Paint details needed for wheel wells and luggage area for 1973

[mobius911]

What started off as a project to get my second horn installed has now blossomed into a a full redo of the "hidden" areas in the front of the car. I'm trying to clean up and restore the wheel wells and trunk and all the associated brackets and wiring. I'd like to get the details as correct as possible.

The car is a 1973 RS Touring that I've owned since 1984. It had some work by previous owners and some by me, so some of the issues I'm correcting are undoubtedly self-inflected. After 28 years I'm probably redoing some of this stuff for the third time...

So here are my questions, in no particular order. Actually they kind of go from reasonable to ridiculously anal...

-Do any of the body plugs get paint? Some of mine are painted, but that just could be sloppy repaints at some point. My battery boxes each have 2 small plugs. They are currently painted.

-Was fender and luggage area paint a flatter finish? I seem to recall hearing that. The original paint i have in those areas does seem more of satin finish, but that could just be wear.

-What is the best material to use for the caulk strip where the fender mates to the body?

-Should the fender bolt heads/washers that are the inside the luggage area be painted? I'm getting new fender hardware and will probably leave them alone, but I think the factory may have sprayed the final paint coat with the fenders in place, so they would get sprayed.

-Does the latch mechanism on the gas cap really just get sprayed body color? Seems like a poor approach since the scraping motion during closing quickly removes the paint from the mating surfaces, but maybe that's just the way it was.

Any help appreciated!

[edmayo]

All the body plugs I've seen are unpainted (other than the"sloppy repaints")

Trunk area was mostly overspray and therefore not very glossy

Wurth sells the terostat cailk strip for the fender beading. Comes on a roll, 1" wide.

Yes, the fender bolts were painted, fenders were installed when painted.

Latch mechanism should all be painted as it was all assembled when painted, including cotter key, but not the rubber bumper. That's why you always pull the release when closing the lid.

[mobius911]

Thanks Ed! By the way, in the "small world" category, I work with your "niece" KC at Squaw Valley.

[edmayo]

Well, you're close, she's not actually my niece, but rather the daughter of my old business partner!

[Alan.uk]

Hi,

I will post more when I have some time, but not all the wing bolts were painted. 3 per side which hold the carpet clips were added after. The wing bolts are also specific in design and NLA. The originals have a "k" stamped on them.

HTH

Alan

[mobius911]

Thanks Alan, appreciate it. Yes, in my car the ones with the snaps are painted black (not at home so can't confirm the "k"). I saw some available online recently that may be repros. They appeared to be a gold cad type finish.