I got a pleasant surprise the other day, a previous owner of my 69 finally responded to a letter a sent him after nearly a month! He provided a lot of great info and mentioned something I had never heard before. He said the gills were originally solid fiberglass instead of open. He claims the factory had to do a recall and cut them open to increase cooling. I could maybe see this happening on some early 68s, but not a 69. Is this another one of those legends based on BS or is there some truth somewhere in this?
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Re: 68 & 69 Gills
I certainly have never heard of this.
However, there are two openings cut under the front grill that happened in early '68, as a result of cooling problems, resulting in a number of cars that were roughly hand cut before the mod going into regular production. All '69's as far as I know have these holes.
The gills never changed as far as I know. The first (and maybe second) gill slot is closed and blacked out, except on black cars. The other two (or three) slots I believe are open, and this has always been the case.
Anyone else please comment if I'm wrong.
Thanks Michael -
Re: 68 & 69 Gills
Hi Bob:
My Corvette involvement has been primarily 68 & 69 and this is a new one on me. It sounds like just one of those STORIES.
jerComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Gills
Bob and Michael-----
I agree with Michael. There were some changes made, I believe, to the cooling holes located below and behind the front grilles between 1968 and 1969. The changes may also have been made to later 68s and some 1968 cars may have been retrofitted. However, I do not believe that any retro-fitting was done to 1969 models.
As far as the side "gills" go, which I believe is the thrust of Bob's question, there was no change made to the "gill" configuration during the 68 and 69 model years. In this configuration, the first three vertical louver slots are open and the last one is closed and "blacked out". There was never any change or retrofit modification regarding the "gills" at any time during 68 or 69.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
Joe is correct. Very early '68s experienced cooling problems and there was a recall to cut two openings in the fiberglass beneath the front grilles to alleviate this. Later '68s and all '69s had this opening molded into the panels. By the way, if anyone has SNs of '68s that had these handcut, we need it for the JG revision.Comment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
Some literature that I don't remember named the front grill holes as Duntov holes. Have you read about this?
Roberto, NCRS #30019, RMCComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
I never heard them refered at "Duntov holes", Roberto, but it's certainly a suitable moniker. The cooling problems experienced by the early sharks caused Duntov and Mitchell to lock horns, much as they did with the center divider in the Split Window Coupe. I remember reading something about Zora sweating the press intro for the '68s especially the big block car that was made available. Overheating would have required an engineering solution, so I bet Duntov signed off on it. The '68 BB got through the press intro without overheating, but just barely.
DukeComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
Reba,
All the changes to the 1968 for increased cooling with 427 engine (it was not just the valance panel slots, but fan shroud, new pulley and new fan clutch) are detailed in the TSB Chevrolet put out.
Full fan shroud effective with s/n S402469. New pulley to increase fan speed effective with s/n S400720. New fan clutch to raise slip speed effective with s/n S401344. Added slots in the valance panel and a panel extension to increase air flow to the radiator, effective with s/n S400720.
That TSB was printed in The Restorer some time back - 1985 to 1990 range. If someone wants to know the exact issue email me and I'll dig it out.
Terry
TerryComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
My 69 has all 4 gills open. i'm sure that this was done to cool off the big motor(doesn't help much!) but after the judges got done with it at orlando no one said anything about them? is this an over sight or is it not that important?
Damon 33315Comment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
Oversight.
80+% of judging skill is observation.
Terry
TerryComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grilles
so how many points should i deduct for this, and is it worth fixing?
damonComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grille judging
So long as the judges keep overlooking it, why worry. :-)
That would be part of fiberglass for deduction and, since I don't have a judging form here I have to work off memory. I can not remember how many points are for fiberglass, so your guess is as good as mine. This will also be area where one judge might deduct more than another, so not cut and dried number of points. One would have to decide percentage of total fiberglass to assign to vent.
You would likely have to repaint part of car to repair, so unless you have paint job on the horizon leave it alone. If repainting, then think about fixing.
Terry
TerryComment
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Re: 68 & 69 Grille judging
Thanks terry . it will be a while for that paint job so im just going to live with it.Comment
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