Replacing the radio antenna cable necessitated the removal of the blower motor. With the motor out I decided to clean it up and repaint the blower housing and fan — you can see from the photos below that it came up like new. I also cleaned all the switches and electrical contacts and removed the sticky goo that was sealing the gap between the blower and the plastic ducting that connects the blower to the vent in the b-pillar. I resealed the ducting using self-adhesive foam strip. I also replaced the antenna/wiring harness grommet (which was completely missing). Note the indentation in the inner guard to accommodate the blower motor, and how nice the fiberglass looks on the inner guards. Also note the view down the b-pillar showing the 'bird cage' with its original, green zinc chromate — the bird cage is untouched and completely rust free. Lots of green zinc chromate was used throughout the Corvette for corrosion protection (see Deep Dive below).
Cleaned and repainted blower housing and fan look like new. I resealed the ducting using self-adhesive foam strip. Fitted new antenna/wiring harness grommet. The indentation in the inner guard is to accommodate the blower motor. Note how nice the fiberglass looks. Also note the view down the b-pillar showing the 'bird cage' with its original, green zinc chromate paint — the bird cage is untouched and completely rust free. With everything reinstalled the new antenna cable runs under blower motor, it's impossible to replace with the motor in place.
Cleaned and repainted blower housing and fan look like new. I resealed the ducting using self-adhesive foam strip. Fitted new antenna/wiring harness grommet. The indentation in the inner guard is to accommodate the blower motor. Note how nice the fiberglass looks. Also note the view down the b-pillar showing the 'bird cage' with its original, green zinc chromate paint — the bird cage is untouched and completely rust free. With everything reinstalled the new antenna cable runs under blower motor, it's impossible to replace with the motor in place.
The whole bird cage on C2 Corvettes was painted in green zinc chromate primer. St Louis bodied cars then had the area under the glove box (where the trim and vin tag are located) blacked out, whereas A.O. Smith bodied cars (of which the Red Rocket is one) had body colour overspray in that area. St Louis cars had under-body reinforcement steel parts painted black while A.O Smith cars were in green zinc chromate. Green zinc chromate primer can also be found on the door inspection panels (behind the door trims) and the core support area behind the headlights.
Zinc chromate's main use is as a coating over iron or aluminium materials. It was used extensively on aircraft by the US military, especially during the 1930s and 1940s. It is also used in a variety of paint coatings for the aerospace and automotive industries. Because of its toxicity, zinc chromate paint has been banned in many countries, including Australia.
