65 questions

[Lee]

I started cleaning up a recently purchased 65 and have a few questions about it. I don't yet have an AIM or judging manual so thought I'd ask here. I don't see any staple holes for the splash shields over the upper A arm. Did all cars have them. Also, I don't see any holes for the front crossover break line clips. There is one hole in the center of the crossmember, is this for a clip. I thought they have 2 clips. There aren't any clips there now. Thanks for any help.

Lee

[Wayne M.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Lee, '65s have one hole for the clip that holds the front cross-over brake line, positioned at the middle front face of frame cross-member and just under 1" down from the top surface of the frame.

Lack of staple holes to hold your upper control arm dust shields might indicate replacement inner fenders, and probably a partial or full replacement front end.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Lee, '65s have one hole for the clip that holds the front cross-over brake line, positioned at the middle front face of frame cross-member and just under 1" down from the top surface of the frame.

Lack of staple holes to hold your upper control arm dust shields might indicate replacement inner fenders, and probably a partial or full replacement front end.

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the responce Wayne. There is a single hole in the crossmember for a clip. Regarding the dustshield staple holes. The car doesn't look like it was ever hit. On the right inner fender there is an orange marking 93075 from what I can read. Also, on the inner underside of the grill is marked 3-28-1. Is the the mold date? I think the car was built in April. Both of these markings look factory. Again thanks for any help.

Lee

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the responce Wayne. There is a single hole in the crossmember for a clip. Regarding the dustshield staple holes. The car doesn't look like it was ever hit. On the right inner fender there is an orange marking 93075 from what I can read. Also, on the inner underside of the grill is marked 3-28-1. Is the the mold date? I think the car was built in April. Both of these markings look factory. Again thanks for any help.

Lee

[Jack H.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Check LH inner fender for molded hood support brace. On '65 and earlier, all hood supports mounted to RH side. '66 and later moved the support mount to the LH side. Car that may have been hit/repaired might well use later downward compatible GM inner fender made to go either way and that explain the lack of staple holes for dust shields.

Also check the top of inner fenders where they bond to fenders. The factory attached rubber cushions over the top (you'll have to wait and see your AIM). Frequently, non-GM repair folks blew off putting the rubber cushions on. Some even failed to bond the inner fender to the fender!

Lack of staple holes for dust shields is a reasonably obvious indication that this portion of your car is NOT in factory original condition. But, the NCRS motto is restoration/preservation, so don't give up! All things can be 'fixed' it's just a matter of time, knowledge and determining what you want to do with the car....

[Jack H.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Check LH inner fender for molded hood support brace. On '65 and earlier, all hood supports mounted to RH side. '66 and later moved the support mount to the LH side. Car that may have been hit/repaired might well use later downward compatible GM inner fender made to go either way and that explain the lack of staple holes for dust shields.

Also check the top of inner fenders where they bond to fenders. The factory attached rubber cushions over the top (you'll have to wait and see your AIM). Frequently, non-GM repair folks blew off putting the rubber cushions on. Some even failed to bond the inner fender to the fender!

Lack of staple holes for dust shields is a reasonably obvious indication that this portion of your car is NOT in factory original condition. But, the NCRS motto is restoration/preservation, so don't give up! All things can be 'fixed' it's just a matter of time, knowledge and determining what you want to do with the car....

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the response Jack. I looked at the car and it does have the rubber strips where the inner fender meets the fender. The hood support is on the left side but, I thought the 365hp and BB cars had them on the left. The reason I ask these questions is because the car looks so orginal. All the bonds and bonding strips, wire harness clips,everything all look factory installed. The only sign is that the splash shields aren't there. I do auto body professional and if somebody put a front end on the car they did an excellent job.Did replacement parts have marking as I mentioned in my other post?

Regards, Lee

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the response Jack. I looked at the car and it does have the rubber strips where the inner fender meets the fender. The hood support is on the left side but, I thought the 365hp and BB cars had them on the left. The reason I ask these questions is because the car looks so orginal. All the bonds and bonding strips, wire harness clips,everything all look factory installed. The only sign is that the splash shields aren't there. I do auto body professional and if somebody put a front end on the car they did an excellent job.Did replacement parts have marking as I mentioned in my other post?

Regards, Lee

[Jack H.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Am not familiar with the markings you describe. I've seen 'roladex' type rubber date stamps on some fiberglass pieces similar to what appears on cardboard door panels.

LH hood mount is pretty conclusive. All '65 (correct me if my memory is el wrongo, guys) cars were RH supports including BB. That's one of the give aways on a 396 that's had front end work. The '66 and later service spare hoods had dual (RH/LH) embedded hood prop mounting fixtures and there was a cutout in the front LH hood reinforcement lip for access to install speednuts on the hood mounted 'Corvette' emblem that wasn't present on '65/396 cars.

Saw a wierd one once. Fella came to a local (non-NCRS) meet with a '66 BB roadster. I noticed it had no 'Corvette' emblem on the front of the hood. Walked over and looked at the backside of the hood. Saw it was wearing a RH hood prop instead of LH AND there was NO under hood support bracket for a LH prop.

I commented on how he had a very rare body part (original 396 hood) and suspected the car had been hit once. He confirmed he'd bought it from the original owner. It had been hit. Owner had it repaired and then immediately sold it (cheap) because he believed repaired cars are never as good as new. There's a chuckle for a pro body man!!!

His major concern after I told him what he had was how to get the factory 'correct' piece. Had to tell him a half dozen times, they're relatively cheap and insist he think through what he was going to do with his rare NOS '65 BB hood. I think it went in one ear/out the other....

So, if you've got a LH hood prop then you HAVE to have a LH inner fender with matching hood prop support molding. This concludes (in my book) your car has been repaired. Also suggests it was a total head on crash because if it was an on-coming traffic incident, they would have left the RH inner fender and RH mount hood prop....

[Jack H.]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Am not familiar with the markings you describe. I've seen 'roladex' type rubber date stamps on some fiberglass pieces similar to what appears on cardboard door panels.

LH hood mount is pretty conclusive. All '65 (correct me if my memory is el wrongo, guys) cars were RH supports including BB. That's one of the give aways on a 396 that's had front end work. The '66 and later service spare hoods had dual (RH/LH) embedded hood prop mounting fixtures and there was a cutout in the front LH hood reinforcement lip for access to install speednuts on the hood mounted 'Corvette' emblem that wasn't present on '65/396 cars.

Saw a wierd one once. Fella came to a local (non-NCRS) meet with a '66 BB roadster. I noticed it had no 'Corvette' emblem on the front of the hood. Walked over and looked at the backside of the hood. Saw it was wearing a RH hood prop instead of LH AND there was NO under hood support bracket for a LH prop.

I commented on how he had a very rare body part (original 396 hood) and suspected the car had been hit once. He confirmed he'd bought it from the original owner. It had been hit. Owner had it repaired and then immediately sold it (cheap) because he believed repaired cars are never as good as new. There's a chuckle for a pro body man!!!

His major concern after I told him what he had was how to get the factory 'correct' piece. Had to tell him a half dozen times, they're relatively cheap and insist he think through what he was going to do with his rare NOS '65 BB hood. I think it went in one ear/out the other....

So, if you've got a LH hood prop then you HAVE to have a LH inner fender with matching hood prop support molding. This concludes (in my book) your car has been repaired. Also suggests it was a total head on crash because if it was an on-coming traffic incident, they would have left the RH inner fender and RH mount hood prop....

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the information. Lee

[Lee]

Re: 65 brakeline/dustshield questions

Thanks for the information. Lee