Finish 71 LT-1 Distributor Bracket

[Paul C.]

What is the finish on the distributor hold down bracket and bolt for a 1971 LT-1. I saw a previous discussion where some thought it should be black painted, others natural,etc but I think it was for a BB. How about a SBC?

[Edward J.]

Re: Finish 71 LT-1 Distributor Bracket

Paul, I have a pick of a 300 mile ZR1 and it appears to be Black, plated or painted ?? Terry M. surely knows for sure.

[Paul C.]

Re: Finish 71 LT-1 Distributor Bracket

I'm going to go with black plated. Looks almost like paint. I also have a 2002 Electron Blue Z06.

Thanks

[Erich M.]

Re: Finish 71 LT-1 Distributor Bracket

Paul,

Attached is a picture of my '72 LT1 BRACKET an bolt. It looks like a natural finish with some silver manifold overspay. I am the original owner of this car. Of course there is some aging evident on these parts.

Erich Meyer
72 LT1 BOWTIE & TOP FLIGHT
ORIGINAL OWNERP1030464.jpg

[Joe L.]

Re: Finish 71 LT-1 Distributor Bracket

Paul,

Attached is a picture of my '72 LT1 BRACKET an bolt. It looks like a natural finish with some silver manifold overspay. I am the original owner of this car. Of course there is some aging evident on these parts.

Erich Meyer
72 LT1 BOWTIE & TOP FLIGHT
ORIGINAL OWNER[ATTACH=CONFIG]68759[/ATTACH]

Erich-------


Your clamp is exactly what I would expect. The original clamp, GM #3704912, was always supplied in SERVICE in natural steel. I am 99.9% sure that it would have been supplied to PRODUCTION in the same manner. For the vast majority of applications, this clamp was painted with the engine. So, I would expect that GM would have no interest in paying extra for a painted or plated part that they were going to paint later anyway. This is true for every part I can think of that was subsequently painted with the engine. Sometimes, SERVICE parts were pre-painted while the PRODUCTION pieces were not (to avoid rusting of the part in the warehouses) but I can recall no case in which the PRODUCTION part was supplied to PRODUCTION painted, but the SERVICE part was not painted.

The only applications, of course, for which the distributor clamp was not painted with the engine were applications with aluminum manifolds. This was a TINY percentage of the engines manufactured during the period and I feel very confident that GM did not have a special, pre-painted version for such engines. If the clamps were ever pre-painted, I would expect it would have to have been done at the engine plants and I highly doubt it was done, especially for a part as obscure as the distributor clamp.

By the way, there were THREE part numbered versions of the solid steel type distributor clamp used over the years. All are similar but far from identical. From what I can see of it, yours does appear to be the original GM #3704912.