heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

[Jeffrey S.]

My question concerns the heat shield, insulation, and splash shields on early 69 with A/C. My car is #5250 built Oct. 68. I purchased the metal shields and insulation from Paragon and have original splash shields both from my car and very nice ones from another 69. The question is this: did all 69's have the metal heat shields or were they introduced later in production. The reason for the question is that on my car, which I have owned since I purchased it from the original owner in Feb of 71, I don't ever remember having the metal shields. In fact there are no signs of the rear metal brackets which hold the heat shields on being on the car. All of the pointy metal clips that hold the insulation are there as well as the front brackets which hold the plastic splash shields. Some of the insulation is there as well. The AIM indicates that the rear brackets were riveted to the existing cross member (is this the transmission cross member?) If this were the case then I should at least see some evidence of holes or maybe a rivet or two. Also the AIM makes no mention (at least I can't fid it) of the insulation. I know this was on the car because some is still there. The original plastic splash shield for the right sides has only one of the two upper attaching "ears" and a very neat semi-circular cut around where the heater hose go into the heater core. There is no evidence either of the second threaded stud to attach the missing ear to the fool well. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Jeff

[Joe L.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Jeff-----

Very early-build 1969s did NOT have the underbody, flat, metal splash shields. Also, if your car does not have the brackets rivetted to the transmisson crossmember or the rivet holes for them, I think that you can be sure that your car is one of the ones that never had the shields.

[Chuck G.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

To follow up on what Joe has said, not all 69's had the blanket insulation under the car either. My August, 69 car has the metal plates under the floorboards, but no clips...17 or so of them, under the car for the large insulation blankets. Also, seems that I remember the special cut out that you mention for the heater hose on the early 69 cars. Chuck

[Joe L.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Chuck-----

Yes, my mid-September 1969 built car had the plates but did NOT have the insulation either.

[Bill Lucia]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Jeff & Joe, my early 69 roadster (350-350 PS PB 4-sp no-AC) DID have the metal shields. It was built Thanksgiving week of 68. Given that there were quite a few '69's built I don't know if it would have qualified as an early car but there you have it.

Regards Bill

[Don O'Connell #33101]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Jeff,

My '69 L68 w/AC #3085 (Early Oct '68) does have the metal shields under the foot area (and up the front mounted to a stud) on both sides (and heck, I thought they were skid plates to protect my feet from big nasty rocks).

I also have a large chuck of the transmission tunnel heat shield still clinging to life under there too. Also the clips for the other heat shields parts are there.

Don

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Joe, Chuck, Bill, Don: Thanks for your very helpful responses. It seems that there are a mixtues of configurations. Bill and Don's Oct. 68 cars which match up with my Oct 68 car had the metal shields but may not have had the insulaton. Mine for sure had the insulation since there is still remnants of it there and the clips are all there. The question then becomes could the insulation have been installed without the metal shield leaving the insulation to deteriorate within minutes of hitting inclement weather? Also, why is there no mention of the insulation in the AIM? The AIM has notes next to the parts for the heat shield indicating the parts were added Oct 4,68. This could mean that the parts didn't see light of day until much later. I guess this and the fact that we get to communicate with such great people is what makes the hobby so enjoyable. Thanks again. Jeff

[Terry M.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69 *TL*

Jeff,

There is a lengthily Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) from Chevrolet on this subject. My recollection is that it gives change points by serial number for this heat insulation. I know it gives part numbers (no longer useful) for the splash pans and clips. Send me an email off the board with your snail mail address and I'll see if I can get you a copy.

Terry

[Joe Peplinski]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Jeff,

My early Oct. '68 car (#4022) is stored in someones elses garage at the moment, so I haven't had the chance to check the underbody insulation in detail, but as I recall it has fiberglass insulation coated in aluminum foil (Item 2 shown as cancelled on 4-11-69 on page J67 of the '69 AIM?). This insulation is mounted behind white plastic splash shields (item 6 on page J94 of the '69 AIM). My memory is sketchy, but my car MAY have the metal shields on the bottom of each floor (item 12 on page J65 of the '69 AIM). These sheilds may have been on all '69's (or not, I'm no expert), but if they were added as a running change, they were added to page J94 before the drawing was updated on 11-13-68.

With respect to the dates on the AIM pages, I'm an engineer for GM and if they did it in the 60's like they do today, the dates recorded on the individual pages are just the dates the the drawing was updated after change was approved. Due to parts availability or other factors, the actual date the change hit production might be much later (days to weeks to months?). On the other hand, some of the changes might have hit production almost immediately. In most cases, I don't think there is anyway to tell for sure when a change actually went into production. The bulletin that was mentioned in another answer to your question might be one of those exceptions. I'd be curious to see what it says. The only other way to identify the date/VIN of a change is to observe a lot of original cars and narrow in on it.

As a whole, the AIM is a great resource, but it really only details how the final '69's were built (and it may be off there, too because '70 parts might have been pulled ahead). Those of use with early cars must use caution when using it because of the number of changes that were recorded after our cars were built. Also, often the first several changes to be made to a drawing aren't even recorded on the AIM page. For example, page J94 indicates changes 6 thru 11. We have no way of knowing what the first 5 changes to this page were. BTW, these mysteries caused me to purchase a '68 AIM to help identify how my early '69 might have been built.

Good luck,

Joe

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: heat shieldi/insulation/spalsh shield69

Thanks to everyone for the great info you sent. I got under the car with a good light and the info yuo all have sent and guess what? I found the holes where the rear brackets were originally put. I was actually looking in the wrong place. Now that I found these holes I have been able to piece together the entire installation of the insulation, heat shields and the plastic splash shields. I have all the pieces and I am confident now that everything was there at the time of manufacture. You've all been a great help. Thanks again!