I took apart the entire rear suspension last night. Since I have it apart, I figure I'm going to wire wheel any rust off of it, and paint it so it looks nice.

I don't want anything ricey or ghetto. I'm using POR-15, so the choices are black, grey, silver (Metal Mask), semi-gloss black. I have the green ST springs, so ideally, that's going to be the only real color under there.

I want to paint the shocks (because they are red and would look stupid with the green springs), sway bar, rear end, and all the other pieces of linkage.

Ideas? For sure, I'm doing the rear-end with the black POR-15. I was thinking of doing the sway bar with the Metal Mask stuff, but other than that, I'm open to opinions.

 

Would you consider repainting the springs? Black/silver combo always looks good, but I think the green would look funny. I would use black for most everything and use silver as a highlight color (sway bar, springs, etc.).

I am currently doing almost the same thing as you are. I am replacing all the worn suspension pieces, brakes, etc. I don't have any rust, so I am just using a black gloss enamel for most things. I have RB springs and front sway (red) and will probably paint the rear sway red to match. My shocks are Illuminas (white), but only the back ones are visable.

 

I originally had the RB springs and painted stuff red to match, and it looked too ricey for me. I don't want to paint the springs because I figure when they flex, it will crack the paint.

 

I've done this on a Datsun 240 restore. I brushed on both black and metal mask. Didn't do the springs tho. The black comes out great, but the metal mask I wasn't as happy with - came out a little streaky and not as I had pictured it. Might work better if you spray it. Both are really durable, but you cannot paint over it unless you use their primer I think. Good luck with your project.

 

I would use the semi gloss black. Thats close to the original black used for most of the pieces. Make sure you have some pictures before and after too.

 

I'm using a foam brush for the metal mask. It's doing a good job of eliminating the streaks.



Here's a partially done piece so you can see the difference.

 

ZOMG! It's a hovercraft!!!

 

Use Krylon/Rustoleum silver metallic, (krylon if you can find it, white can, not that metal FX **** or whatever it's called) lightly heat the metal with a torch spray it on and flash it with the torch. It dries looking like bead blasted aluminum, it's high temp, and damn near bullet proof. I'm going to do my whole suspension with this.
Rotor housings/front cover are bare aluminum with Krylon:


Pulleys are black paint backed with rustoleum, water pump is white enamel backed Rustoleum:

 

Red + Green = Christmas! Do it!
Sidenote: Your jack situation scares the **** out of me. Is it just the angle?

 

It's on four jackstands, and it's rock solid.

There is a jack directly under the car, it's supporting the tranny because I'm dropping the motor and tranny from under the car.

And all the red will be gone. It will be 90% black, 10% silver/gray and then the four green springs.

Seriously, who the hell makes springs green?

 

You could powercoat the springs black or silver, maybe? Other than the green, I think that the black/silver will be very nice.

For mine, it will only be the springs and sway bars that are red and everything else black..hopfully it won't look too ricey.

 

I'm planning on painting the car a dark grey, and I think that the small touch of green will actually go nicely with the overall design.

In any case, I have plenty of time to mess with it, as I don't even have an engine or tranny to put in... Mostly because I haven't decided on one yet.