I am getting my valances powder coated. Was factory satin finished? What is the opinion for shiny black? I am refinishing a '70 to Irish green. Engine compartment lid grate was shiny black correct?

Thanks,
Buck

Buck,

All of the F & R Valances, L & R Rockers & Engine Lid Grill were a semi-flat or satin finish - & the 4 lower panels had a pebbly texture from undercoating, which most folks recreate with Wurth or other body shutz/undercoating (also used under the paint on the belly panels & wheel wells, etc. "down-under" BTW).

There are several threads on how folks recreated this for correct OE & CW finish over in the Originality & History Forum.

I don't know how well PC will hold up on those lower panels vs. paint over undercoating with all of the rocks & road crud hitting them, since PC can be more brittle than some paints made for that application - plus it's easier to touch-up paint with a rattle can or brush, than to re-PC them.

If you're trying for a concours car & will do PCA Parade, AACA, etc. shows where originality matters, then you don't want to PC, but do the proper undercoated then painted satin/semi-flat black paint finish as close to OE as possible today.

Good Luck!
Tom
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Working on the same thing.

When you say - the 4 lower panels - which do you mean? Never mind. I see what you mean. I always think of the rocker covers as smooth. But I guess they were textured.

Also, does anybody know the color under the engine grill? I know it wasn't body color. It is some type of black or off black.

And the engine tin - what color did it come from the factory? Satin black?

under the engine grill was semi gloss black.
If you're getting the valance powder painted, tell them you want it 50/50 black.
The best thing to use for texture is Sem Chip Guard, in aerosol can.
It's a clear rubberized texture. . If you use Rocker Schutz, which is tan,
when you get a rock chip the tan shows through. .

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I am doing my 4 valance pieces right now for a '70 914-6 and I have decided to leave off the undercoating because I believe the early valances were smooth finish I think sometime in '71 they went to undercoating finish first then satin black paint over top because of the complaints of easy chipping. My 2 side rocker covers were smooth and I borrowed an original rear porthole 6 valance and it was also smooth finish. Anyone else know if the first year valances were smooth?

I believe my rocker covers were slightly, lightly undercoated and then finished in satin black. I like the idea of doing the rubberized texture in the clear and then spraying them satin black. I plan to do the same for the front and rear valances just to give them some protection from rock chips.

I have a '75 and had a '76 before that. Neither one had any texture on the rockers or valences. I can find no evidence that my '75 lower panels were ever resprayed other than what I have done, so I am not sure that the above advice applies to all years.

I have a porthole for a 6 that I am pretty sure is original paint.
No sign of texture....don't know if it was from a first year edition.

This may not be correct but I painted my Valances with a rattle can of Rust-Oleum "Trim & Bumper Paint" which is a Paint Code 251574 MATTE BLACK. It goes on easy and seems to be a good match.

Drove my 1970 914-6 off the showroom floor (actually out of the back storage garage of the dealership where unsold year old cars were kept) and it had smooth satin black rockers and valances. No texture finish.

Well heck....maybe I will just have my rockers, valances, engine lid screen and my oil cooler screen all powder coated semi-gloss black then.

If you only want to make them look decent, while on the car, without stripping old paint, etc... Dupicolor undercoating in a rattle can does a reasonable job of taking care of paint and texture. And you can re-shoot or touch up whenever you need to. Worked perfectly fine on the daily driver 914.

That said, my /6 is going to get properly pianted valances in semi gloss black with no texture which I believe is the way they came.