1967 dipstick tube color?

[Keith G.]

I've taken a hit both ways, clear or semi-gloss black. It is the short tube not the long one. thanks

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

I've taken a hit both ways, clear or semi-gloss black. It is the short tube not the long one. thanks

Keith------


If you're talking about a small block, the tube is natural. The short, LOWER tube for a small block is not visible as it mounts in the block and extends into the oil pan.

If you're talking about a big block, I believe the tube was natural steel. There were no long and short tubes used for 1967 big blocks. There was no lower tube for a big block and all the 1967 tubes were the same length.

[Keith G.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

I'm talking about the 427 blocks, sorry.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Keith, I just did this on a 427/435 and after seeing and OJ'ing the 67 BB's at Kissimmee Florida Regional a few weeks ago, the tubes were black. Also, the JG says, "The tube is painted semi-gloss black". Whether or not this is fact, is unclear. As always, what's in the JG is not necessarily always perfect.

However, to add more confusion, the JG talks about the dipstick handle with the pink plug at the end of the handle end(pointing down), and that the "blade" is "natural", but says nothing about the finish of the handle. All 4 BB's judged at the Regional had "natural" handles, not painted. IMO they were likely clear coated though. Not sure. I asked the judges what finish was "typical" on the handles.....and they said, guess what......"natural".

Rich,
p.s. I also just sent you a PM re: the steering column thread.

[Joel F.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Keith, I just did this on a 427/435 and after seeing and OJ'ing the 67 BB's at Kissimmee Florida Regional a few weeks ago, the tubes were black. Also, the JG says, "The tube is painted semi-gloss black". Whether or not this is fact, is unclear. As always, what's in the JG is not necessarily always perfect.

This is interesting, were those cars dinged for the black tube? At a recent meet i was told by the mech judge that they were in fact natural, and that in this instance the JG is wrong. Interested to hear more . . .

[John H.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

We've covered this one before, a few months ago; the 5th Edition '67 JG will indicate that the BB lower tube should be natural.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

We've covered this one before, a few months ago; the 5th Edition '67 JG will indicate that the BB lower tube should be natural.

I have a question. There have been alot of original BB Corvettes looked at for 25 years or more. How can NCRS miss such a simple paint or no paint when writing the Corvette judging guide? I have never saw a original one painted.
KEN

[Ridge K.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

I have a question. There have been alot of original BB Corvettes looked at for 25 years or more. How can NCRS miss such a simple paint or no paint when writing the Corvette judging guide? I have never saw a original one painted.
KEN

I can't answer that question Ken .... although I've pondered that one myself. I'm sure it must be very difficult to cover every single judged aspect in verified detail.

I can state that John and others are 100% correct in my opinion. My low-mileage, barn-find '67 big block has a dipstick tube that is natural. Every appearance is that it was original to the car.

Ridge

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

This is interesting, were those cars dinged for the black tube? At a recent meet i was told by the mech judge that they were in fact natural, and that in this instance the JG is wrong. Interested to hear more . . .

So actually, I didn't question the tubes or pay attention to the results. I could be wrong thinking they were black I suppose. It's dark down there so maybe they were not black.

I was looking more closely at the dipsticks themselves as the JG had no mention of finish.
Rich
p.s. Now I have to undo the sgb tube on this one back to no-paint.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

So actually, I didn't question the tubes or pay attention to the results. I could be wrong thinking they were black I suppose. It's dark down there so maybe they were not black.

I was looking more closely at the dipsticks themselves as the JG had no mention of finish.
Rich
p.s. Now I have to undo the sgb tube on this one back to no-paint.

Richard------


Don't forget that there is a seal which is used on the lower portion of the tube where it installs into the nipple on the oil pan. Many folks don't know about that.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Joe,

Can you describe this seal or post a picture of it, I never knew about the seal.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Richard------


Don't forget that there is a seal which is used on the lower portion of the tube where it installs into the nipple on the oil pan. Many folks don't know about that.

Interesting you mentioned that Joe, because being my first bigblock with the L71 project recently, I had a issue getting the tube to fit into the oil pan. I had to get a reproduction tube and dipstick for this engine. The oil pan on it was a service replacement. I had trouble getting the tube to seat all the way down into the nipple on the pan. This repro tube has a o-ring seal.

So.......that typical problem where the repro just doesn't "fit" perfectly. I measured the OD of the tube fitting flange, and the ID of the pan nipple, and the tube was noticeably larger. I couldn't get it in deep enough for the manifold bolt to line up with the upper bracket. I had to carefully drive a drift into the nipple to open it up a bit, and then carefully grind the outer lip of the tube flange to reduce it's OD.

After about a half hour of test fitting, grinding, etc, I got it in there and it fit fine......and now I get to do it all over again because I painted it SGB and have to strip it and clear it. As usual, a 5 minute job turns into a PITA one hour adventure.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Joe,

Can you describe this seal or post a picture of it, I never knew about the seal.

Timothy, here's a file photo of the one I got from Zip. You can see the black o-ring at the end, just below the crimped flange(that I had to modify!). Not sure if typical seal. Joe will know.

Rich

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 dipstick tube color?

Joe,

Can you describe this seal or post a picture of it, I never knew about the seal.

Tim-----

It's basically an o-ring seal. Photos are included below.

This particular seal has a round cross section. However, I have some of these seals in GM packaging and of the same part number that have a "square" cross section.

This part number was used for all 1965-74 Corvette big blocks and it's still available from GM.