70 Distributor Hold Down

[Joseph M.]

What is the correct finish on a big block distributor hold down clamp? Also what is the finish and possible headmarks for the clamp bolt. Tx to all.

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

What is the correct finish on a big block distributor hold down clamp? Also what is the finish and possible headmarks for the clamp bolt. Tx to all.

Joseph-----


Clamp and bolt were "more-or-less" painted engine orange.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Joe

Any ideas on the bolt headmark?

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Joe

Any ideas on the bolt headmark?

Joe-----


I don't recall typical headmarks. However, for a bolt like this I would expect that any period-correct headmarking (e.g. "TR", "A", "C", "M", etc.) may have been used and would be accepted today.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

You sure Joe? The distributor didn't go in until after paint. Do you think the hold-down and bolt went in before the distributor?

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

You sure Joe? The distributor didn't go in until after paint. Do you think the hold-down and bolt went in before the distributor?

Terry-----


I'm rarely certain of anything. However, it just seems to me that original LS-5 engines I looked at had the bolt had hold-down "weakly" painted. I never recall seeing one that had a "natural" steel clamp and bolt.

Also, I'm not so sure that big block distributors were installed after paint.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

If the engine was painted with the distributor in place would one then expect there to be orange paint on the distributor case?

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

If the engine was painted with the distributor in place would one then expect there to be orange paint on the distributor case?

Joseph-----

Many small blocks were definitely painted with the distributor mounted on the engine. In this case, a shield of some sort (e.g. "coffee can") was placed over the distributor during painting. Some small amount of engine paint is usually observed on the distributor base, though.

Assuming that big blocks were done the same way, and I always thought they were, the same should be true.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

I respectfully disagree Joe -- at least for the subject of this thread 1970, and I would extend that to 1968 to 1972.

Flint Engine did paint the small blocks with the distributor installed and covered by a coffee can type cover -- much earlier in production -- C1 or C2, but not C3. By the early C3 era I believe the distributor was installed after engine paint.

In all my years of judging original cars I have never seen any orange paint on the distributor or hold-down (edit add: for BB), unless there was other evidence of owner-inspired paint efforts.

For Tonawanda BB I am less sure of the hold-down finish, but I did take the opportunity last night to look up a Mark IV Engine Assembly Manual. It is dated late 1970 calendar year, so would be age appropriate for early 1971 model year production. The paint instructions at that time state the distributor hold-down is to be painted black.

I continue to hope someone with an original 1970 Mark IV can shed some more light on this.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Terry,

I assume (?) you are only talking about big blocks when you say you've never seen orange on a distributor hold down?

I'll try and get some pics of the orange 72 this weekend. The top portion of the distributor hold down, and the bolt, are obviously orange and were in place when painted. The bottom is black. In addition, pictured in the lower right corner of the below pic is the orange distributor hold down of the yellow car.

Patrick

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

What's the distributor base look like on those two?

Not to change the subject from large motors. You did say they were black underneath, right? I could show you a bare naked black one, but that wasn't the original question.

[Jim M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

My original December '70 built LS-5 car has a black oxide distributor holddown and bolt. The bolt has 3 hashmarks (grade 5?) and a letter "c" in the center. There never was any engine orange paint on either part. Hope this helps.

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

I respectfully disagree Joe -- at least for the subject of this thread 1970, and I would extend that to 1968 to 1972.

Flint Engine did paint the small blocks with the distributor installed and covered by a coffee can type cover -- much earlier in production -- C1 or C2, but not C3. By the early C3 era I believe the distributor was installed after engine paint.

In all my years of judging original cars I have never seen any orange paint on the distributor or hold-down (edit add: for BB), unless there was other evidence of owner-inspired paint efforts.

For Tonawanda BB I am less sure of the hold-down finish, but I did take the opportunity last night to look up a Mark IV Engine Assembly Manual. It is dated late 1970 calendar year, so would be age appropriate for early 1971 model year production. The paint instructions at that time state the distributor hold-down is to be painted black.

I continue to hope someone with an original 1970 Mark IV can shed some more light on this.

Terry-----


The bolt and clamp originally installed on my 1969 small block were definitely painted with the engine. There was also a very small amount of orange paint on the distributor base flange.

As far as 1970+ big blocks go, my recollection is that the bolt and clamp were painted. However, it may be that the "weakly painted orange" I've observed was actually a light coat of rust.

[D S.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

If they didn't get painted while on the engine how did those distributor bands or tags get a spray of orange on them?

[Patrick H.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Terry-----


The bolt and clamp originally installed on my 1969 small block were definitely painted with the engine. There was also a very small amount of orange paint on the distributor base flange.

Joe,

I think Terry had only the big blocks in his head, though that's not how the post "came out" when written.

Patrick