Firewall Painting Questions

[Hotrodpaul]

I will be painting the firewall of my 69 Lemans Blue Camaro SS L78 car shortly and I want to make sure I do it correctly. A few questions:

1)Correct areas to paint? Should the trim tag be painted?

2) When the factory sprayed the firewall, did the workers tape off the cowl area or was there overspray.

3) On big block cars, I read from the Camaro Assembly Procedure that the car was painted body color first then the black out treatment was applied to the tail panel, rockers, and firewall, so the color and finish should be the same. Is this correct?

Thanks, Paul

69 Camaro SS L78 M21 4.10's

[69SSRSL89]

Paul, my understanding of the cowl tag is that it was painted with the firewall. All the unrestored cars that I have seen have been painted over with the paint for the firewall. A good friend of mine has an unrestored X22 Camaro that is this way. The firewall was painted and then the body was painted afterword. When I did my X22 car I had the firewall painted and then when it came time to paint the body color I masked off the top of the firewall about an inch or two below the top of the cowl area with a piece of body tape and paper that would roll out toward the engine bay to give it the correct overspray look like the factory. Then when you spray the body color shoot it from behind the cowl area at an angle so that you don't get to much paint to run over the edge. Then once the body color is done apply the black treatment to the tail panel and rockers. This is how I did my car and how I read that a few other people had done there cars. I'm not saying that this in 100% correct but it looks correct and I have seen it on a few others before I did mine. If you would like to chat more indepth on any of this feel free to drop me a PM. Good luck with your project and post some pictures if you can. I'd like to see it and I'm sure a lot of other would also.

Jesse

[Verne_Frantz]

Interesting reading.. I have no knowledge of the painting methods used on Camaros, but one thing seems strange to me, based on my understanding of the paint methods used on passenger cars from the early '60s (partly thanks to Mo's Dad).
The firewall paint was a primer, which did not require baking. On those cars, the body was painted first, then it went through the bake oven. After that, the sides and top of the cowl were masked and the firewall was painted. And on those cars, the cowl tags were always attached just before the car went to paint. The metal under the tag remained the original primer/sealer.
I suppose it wouldn't hurt to bake the firewall primer coat if it was painted first

Verne

[njsteve]

Dont know if the 2nd gen F bodies are the same, but this is the orginal cowl area from my 72 T/A. The body color was first and the the black was sprayed later. Here is the link to the cowl photo, followed by the entire site.
https://www.yenko.net/attachments/140...idecowltop.JPG
https://www.yenko.net/attachments/140669-drcowlfront.JPG
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...fpart/all/vc/1

[camaromb]

Paul,
If you look at your original firewall where the 2 is written you won't see any blue overspray from where the side cowl was painted blue. The overspray is later covered with the firewall black. The firewall black is painted after body color, as is the dash top and rear inner window black areas. There must have been some templates that the factory used to prevent overspray when the black was applied.
The body color was sprayed over the top of the firewall by hand, catching the trim tag highlights and going over the edge depending on the sprayer!
The firewall black frequently ends before the top of the firewall on original cars resulting in a 2-3" band that slowly rusts. I have seen bare tags with no paint and half painted tags from the factory. Nothing perfect and certainly no crisp body color seam at the firewall top.
The hidden areas of your firewall that were under the fender will give you the best indication of the original firewall black. Good luck with the resto!
Mark

[Hotrodpaul]

Thanks for all the info. It was my understanding that the body color was sprayed first and the firewall, rocker, and tailpanel black applied later. I will try that and post some pics. Thanks,

Paul

[Hotrodpaul]

Here is the firewall painted with overspray about 1-2" down the firewall. I used PPG Lacquer mixed to match the original color since most of the car has the original paint.



Then I hand sprayed Omni Urethane black with a flattening agent to acheive about 50% gloss.



Looks pretty good without using a template. The paint is still drying at this point. I almost felt like a Norwood plant employee doing it!

Paul

[Hotrodpaul]

The other side:



Paul

69 Camaro SS L78

[Kurt S]

Yes, the firewall was painted black after the body color was applied. There was a mask to prevent overspray, but no tape line.
Those two little holes in the top of the cowl held the jig that painted the firewall. After paint, the plugs were then installed in those holes. Hence why those plugs don't have paint on them.

[Hotrodpaul]

I removed them before I painted the cowl. I will post some pics of the re-assembly.

Thanks, Paul