69 Gt350 Rear Leaf Springs

[Dan353]

I'm refinishing my leaf springs on my 69 GT350 what was the finish on the springs? Was it natural? Mine are currently painted black. And can anyone tell me what identifiers (paint dab or stripes etc...) should be on the rear leaf springs for a January 13th built Gt350 with A/C and a 4speed. 
Thank you,   Dan

[Special Ed]

are they s9ms bottom leaf?

[Dan353]

Ed,   Yes the springs have S9MS on the lower spring

[Special Ed]

those 69 shelby unique springs never had the color stripes on rear since they werent installed on the assembly line but  later at a o smith instead  & they have white paint on front eyelet area.

[Dan353]

Are the springs suppose to be natural or painted black?

[Bob Gaines]

Are the springs suppose to be natural or painted black?

They are a dark gray heat treated spring steel. I do not paint them because the paint rubs through to metal as the springs flex with flash rust easy to develop plus hard to replicate the right color. I want the most authentic look plus the paint has the other issues as well. That is just me. IF you are compelled to paint them I would suggest using the Eastwod Zinc Phosphate spray paint (too dark for anything but the springs IMO) . It is the closest thing I have come across in ta spray can. After disassembling the leafs ,blast ,paint ,re band . After everything thing is done cover the entire leaf spring with a liberal coat of T9 (Boeshield ) to prevent flash rust at the previous described rubbing point and to prevent rust on the metal bands. Just my suggestion if you are going to paint them anyway. I hope this helps.

[Stubee]

Great topic,

The white paint near the front eyelets have been mentioned before. Was I correct when I understood that it was a spray painted circle, two inches from the eyelet, bottom side?

What was the diameter of the circle and did it have sharp edges or slightly over sprayed? Maybe they were all slightly different?

That white, was it an off white or bright white?

[Special Ed]

50 years later its off white spray painted on eyelet end & no pattern u can see some white if u look up at an angle from front

[Stubee]

Love that description Special Ed.

Thank you for the great parts as well!

Stubee

[Dan353]

Thank you for the information Ed & Bob I really appreciate it
Dan

[johnzajc@gmail.com]

DOES  ANYBODY HAVE PHOT0 OF WHITE MARKING---THANKS

[J_Speegle]

Here is one example - Note that the original mark was likely maybe twice this size and since its marked at the front eye of the rear spring, once installed the mark is barely visible on the ones I have pictures of. Picture was provided to me by an owner/builder that was disassembling their original unrestored car from spring 1969 production

Just plane white

[J_Speegle]

THANK YOU---NOT IN MILLION YEARS I EXPECTED ANSWER AT ALL, NEVER MIND ON SAME DAY---15 YEARS AGO I POSTED A QUESTION AND ONLY ANSWER I GOT WAS TO LEARN SPELLING AND ENGLISH FIRST BEFORE RESTORING SHELBY---THANKS AGAIN

Might want to loose all the YELLING caps when you post

Not being able to spell hasn't held me back much in the restoring end of things