70 Distributor Hold Down

[Terry M.]

[John H.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Terry -

Flint V-8 hot-tested prior to paint in the 60's-70's, but I don't recall what the Tonawanda process was.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

I'm happy to see this post generated some interest, but what finish should I have on the hold down and bolt I know this question may come down to opinion, but what would the judges want to see. Tx for all the thoughts to this point.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

I'm happy to see this post generated some interest, but what finish should I have on the hold down and bolt I know this question may come down to opinion, but what would the judges want to see. Tx for all the thoughts to this point.

small block - both orange

LT-1 - likely black bolt, and I would suggest black hold down

big block - both black

FYI, the pics in Dobbins' book supports all of the above

[Steven G.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

The closer I look at a 70, and 72' distributor, the more confused I seem to be getting, I see no orange on housings but just a very light mist of orange on the bands, (maybe from repaint ? only on front of bands) the original clamp paint is unknown now, but, my early 70' has no paint on clamp bolt and that is for sure. When I pull the 70' distributor this winter I may get more info. to post to this discussion. Steve

[Patrick H.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

The closer I look at a 70, and 72' distributor, the more confused I seem to be getting, I see no orange on housings but just a very light mist of orange on the bands, (maybe from repaint ? only on front of bands) the original clamp paint is unknown now, but, my early 70' has no paint on clamp bolt and that is for sure. When I pull the 70' distributor this winter I may get more info. to post to this discussion. Steve

My 72 Bowtie car and the other 72 in my garage both have the "tiniest" bit of mist on them near the base.

Patrick

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Terry

Tx for the info, but please indulge me with one more question. When you suggest black, would it be black paint or something like a black oxide?

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Without specifying the engine size, and maybe even year of the car, we are not going to get anywhere -- except for more confusion. I edited my post to keep it to big blocks, but if the desire is to widen the question -- so be it.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

The engine AIM says: "BLACK ENG ENAM 3969868, WYANDOTTE 4AHK-13871" I think that is paint. A note added 5-8-71 says: "NOTE All paint should meet motor enamel specification PS-210." I guess that ties it down.

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

The engine AIM says: "BLACK ENG ENAM 3969868, WYANDOTTE 4AHK-13871" I think that is paint. A note added 5-8-71 says: "NOTE All paint should meet motor enamel specification PS-210." I guess that ties it down.

Terry----


I don't doubt that's what the engine AIM says. However, this seems very strange to me. If the painting instructions are mentioned in the engine AIM, then the paint application was intended to be done at the engine plant. This means that there had to be an OFF-LINE painting operation to paint the clamp and bolt. Since I can't think of another engine part that would have required such painting (i.e. most, if not all, peripheral brackets, etc. installed at the engine plant were supplied to the plant pre-painted), it would seem that this off-line painting operation would have existed just to paint the distributor clamp and bolt. Even if there were other parts requiring such painting, I would think it would have been minimal. It just does not seem to me that the engine plant would have engaged in such an operation for such a "trivial" thing.

[Steven G.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Not to get far off of this discussion but when engines were hot tested even in the sixtys, were the distributors in place or was there a factory line (distributor machine/tool) that was used and removed after testing? Steve

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Not to get far off of this discussion but when engines were hot tested even in the sixtys, were the distributors in place or was there a factory line (distributor machine/tool) that was used and removed after testing? Steve

Steve-----


My observation of engines being hot-tested was that all were equipped with their PRODUCTION-installed distributor.

[Joseph M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Joe/Terry

I feel like I'm watching a boxing match with Ali and Frazier, a great fight, but no clear winner or decision. I don't want to go to the judges table for the decision. Can you go one more round and estabilish a clear winner. Black paint or ??????. Tx

[Joe L.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Joe/Terry

I feel like I'm watching a boxing match with Ali and Frazier, a great fight, but no clear winner or decision. I don't want to go to the judges table for the decision. Can you go one more round and estabilish a clear winner. Black paint or ??????. Tx

Joseph-----

Based upon everything that's been presented here, I have to conclude that I was incorrect in my assessment that the clamp and bolt were painted with the engine. As I mentioned, perhaps some of the ones I looked at were rusty and that made them appear like they were lightly covered with engine paint.

I was most interested in the one report we got of an apparently original clamp and bolt that were black. I wish we could hear from some other 70-74 big block owners that are reasonably sure their clamps and bolts have not been re-painted.

[Terry M.]

Re: 70 Distributor Hold Down

Terry----


I don't doubt that's what the engine AIM says. However, this seems very strange to me. If the painting instructions are mentioned in the engine AIM, then the paint application was intended to be done at the engine plant. This means that there had to be an OFF-LINE painting operation to paint the clamp and bolt. Since I can't think of another engine part that would have required such painting (i.e. most, if not all, peripheral brackets, etc. installed at the engine plant were supplied to the plant pre-painted), it would seem that this off-line painting operation would have existed just to paint the distributor clamp and bolt. Even if there were other parts requiring such painting, I would think it would have been minimal. It just does not seem to me that the engine plant would have engaged in such an operation for such a "trivial" thing.

The "WHERE USED" column for the "BLACK ENG ENAM" includes: "OIL PAN, WATER PUMP ASM, AIR INJ BRKT, DISTR CLAMP, FRT COVER, CLUTCH FORK (EXPOSED PART), TORSIONAL DAMPER, LIFTING HOOK, EXH MANIF, CLUTCH HSG COVER" Since we know they didn’t paint most of those items black on Corvette engines, perhaps they didn’t paint the “DISTR CLAMP” black for our application either. (Does that confuse you more Joe M? I am reminded of the expression "Don't ask the question if you don't want the answer.") On the other hand, it is clear they made more extensive use of black enamel than our engines show -- or at least they did depending on what engines they were producing.

This page is titled "ENGINE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS - ENGINE PAINTING INSTRUCTIONS" MOD "MARK IV, V-8 ENGINE" DWG 3-10-70 REL 3-16.

BTW: I am not shouting. These pages are written in ALL capitals, and I thought to be faithful to the quotes I should do the same.

So before anyone gets too concerned about black oil pans and water pumps, remember this is an assembly manual for ALL the big block engines they built -- NOT just Corvette engines. So the list includes ALL the places they used black paint. I know some of their marine engines were not painted at all, but I have no idea how their industrial or agricultural engines were shipped.

No doubt they had some off-line painting operation going on. I suspect from time to time it was more extensive than just the distributor hold-down clamp (note: no hold-down bolt is mentioned).

Aluminum paint is listed (with two suppliers even) and the only "where used" is "eng front lifting brkt - pass." Now THAT would be a small application assUming they painted the front lifting bracket only on aluminum intake equipped engines.

By comparison there are six suppliers listed for "3742225 RED ENG ENAM" with a revision record dated 8-28-70 stating USAGE REVISED. So we are left to speculate if they added suppliers or removed some. We may want think of that the next time we are tempted to obsess over the shade of orange/red paint used.

There is also another whole page, single spaced that begins: “PAINT ENGINE ALL OVER EXCEPT THE FOLLOWING PLACES WHICH MUST BE FREE FROM PAINT:” Joe M – Do you feel lucky, or do you want to quite while you are ahead?