1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

[Matt L.]

Hi, I have a 1964 Fuel injection with transistorized ignition on my Corvette. Any knowledge of when the first one came off the line?? Mine came off the line on 01-06-1964.
Anybody know of one sooner perhaps?

Thanks, Matt

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Hi, I have a 1964 Fuel injection with transistorized ignition on my Corvette. Any knowledge of when the first one came off the line?? Mine came off the line on 01-06-1964.
Anybody know of one sooner perhaps? ...

Matt --- Yours must be pretty close. Here's what is said in April 1964 edition of Chevrolet Service News: "A breakerless ignition system of the magnetic pulse type was introduced in December 1963 as an option for certain 1964 high performance versions of Chevrolet V-8 engines. ... currently available on Corvette ... 365 and 375 hp, or on the 409 cu.in of 340, 400 and 425hp offered in passenger cars"

How about your F.I. distributor 1111064 ?; what's the date on the plate ?

K66 was also offered by Pontiac, and I have the amp 1115005 and the volt. reg. 1116366 [pic below] dated L3 (probably Dec 1963), supposedly off the same '64 Grand Prix.

Also have a 1111060 T.I. 365hp distrib with band dated 4C30 (March 30th). Seen several others on eBay with this same date, so they probably produced them in batches.



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[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

PB185342.jpgWayne, My amp is a 1115005, but could not find a date stamp. Mine looks very different from the 1116366 pictured. Here are pic's of amp and distributor. Also, the original motor ready to "clean up" and reassemble then bag it and put it on an engine stand then put it in a safe corner of my garage.
thanks for your input.
Matt






PB185343.jpgPB185347.jpgPB185348.jpg

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Wayne, My amp is a 1115005, but could not find a date stamp. Mine looks very different from the 1116366 pictured. Here are pic's of amp and distributor. Also, the original motor ready to "clean up" and reassemble then bag it and put it on an engine stand then put it in a safe corner of my garage.
thanks for your input. .....

Matt -- the amplifiers have no date. I only included that pic of the transistorized volt reg to show the early date that corresponds to when the option was available on other GM lines. I wouldn't expect a 1964 Corvette to have one. AFAIK, starting in 1965, K66 with air conditioning on 350 and 365 hp engines had a transistor volt reg. (1116368, also with a date stamp). So your equipment looks OK to me. Small comment; looks like your stationary pole piece has been replaced (separate green and white wires, and magnet with "lips" around the 3 retaining screws).

How about your 42 amp alternator ? Here's one I have with Dec 17th 1963 assy. date; very close to that of your F.I. distrib.

K66 is a very rare option in 1964; only 552 total; 34 L76 w/C60; 353 without; 165 F.I. cars.

[Alan D.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Appears my distributor (064) was much latter than yours, 4A6.

In Adams (page 223) it was surmised that the first K66 was sn9,867 with an assembly date of 1/24/64 - a L76 car.
Then on page 224 "but the AIM shows that another distributor, part number 1111064, was specified as of 3-19-64" Since I have a March 23 car believed my 064 may have been one of the first one's however checking with people who have tracked these the 064 have been seen in Sept 1963.

My 42amp is 3K3, with black stator.

[Clem Z.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

my new 365HP 64 VIN 111103 had the TI

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Matt -- the amplifiers have no date. I only included that pic of the transistorized volt reg to show the early date that corresponds to when the option was available on other GM lines. I wouldn't expect a 1964 Corvette to have one. AFAIK, starting in 1965, K66 with air conditioning on 350 and 365 hp engines had a transistor volt reg. (1116368, also with a date stamp). So your equipment looks OK to me. Small comment; looks like your stationary pole piece has been replaced (separate green and white wires, and magnet with "lips" around the 3 retaining screws).

How about your 42 amp alternator ? Here's one I have with Dec 17th 1963 assy. date; very close to that of your F.I. distrib.

K66 is a very rare option in 1964; only 552 total; 34 L76 w/C60; 353 without; 165 F.I. cars.

I don't have the original alternator. It's got a chromed one now. I'll look for one.
What do you mean about the green and white wires, magnet with "lips" around the 3 retaining screws. Not sure what that means.
Thanks.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

......What do you mean about the green and white wires, magnet with "lips" around the 3 retaining screws. Not sure what that means. ....

Matt -- here's a pic that shows the "lips". On the magnet (stationary pole) on the right, you can see daylight behind the screw (in other words, the magnet is perfectly cylindrical). On the left, the magnet material is raised on each side of the three retaining screws. This might have been to compensate for the effect of the proximity of the screw to the magnet force. Anyway, this change began sometime after 1969, going by the examples I have.

As for the wires, 2nd pic is of NOS pole pieces; notice the wires are joined together (siamesed) like a household electrical plug wire. There is a faint green stripe on one of the wires to indicate which connection goes into what socket on the plug. This was from the start of K66 production until (I'm guessing) the mid-70s, when GM service items switched to a separate green and white wire.

Notice the "lips" on the 2nd pic.



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[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Thanks for that info. I will find out from my uncle Gary if he ever had the distributor serviced, that he can remember.

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Well, it's confirmed because mine came off the line on 01-06-1964 with the 1111064 distributor, serial # 8307 and FI. Came with a host of options, J50 power brakes, u69 radio, K66 Ti, L84 FI, M20 close ratio trans, G81 Posi 4:11 gears, A01 soft ray tint on all windows, A31 power windows, F40 suspension, N11 off road exhaust, since removed and side pipes put on in 1981ish, didn't save it.

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Matt -- the amplifiers have no date. I only included that pic of the transistorized volt reg to show the early date that corresponds to when the option was available on other GM lines. I wouldn't expect a 1964 Corvette to have one. AFAIK, starting in 1965, K66 with air conditioning on 350 and 365 hp engines had a transistor volt reg. (1116368, also with a date stamp). So your equipment looks OK to me. Small comment; looks like your stationary pole piece has been replaced (separate green and white wires, and magnet with "lips" around the 3 retaining screws).

How about your 42 amp alternator ? Here's one I have with Dec 17th 1963 assy. date; very close to that of your F.I. distrib.

K66 is a very rare option in 1964; only 552 total; 34 L76 w/C60; 353 without; 165 F.I. cars.

I thought I heard or read somewhere that only 70 came with FI and TI. If in fact's it's 165, that's still a pretty small number.

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

I spoke to my uncle Gary, and he sent in the distributor and the amp and they did a "solid state board" upgrade to the amp and some dialing in upgrade work on the distributor. He can't remember exactly when and who he had do the work.
Does that matter having those "upgrades" done or does that somehow knock off for points or something because of that?
thanks, Matt
I'll post some pic's so you guys can see what I'm dealing with. I think I'm over my head. LOL!!

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Well, mine came off the line on 01-06-1964 with the 1111064 distributor, serial # 8307 and FI. Came with a host of options, J50 power brakes, u69 radio, K66 Ti, L84 FI, M20 close ratio trans, G81 Posi 4:11 gears, A01 soft ray tint on all windows, A31 power windows, F40 suspension, N11 off road exhaust, since removed and side pipes put on in 1981ish, didn't save any of it.

Some history, Pat Pearson bought the car from San Fernando Chevrolet in late 1963 and received it in the middle of January. My uncles little brother bought it from Pat in 1969 when Pat went into the Marines. My uncle Gary bought it from his little brother Frank back in early 1970 when he then went into the Marines.

The body work and paint was done in early 70's by Bruno's Custom Corvettes in Studio City, Ca. Mako shark front end with 1967 side gills and stinger hood, triple tail lights with spoiler and HUGE flares on rear. He got caught in a CHP sting after street racing on the 101 freeway and was ticketed. He had to have the head lights off the ground by 24". Bruno's then did a one off Dino Ferrari style front end and installed Jaguar headlights, (see pics).
Then around 1981, he rear ended a Superbee on Van Nuys Blvd when the brake pedal went to the floor. That damaged the front end a bit and scared the "hell" out of his wife. He parked it in his garage put it on blocks and drained the gas tank so his kids wouldn't get to it and hurt themselves. He had big plans, but he never did get around to fixing it and in June of this year, I offered to fix it up for him and get it running as long as he would let me take to the local car shows. He called me a month later, said thanks for the generous offer, but needed to sell it to get the cash. He gave me first crack at it. Needless to say, I pulled the money from my house and bought it in a week.
I think I'm over my head in it now.

Now I'm in the process figuring out to either:
A) keep the body in it's "custom vintage survivor" state, I have already been repairing the front end. or
B) put it back to original stock body lines and paint it it's original silver blue paint, 912AA. Either way, I love the silver blue color.

Here are a couple pics if you'd like.
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[Don H.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Hi Matt,
We've talked at Erwin, nice to see you here on the TDB.
you have a great car there, a real Bruno's masterpiece. Now that I see your car in the context of the old 64Z06 thread conversation, I am not so sure your best course of action from a value standpoint is maintaining the custom bodywork. Your car seems to be a 64 Z06 equivalent except for J56. (that's a big exception) if I read that thread right. Of course you would need to take another HELOC on the house to pay to bring it back to stock configuration. If your plan is to tag and bag the original motor anyway, then run it as it is, and save the back to stock restoration for the next owner unless you have an unlimited wallet.

[Matt L.]

Re: 1964 Transistorized Ignition on Corvette. First one off the line??

Hi Don,
Nice to talk with you again. Because of your recommendation, I joined the NCRS. Thanks for that.
I think at this point I am going to continue through with repairing the damaged front end and then get it painted. That way I can enjoy for a while. Maybe sell it, but probably keep it. So when the time comes and the right body guy who knows what they are really doing, can put it back to factory original. Then I'll put the original motor back in.
I don't have the finned brake drums on this one. but everything else is there. All the bushings will be replaced as they are pretty cracked up. I'm saving every little part that comes off it and puttting it in a box in case anything ever needs to be inspected or documented.
I am hearing that the single master brake cylinder should be replaced to a dual cylinder for safey braking sakes. What do you think about that?

Thanks again and hope to see you soon out on the road.
Matt