Upper A-arm Splash Shields

[janobyte]

NOS set in yenko classifieds for $1100! Not sure if camaro or is there a difference. Who would have guessed a set of those around

Uggg, stop! In the day they were pretty much considered ugly, like the dull black underhood paint. Never thought one day I'd be trying to find a close match. As well as reshooting the engine compartment "dull" black.
I vividly remember pitching them to show off those freshly painted black laquer control arms. $1100, JHC!
 

[janobyte]

I got the piece left that went by the drive's side fenderwell bracket, wirhout digging it out tonight, I'm going to say no. It's got a layer of undercoating on it. And a little thinner then the material in your pic. Never even noticed, or paid attention to it till I tore the car apart. Its coming out of storage.

[ZLP955]

Well I also took the plunge and ordered a set of pre-cut shields from Steele Rubber this morning. They estimate 6-10 days to ship here, most likely will be a bit longer, but I'll comment on them when they arrive. I still have the shield that goes below the steering column, so can at least compare the new material with assembly-line rubber.

[janobyte]

Ditto, ordered mine last night.

[Hans L]

After reading all the posts, I was curious to how far off the set of shields I ordered from HBC are from the originals that were installed on my Z. 

What I noted:
- Thickness for reproduction shields is exact to the orgiinals, except for the dust shield by the steering column/inner fender with the bracket.  That particular shield is about 2X thicker than the others.  Fortunately, my original is in excellent shape and re-usable.
- The reproductions are glossy.   My originals are mat finish, but not sure if that's because they are nearly 50 yrs old, have road grim, and over-spray paint.  I'm wondering if it's possible to tone-down the gloss with some acetone/lacquer thinner or use a satin rubber spray paint?
- The texture isn't that far off, but the reproductions are missing the string strands.  I wonder if its possible to lay some string strands on the reproductions and add light coat of some sort of rubberized material or paint to blend them in?

Here's a image comparing the two - I'll note that the texture is a closer match than what appears in the image.

[janobyte]

Got alot going on today, making it quick. Dug my piece up out of storage.

[janobyte]

one more

[janobyte]

Hey, thanks Hans. About right on 2x difference. Piece I posted is very repairable, and should clean up nice for use. Great heads up.

[68camaroz28]

Well I also took the plunge and ordered a set of pre-cut shields from Steele Rubber this morning. They estimate 6-10 days to ship here, most likely will be a bit longer, but I'll comment on them when they arrive. I still have the shield that goes below the steering column, so can at least compare the new material with assembly-line rubber.

Tim, I found what I used and they were REM. Let me know how much material you want from the sheet I have and will send to you if you want to cut ones out. I will load a picture and post of that material.

[68camaroz28]

Well I also took the plunge and ordered a set of pre-cut shields from Steele Rubber this morning. They estimate 6-10 days to ship here, most likely will be a bit longer, but I'll comment on them when they arrive. I still have the shield that goes below the steering column, so can at least compare the new material with assembly-line rubber.

Tim, I found what I used and they were REM. Let me know how much material you want from the sheet I have and will send to you if you want to cut ones out. I will load a picture and post of that material.

A picture I had in my restoration files of what I used.

[firstgenaddict]

Dave Beem had an air operated stapler with anvil made which does a PERFECT job...

I will get him to send me some photos of it again. 

If you take a hand held vibratory sander with some 80 grit on it you can lightly rough up the finish to make them look closer to the originals... if you need survivor looking ones keep going with the sander until they show the strings and cords and then fray up the edges with the sander as well.

[janobyte]

Kit from steele products is .08" thickness, texture looks about the same as my posted piece. Again, that measured .13". So acording to Hans, roughly half of the material by the firewall. Which is what his oe's spec'd.

[Hans L]

Kit from steele products is .08" thickness, texture looks about the same as my posted piece. Again, that measured .13". So acording to Hans, roughly half of the material by the firewall. Which is what his oe's spec'd.

Here's an image comparing the original to the reproduction.  Note the thickness differences.  This is only for the piece that goes between the driver side inner fender and the firewall.  Otherwise, the texture, sans the thin short strings, is pretty good, not exact, but good.  Definitely not inner tube material!  I was able to knock down the gloss some using lacquer thinner.

Reproduction on the left,  Original on the right:


Original on the left,  Reproduction on the right (without the stapled on bracket):


Reproduction on the left,  Original on the right (with the stapled on bracket & clip)

[Mike S]

 I would think that after 50+ years the thickness of an original would shrink a little, so maybe the reproduction is correct being it's new.

Mike

[Hans L]

I would think that after 50+ years the thickness of an original would shrink a little, so maybe the reproduction is correct being it's new.

Mike

Well, keep in mind, the original is ~ 2X thicker than the reproduction...I should have clarified that.   The reproductions match the thickness of the other original splash shields that I have that go on the inner fender apron. 


Hans