Help with GM part numbers from '65 AIM

[Gary B.]

Re: Help with GM part numbers from '65 AIM

Gary -

You might find this article useful - it describes the Assembly Manual, how to use it, who used it, and a section near the end describes how running changes were handled.

http://www.camaros.org/AIM.shtml

Thanks for the interesting link. I particularly enjoyed learning that:

"The date of a revision almost never indicates the date the change actually took place on the line; it just shows when the sheet was revised, which could have been well ahead of or well after the part change occurred in production at the assembly plant."

That makes it very clear that you can't tell from the AIM when some change actually happened in terms of a precise date.

Gary

[Terry M.]

Re: Help with GM part numbers from '65 AIM

One of my favorite AIM changes is the addition of holes in the frame to hold the long cotter pin for the slotted toe shims during the 1969 model year. I don't remember the exact date, and am too lazy to look it up -- but it is in the 1969 AIM and shows the long cotter pin and the frame holes. Well the holes showed up in 1969 frames, but the slotted shims and cotter pin didn't show up on the cars until the last week of 1970 MY production -- the end of July, 1970. Fully six months and a whole model year after 1969 production ended. Go figure!

I often use that example of how fruitless using the drawing date changes in the AIM is. Yes, they are better than nothing, but not much.

[Ray G.]

Re: Help with GM part numbers from '65 AIM

Very educational. ... Thank you gentlemen. !!

[John H.]

Re: Help with GM part numbers from '65 AIM

Thanks for the interesting link. I particularly enjoyed learning that:

"The date of a revision almost never indicates the date the change actually took place on the line; it just shows when the sheet was revised, which could have been well ahead of or well after the part change occurred in production at the assembly plant."

That makes it very clear that you can't tell from the AIM when some change actually happened in terms of a precise date.

Gary

Gary -

That's absolutely correct. The ONLY document that shows the date (and the VIN number) the change took effect on the line is the NPC (Notice Of Production Change), which was an internal document, never published outside of Chevrolet. The change date in the revision block is only a guide, and only indicates the day the Graphics Group in the Drafting Room revised the A.I.M. sheet. As noted in the article, the implementation of the change on the line involved MANY other departments/functions besides Engineering.