C2 Oil Pressure Line

[Mike McKown]

Re: C2 Oil Pressure Line

As posted on VetteHeads:

MY:

1965 250 hp Corvette has copper coated steel oil line. Original as the day is long. Only appropriate subtle bends to get it routed through the firewall (dash panel).

1963 300 hp Corvette has a COPPER repo line on it. 4-5 coils coming off the block and then going to the guage.

1965 Chevy II with guage package, I bought new. Copper coated steel without coils.

1970 Nova 396 with guage package. I think it is original. Nylon tubing from the block to the guage.

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Oil Pressure Line

Mike----

The nylon oil pressure line was used from 1968 through 1973 on most Chevrolet oil pressure line applications. Small blocks were all-nylon; big blocks were either all nylon or a combination of steel and nylon.

From 1974-onward, the pressure lines were mostly replaced by a wire and a sender unit.

[Joe L.]

Re: Copper Plated Steel Lines

Duke----

Yes, I believe that the NCRS spec for the small block oil line is based on its APPARENT coloration. I don't think that it was intended to specify that the line was copper "through-and-through".

[Joe R.]

Re: Oil Pressure Line/Receives Life of Own

Joe/Duke/Others,

Don't you just love it when a thread gets a life of it's own.

So far we've learned:

1. There are original owners of C-1's that have solid copper lines.

2. There are original owners of C-2's SB that have solid copper lines.

3. There are original owners of C-2's SB that have steel/copper plated lines.

4. There are original owners of C-2's BB that have TBW steel lines.

5. The NCRS judging manuals are wrong and or right in some places.

Conclusion:

All small blocks have either solid copper or steel/copper plates oil lines.

All BB's have TBW steel oil lines.

Can we agree on the above?

Questions still not answered.

Why would chevy specify copper plate SB steel lines and not copper plate BB Oil lines?

As Always, Loving Every Minute of This, Regards

JR

[Michael H.]

Re: Oil Pressure Line/Receives Life of Own

Joe,

I agree with your category #3 and #4. I believe all 65-67 big block cars had the plain steel line and 63-67 small block cars had the copper plated steel line. I never thought there was any question about the big block steel line but I suppose it's possible some small blocks came with copper line instead of copper plated steel. There well could have been more than one vendor for this part and it's possible one of them was shipping a part that was not made to print.

The numerical value of the original part number of the small block line, 3718812, would indicate that the original print for this part was released in mid or late 1954. That must mean the same part was used on some vehicle of that era. I assume it was initially released for the 55 V8 Corvette but having near zero knowledge of these cars, I'll leave that to the C1 people.

Copper plated steel line would have been more common in the late 40's and into the 50's but by the 60's, the copper plate was dropped in favor of less costly coatings. I suppose that's why the line for big block that would have been released in 1965, deleted the copper plate.

If I can get the original GM print for this part, that should tell us exactly what GM intended the part to be. May take a day or two, if it's available at all.

[Wayne K.]

Re: C2 Oil Pressure Line

Duke,

Seeing that it is such a small tube do you need a fairly strong magnet. I tried a mechainics magnet(the kind on an extention to pick up a dropped screw or nut) and it seemed to have very little attraction. I also tried it on my brake lines and there didn't seem to be a lot of attraction to them either.

Wayne

[Joe R.]

Re: Oil Pressure Line/Receives Life of Own

Michael,

That sure would be a great starting point to solve this problem that evidently gets some blood boiling.

When all is said and done the deduct on the sheets would not amount to the ink already spent on this subject.

Thanks for the first logical approach to this question.

Regards,

JR

[Duke W.]

Re: C2 Oil Pressure Line

A typical "magnetic finger" for retrieving dropped parts should definitely stick to the oil pressure gage line, but if yours doesn't stick to brake or fuel lines or bolt heads or an other obvious ferrous parts, then the magnet must be weak.

Duke

[Mike M.]

65 Judging guide 5th edition

The 5th edition judging guide states Base,L75, L79 and L76 the oil pressure line is copper clad steel. Page 113. I don't have the 4th or 3ed edition handy to see if there different. Mike

[Donald M.]

Re: Oil Pressure Line/Receives Life of Own

Mike, my '67 300HP has a copper line. I have owned this car 24 yrs with no line problems. I suppose it could have been replaced before I owned it, but it is unlikely.
Don

[Ralph E.]

Re: Oil Pressure Line

Don,
Please check the line with a magnet? It may look copper, but actually be copper plated steel. My original looked like copper but is definitely copper plated steel. My replacement line was copper, I am now changing it.

[William O.]

Re: 65 Judging guide 5th edition

The 5th.."CIM" when was the this issued...do you mean...BB page 112?

[William O.]

Re: 65 Judging guide 5th edition

I can't find a 5th edition anywhere...but the Fourth edition stats:
page 112: steel... not brass steel.

Take the fifth.

[William O.]

5th addition...Do you mean 4th? *NM*

[Dennis C.]

Just to add confusion to the issue...

...unless repro's have recently changed, the large issue for C1 (and I suspect C2) owners is that the OD of the repro line is about 1/32" too large. Also, the ID of the hex fitting and ferrule is necessarily too large, along with the hex size being 3/8" instead of the original 5/16" size. I tend to subscribe to Duke's belief that GM would typicaly never use copper for fuel, brake or oil.