and post some pictures tomorrow.

Here's a picture of that tank, you can see where there is no paint where the tank straps were. This is not undercoating. The tank was original to the car:

[Mark]

Obviously the tank was painted after it was installed.  Wouldn't think there was anywhere on the line left where painting could happen by the time the tank was installed.  Body was already fully assembled and painted, drivetrain got installed just after the gas tank was installed, and the whole assembly was about to be dropped onto its wheels.

[69Z28-RS]

That was my next question as well, Mark...   When?  and WHY?   in the assembly process.....

[Charley]

I can remember years ago spray painting gas tanks  and tons of other areas under the car black. What is to say somebody like the first owner didn't spray black paint on the make it look better ? Interesting subject.