Proper finish of power steering column: '69 Charger

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang....
Just finished replacing the seal and cover on the Daytona's steering column coupler. With the column out, I wanted to detail it out to the best of my ability without totally disassembling it.. I see the steering column bearing is white, now was that black or remained white? The steering column shaft and coupler, black or natural?

Thanks in advance......

[bill440rt]

Bearing should be white.
The coupler & shaft should have a natural appearance. 

[hemi68charger]

Bearing should be white.
The coupler & shaft should have a natural appearance. 

Thanks Bill...  Just found this on John's thread... Thanks John !!   

Should be the same except mine is a console shift, no column...

[bill440rt]

Hey Troy... FYI.
Might have to eat crow. Pass the ketchup.

Catching up on some of my Mopar magazine reading, there was an article in the Jan '13 MCG issue by Frank Badalson on steering & steering box details. Upon his research of several unrestored cars his determination that the lower steering shaft & coupler should be... wait for it... painted BLACK. 

It's a pretty good article. According to the photos, it looks like the lower coupler was assembled onto the steering shaft, then painted black. The roll pin that attaches it to the steering box shaft should be natural/zinc plated.

Hope that helps.

[maxwellwedge]

I think they can come either way - I remember seeing a low mile one at Gibson's shop that appeared to have a cosmoline type finish over bare metal. I'm sure Frank isn't ruling out different finishes completely.

[hemi68charger]

Hey Troy... FYI.
Might have to eat crow. Pass the ketchup.

Man, I'm not sure about that... Eating crow and all. With a last name of "Hawkes", not sure I wanna eat any of my "brothers", maybe eat fish.. lol I'm going to go out and check my '69 500 and see if it looks like it has never been touch.. Hard to tell with 40+ year old cars..

[bill440rt]

Yeah, I was blown away when I read that. I never saw any traces of black paint on mine, either.
Perhaps it depended on the assembly plant? The article referenced E-bodies & B-bodies, one of them was a '71 as well. None of the photos were from Chargers, IIRC. 

[maxwellwedge]

I talked to FB about it and he maintains that most, if not all were painted black. I'm going to look at my stuff again....but it's hard to argue with FB's research....so, I won't! 

[twenty mike mike]

Bearing should be white.
The coupler & shaft should have a natural appearance. 

Thanks Bill...  Just found this on John's thread... Thanks John !!   

Should be the same except mine is a console shift, no column...

Anyone know the proper shade of blue for the upper column? I searched for the referenced thread but couldn't find it...I'm obviously using the wrong search criteria.