62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

[Stuart F.]

Got a surprise today working on my son's 62. I had planned to do a valve lash adjustment so got my large 1/2" drive torque wrench which has served me well to use in barring the engine over on my 63 L-76 from the bolt in the end of the crankshaft. Surprise! No Bolt.

Question for the day: Which are the best heat range plugs to use in a 63 or 62 SHO?

Stu Fox

[Joe L.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Got a surprise today working on my son's 62. I had planned to do a valve lash adjustment so got my large 1/2" drive torque wrench which has served me well to use in barring the engine over on my 63 L-76 from the bolt in the end of the crankshaft. Surprise! No Bolt.

Question for the day: Which are the best heat range plugs to use in a 63 or 62 SHO?

Stu Fox

Stu-----


Are you sure the 62 340 HP is really a 340 HP? The 1962 340 HP was supposed to be fitted with a balancer bolt.

As far as your question goes, it depends on just what kind of use the car is going to get. In general, I would say an AC-44 or equivalent (AC 44 is no longer available, though, and is replaced by AC-45).

[Duke W.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

All Corvette engines - small block, big block - regardess of horsepower rating, for road use should use AC heat range 5 or equivalent in another brand. The OE AC 44s used in small blocks are long out of production, and I think the catalogs replaced the 44 with the 43, which is way too cold for normal road use, and many have found out with prematurely fouled plugs.

Plug heat range should be based on typical actual output demand, and no Corvette engine can sustain WOT for very long unless the driver is drunk or insane.

I used AC 43s for race track hot lapping events, and they were right on as far as heat range is concerned, but quickly fouled on the steet.

Duke

[Bob J.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Got a surprise today working on my son's 62. I had planned to do a valve lash adjustment so got my large 1/2" drive torque wrench which has served me well to use in barring the engine over on my 63 L-76 from the bolt in the end of the crankshaft. Surprise! No Bolt.


Stu Fox

Stu,

your son must have an early 62.
Later solid lifter 62s came with a threaded crank snout and used the balancer bolt.
Bob J

[Duke W.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

On a level surface put it in top gear with the brake off and just bump if forward or backward to index the crank.

Duke

[Stuart F.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Thanks for the responses.

Stu Fox

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

I use AC 45 or 46 plugs in my 62 340 HP car.
No fouling and it runs fine.

[Stuart F.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Bruce;

Thanks for the information. I'm sure the 45's would work fine. I intend to keep the new ones I have for my next plug change, which I hope I can do yet in my life time. My only reason for a change even then will be for concern that my 44's will rust into the heads.

I don't recall, but did you once post that you had a Pertronics II electronic conversion in you 62? Reason I ask is that we are trying to use the same conversion in a 62 Fuelie to replace the dual points. However, it seems as though this not a good application for Pertronics because there is too much gap between the mounted components in the distributor. That being the fact that there is no plate, rather the points mount directly to the base. I was able to use their washers to close the gap, but only to the high side of the tolerance or .060" (they call for .010" to .060"). I didn't get any wobble of any significance, and the only change in gap comes with the play in top part of the mechanism. Being a two piece distributor, there is no shimming required at the bottom drive gear and there is little one can do to remove play at the top.

Would be interested in your experience, or that of any one else. I don't like this application.

Stu Fox

[Patrick S.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

I converted my 62 FI to electronic by using the single wire piece from LectricLimited, works perfect and no "gap" issues. Single wire retains "original look".

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Bruce;

Thanks for the information. I'm sure the 45's would work fine. I intend to keep the new ones I have for my next plug change, which I hope I can do yet in my life time. My only reason for a change even then will be for concern that my 44's will rust into the heads.

I don't recall, but did you once post that you had a Pertronics II electronic conversion in you 62? Reason I ask is that we are trying to use the same conversion in a 62 Fuelie to replace the dual points. However, it seems as though this not a good application for Pertronics because there is too much gap between the mounted components in the distributor. That being the fact that there is no plate, rather the points mount directly to the base. I was able to use their washers to close the gap, but only to the high side of the tolerance or .060" (they call for .010" to .060"). I didn't get any wobble of any significance, and the only change in gap comes with the play in top part of the mechanism. Being a two piece distributor, there is no shimming required at the bottom drive gear and there is little one can do to remove play at the top.

Would be interested in your experience, or that of any one else. I don't like this application.

Stu Fox

Stu,
I have a original Pertronix (First design) in my 62.
When I installed it I did shim the bottom to remove most of the up and down play.
Other then that it was a simple installation.
I remove the distributor cap every few years to be sure the magnet ring is tight, which has not been a problem.
With 45 or 46 plugs I have driven the car for years with the same plugs.
My 65 300HP car which I have driven for at least 10 years and 13,000 miles also has a Pertronix unit.
I removed the cap this year for the first time before I went on the Power Tour driving 2600 miles.
My 57 FI car has a 889 dual point distributor and runs fine, so I will leave it alone.
I definitely believe if you drive the car regularly it keeps it healthy.
Bruce B

[Stuart F.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Bruce;

Did your 62 have a distributor originally equipped with dual points and no VAC?

The reason I ask is that, being the case, it probably did not have a VAC plate, but was of the later large cap design with two point adjustment windows. This then would be like the 62 L-84 that I recently put a Pertronics unit in. Being a two piece distributor (fuelie), it did not have a need for shimming the drive gear in order to adjust the pickup gap. Rather, the gap could only be established by adding the .032" washers in a stack of 5 under the weight mechanism to drop the magnet wheel down to meet the pickup mounted in the base of the distributor (not an ideal arrangement). I could get the gap just inside the maximum tolerance only of .060". Also, the point set mounting position where the Pertronics pickup mounts is further away from the rubber bushed wire access hole than on a distributor with a VAC plate which required that I add an additional length of heat shrink tubing to shield the wires at the pickup, and a bridge clip to keep the wires blow the rotating assembly (also not ideal). It works, but it is obvious this is not a good generic application for the Pertronics unit.

Just wondered if you ran into any of these problems.

Also, dealers are now selling the Pertronics II kit along with their "Flame Thrower III" coil as it states on the box that it will work with either the II or III kit. Inside the coil box the instructions say "do not use the III coil with a II kit. A call to their Tech people confirmed this as a fact. This required that we scourer Florida to find a II coil and return the III coil to C.C..

Stu Fox

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Stu,
First to answer your question, no I did not have any installation issues when I got the Pertronix.
My distributor is the stock non vacuum dual point (985?).
When I first spoke to Pertronix they did not have a kit to fit my dist.
Within 3 or 4 months they had a unit. It consisted of a electronic unit and a magnet ring which is fastened to the advance weight mechanism as on your FI dist.
As I said I did use shim washers between the gear and the case to reduce the up and down movement.
I also use a stock GM coil.
I hope this answers your questions. I have a fever right now and my mind is foggy.
Bruce B

[Stuart F.]

Re: 62 L-76 vs. 63 L-76

Bruce;

Take care of yourself. Get more rest off line for awhile and you'll feel better.

Thanks for your response though. Talk to you more later.

Stu Fox