65/66 sway bar appearance

[Bob Gaines]

I had someone recently ask advice on the 65/66 sway bar appearance and since it is coming to show season I thought it would be helpful to give some insight into concours venue expectations. From the many survivor cars I have seen and NOS bars that I have had and presently have I have the point of view that the 65/66 sway bars were typically not painted. At least until more evidence suggests otherwise. It is a very dark oil quenched spring steel. You want it very dark almost black like it was originally .That is why it is confused with black paint so often. Don't sand it!! The surface is rough and not uniform smooth. Sanding will ruin that look. Chemically strip if painted to keep that from happening. Use your preferred a rust remover product to get rid of rust.  If already previously smoothed out then you will have to think outside the box to come up with a proper approach for a faux finish.  Don't go by the area that is held in the bushing because it may get smoothed out from the action of movement in the bushing.  Gun blueing is one technique to get you closer . I have not been able to completely replicate the unpainted finish to my liking hopefully others can be more successful. I have been fortunate to have been able to use a NOS version when I have needed one. I typically do not deduct for painted in DIV II /MCA trailered but will if the surface is too smooth. I hope this helps.

[KR Convertible]

Bob,

Does this apply to all sway bar sizes and plants?  Were they all from supplier?

Thanks

[CharlesTurner]

Agreed on the Ford assembly plant installed sway bars, every decent original that I've soaked in evaporust comes out a medium to dark shade of natural metal.  Similar to coil springs.  For '65 GT350, the ones installed at SA - I am seeing possibly both unpainted and painted sway bars.  Tried to attach pics, but 'folder is full', so will try again later.

First pic I have is possibly of an early '65 GT350, maybe a prototype.  It is an undercar photo showing the front suspension.  The sway bar looks lighter color than what I've seen on Ford assembly plant sway bars.  It may be an earlier unpainted version?

Second pic I have is a high resolution of the pit area at LAX with a big pile of sway bars.  Zooming in on the pic, the bars are all at different angles and have a sheen on them that looks like paint.

So, for SA installed 1" sway bars, those may have been natural or black.

As far as finish, as mentioned, soaking in evaporust does a great job of preserving the finish while removing all surface rust.  I have simply coated bars after soaking with protective coating like Boeshileld or RPM product that ECS sells.  I've tried insta-blak with mixed results.  Gun bluing is hard to get a consistent look.

[gt350hr]

   The '65-66 1" sway bars were made by Traction Master as I recall and DID NOT have the yellow and green paint stripes as "many" lesser educated restorers have incorrectly added. No paint , almost black in color. Mine has been hanging on the wall for almost 48 years since I don't need it on a drag racer.

[CharlesTurner]

Figured out how to do the gallery images thing... pics posted above.

[Bob Gaines]

Agreed on the Ford assembly plant installed sway bars, every decent original that I've soaked in evaporust comes out a medium to dark shade of natural metal.  Similar to coil springs.  For '65 GT350, the ones installed at SA - I am seeing possibly both unpainted and painted sway bars.  Tried to attach pics, but 'folder is full', so will try again later.

First pic I have is possibly of an early '65 GT350, maybe a prototype.  It is an undercar photo showing the front suspension.  The sway bar looks lighter color than what I've seen on Ford assembly plant sway bars.  It may be an earlier unpainted version?

Second pic I have is a high resolution of the pit area at LAX with a big pile of sway bars.  Zooming in on the pic, the bars are all at different angles and have a sheen on them that looks like paint.

So, for SA installed 1" sway bars, those may have been natural or black.

As far as finish, as mentioned, soaking in evaporust does a great job of preserving the finish while removing all surface rust.  I have simply coated bars after soaking with protective coating like Boeshileld or RPM product that ECS sells.  I've tried insta-blak with mixed results.  Gun bluing is hard to get a consistent look.

So that there is no confusion for others viewing the picture of the stack ,they are of take off factory thinner painted swaybars. The stock bar was taken off and the 1 inch swaybar was added along with different larger size bushings and bushing brackets.

[CharlesTurner]

So that there is no confusion for others viewing the picture of the stack ,they are of take off factory thinner painted swaybars. The stock bar was taken off and the 1 inch swaybar was added along with different larger size bushings and bushing brackets.

The stack of sway bars have the larger style rubber bushing used on a 1" bar, the molded edges can be seen in the pic.  On the factory installed handling package, which would have been take off, the rubber mounts were smooth on the side, like the smaller stock sway bar.

Here's a couple pics of the stock handling package sway bar...

[Bob Gaines]

Agreed on the Ford assembly plant installed sway bars, every decent original that I've soaked in evaporust comes out a medium to dark shade of natural metal.  Similar to coil springs.  For '65 GT350, the ones installed at SA - I am seeing possibly both unpainted and painted sway bars.  Tried to attach pics, but 'folder is full', so will try again later.

First pic I have is possibly of an early '65 GT350, maybe a prototype.  It is an undercar photo showing the front suspension.  The sway bar looks lighter color than what I've seen on Ford assembly plant sway bars.  It may be an earlier unpainted version?

Second pic I have is a high resolution of the pit area at LAX with a big pile of sway bars.  Zooming in on the pic, the bars are all at different angles and have a sheen on them that looks like paint.

So, for SA installed 1" sway bars, those may have been natural or black.

As far as finish, as mentioned, soaking in evaporust does a great job of preserving the finish while removing all surface rust.  I have simply coated bars after soaking with protective coating like Boeshileld or RPM product that ECS sells.  I've tried insta-blak with mixed results.  Gun bluing is hard to get a consistent look.

So that there is no confusion for others viewing the picture of the stack ,they are of take off factory thinner painted swaybars. The stock bar was taken off and the 1 inch swaybar was added along with different larger size bushings and bushing brackets.

Here is a picture of three 1 inch S1MS sway bars . Notice the end link eyelet which is what I refer to as Mickey Mouse ears compared to the narrower eyelets on the pile of factory take offs.   

[Karguy]

Interesting discussion guys, now I'll have to go out tomorrow and check the eyelets on my swaybar.
Bob had mentioned the possibility of using gun bluing, has anyone ever tried gun black? I have used it on several items in the past and it does leave the black finish you may be describing. Just a thought.

[CharlesTurner]

Here is a picture of three 1 inch S1MS sway bars . Notice the end link eyelet which is what I refer to as Mickey Mouse ears compared to the narrower eyelets on the pile of factory take offs.   

Those in that pile match the early versions of the 1" sway bar, like what's on 5S003.  I have never seen an assembly plant handling package sway bar with an end like that.

As mentioned earlier, the Mustang sway bar to body mount never had that side edge molded on the bushing either, only the 1" had that.  That's what I was trying to show in that pic of the old Mustang sway bar, which is a 13/16" handling package (GT) sway bar.

I believe the end design of the 1" Shelby sway bar did change later.  65-66 and 67 sway bars were not the same dimensions also.

[CharlesTurner]

   The '65-66 1" sway bars were made by Traction Master as I recall and DID NOT have the yellow and green paint stripes as "many" lesser educated restorers have incorrectly added. No paint , almost black in color. Mine has been hanging on the wall for almost 48 years since I don't need it on a drag racer.

Randy, Mark H. had researched the early 65 sway bars and had information to believe they were supplied by Stroppe.  The early versions were a bit thin on the end and later ones were beefed up.  Mark discussed with C. Cantwell and he thought they might have had some problems with the earlier version, so made a stronger one.  Maybe traction master supplied a later version?

[camp upshur]

Thanks for posting the factory undercar photo:

- the sway bar appears smooth steel;
- the oil pan field fasteners (vice corner fasteners) are slotted pan-headed 1/4-20, with what looks like split lock washers;
-my car was issued w phillips pan headed 1/4-20 field fasteners with integral external star lock washers FWIW.

[CharlesTurner]

Thanks for posting the factory undercar photo:

- the sway bar appears smooth steel;
- the oil pan field fasteners (vice corner fasteners) are slotted pan-headed 1/4-20, with what looks like split lock washers;
-my car was issued w phillips pan headed 1/4-20 field fasteners with integral external star lock washers FWIW.

Yes, I noticed the oil pan fasteners before.  I'm guessing this is a very early prototype.  Don't think it is 003 though.

[Bob Gaines]

Here is a picture of three 1 inch S1MS sway bars . Notice the end link eyelet which is what I refer to as Mickey Mouse ears compared to the narrower eyelets on the pile of factory take offs.   

Those in that pile match the early versions of the 1" sway bar, like what's on 5S003.  I have never seen an assembly plant handling package sway bar with an end like that.

As mentioned earlier, the Mustang sway bar to body mount never had that side edge molded on the bushing either, only the 1" had that.  That's what I was trying to show in that pic of the old Mustang sway bar, which is a 13/16" handling package (GT) sway bar.

I believe the end design of the 1" Shelby sway bar did change later.  65-66 and 67 sway bars were not the same dimensions also.

65 /66 1 inch sway bar used on the GT350 is a different shape and different diameter compared to the 67/68 15/16 diameter sway bar used on the Shelby.

[CharlesTurner]

65 /66 1 inch sway bar used on the GT350 is a different shape and different diameter compared to the 67/68 15/16 diameter sway bar used on the Shelby.

Ok, I was thinking that. 

Back to my original post with the image of the stack of sway bars.  I don't agree that those are take-off bars, they look like 1" bars.  And the whole point of posting that is to show that there appears to be a shine to the bars, like they were painted.

The other pic I posted of underside is likely an early prototype, as noting slot screws for the oil pan... I'm not sure that comparing that car to other normal production cars would help what we're discussing.  Maybe it would have been best that I didn't post it.

Where I'm at with all this is:
      -the stock Mustang 65-66 13/16" sway bars were not painted, they were a heat treated dark appearance
      -there may have been 2 suppliers of '65 (or possibly '66) 1" SA sway bars.  Based on the LAX pic, some of the '65 ones may have been painted black (as they do appear to be painted, at least to me)