1968 Coil Spring Color

I was going through the 3rd rev of the GT/CS registry and found that the coil springs are to be rust oxide in color. It seems that every restoration I have seen has black. Is rust oxide the true color? Thanks!

I don't see where you found the coil springs being rust oxide. They were either heat treated natural steel (Dark color) or painted semi gloss black, with paint marks identifying the application/optional equipment rating. The paint stripes were painted with a 1/2 inch wide brush, with the coil spring inverted as it would stand on its own, then brushed down each coil. This was not taped off, and quite crude. Drips from the paint would appear to run upward when the coil spring was installed, as the stripes again were painted while the coil was inverted. You will have to determine what options you have, i.e. engine size, power steering, ac, pb, etc., then look up what paint stripe colors you need to paint. Hope this helps.

Mike - helps a ton. I will see if I can find it in the book and give you a page number. wher can a guy find a list of option/stripes?

Here's how I did my Highland Green CS.

Neil

There are at least 12 regular duty 1968 Mustang Coupe coil springs, and 7 heavy duty ones.

For my non-GT 1968 J code automatic with power steering the code is 4V, and the color stripes are 1 Red and 1 Yellow.

From what I have read, the coils were originally dipped in black paint, rather than sprayed.

x-codegtcs said:

I was going through the 3rd rev of the GT/CS registry and found that the coil springs are to be rust oxide in color. It seems that every restoration I have seen has black. Is rust oxide the true color? Thanks!

Click to expand...

Originally bare dark heat treated steel - workers at the plant described them as dark steel.

Mea Culpa - I could have sworn that one late night I read (to my surprise) that the springs were red oxide....FALSE - I cannot find that anywhere in the book...so forgive me.

Neil - Great photo! I hope mine will look as nice some day!

Thanks to everyone who has responded! Very helpful!!!