Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

[Barbara S.]

I've got a question regarding the correct oil cap(s) for the '65 (L78) BB engines. The JG states that the correct oil cap is "cadmium or zinc plated and painted semi-gloss black on the exterior surface".

There is a factory-issued photo in the Noland Adams book that shows a silver oil cap on a '65 BB engine rather than a black oil cap.

On my car (last driven in 1972), the oil cap is a silver plated cap with a large "S" in the center rivet and a stylized 'SM' encircled near the center rivet. There is no evidence of any black paint.

Given the Noland Adams photo and the attributes of my oil cap, did GM actually manufacture '65 BB cars with both painted and unpainted (but plated) oil caps?

Thanks.
Tony
4600

[Clem Z.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

my new 65 396 had a black oil cap along with a black air filter cover. when i picked the car up at the st louis plant i lifted the hood and was disappointed because there was nothing but orange and black,no chrome. i guess what should you expect it was a "truck" engine.

[Steven S.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

I was allways puzzled by the fact that the C2 big block cars used painted valve covers and especially by the black lids on the '65's. Most of the theorys that I have heard as to why never really convinced me.

[Bill W.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

The original cap from # 16120 is semi gloss black over bright silver plating. with the large s on the rivit .Bill

[Barbara S.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

Bill. How do you explain the photo in the August, 1965 issue of Road & Track Magazine (supplied by GM) with the '65 L78 car with the plated oil cap? Look on page 280 of Noland Adams' book.

There is plenty of evidence of the black cap; however, there is also evidence of a plated (unpainted) cap too.

Tony

[John D.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

Clem,I remember the first 65 396 in this area. Blue convertible with white interior and side exhaust. Nelson Williams bought it from Grabiaks around May or so and it put all our other 65's to shame. Anyhow I remember looking at the engine (just like yesterday) and said to the boys. Said the cheap skates couldn't afford to put a nice oil cap on it. The cap was black. The valve covers were orange(not chrome) Amazing the crap you remember although I can hardly remember what I had for breakfast today.
They were just truck engines jazzed up a tad. Clem do you remember making me a special wrench to change the valve springs on the early 66 BB. That thing broke a lot of springs until GM came out with some good service replacements. I used to change them along the interstates as I pulled a heavy homemade enclosed car trailer with the 66BB and the strain and the fact that 260 Sunoco was not always available caused a lot of springs to break. You made me a tool that would snake around the master cylinder if you recall. Course that was an eon ago. John

[Verle R.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

John,

Did that 66 have an FI unit on it?

You have email.

Verle

[Tom D.]

John-Enjoyed your short story very much! /td *NM*

[Jack H.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

"Bill. How do you explain the photo in the August, 1965 issue of Road & Track Magazine (supplied by GM) with the '65 L78 car with the plated oil cap? Look on page 280 of Noland Adams' book."

Examine the pictures Noland uses more closely (from GM photo archives). I think you'll find the same car (R&T August) is shown twice with the other picture being earlier. Plus, in order to make an August pub release, the pix + article were written WELL ahead of the pub date. Note, it has an early short-lived, straight neck, radiator....

Methinks you're looking at a pre-production or 'mule' car versus a full production vehicle. Also, there's another pix of a car on that's an engineering test vehicle and it has the radiator expansion tank mounted on the thermostat cover vs. over on the RH inner fender which was the pre-production, experimental, configuration.

Bottom line, you have to read Noland's book with caution as there are misleading pictures here/there with engineering prototypes intermixed with actual production vehicles. Bottom line, you can restore a car to standards based on Noland's book or you can restore to NCRS standards...

[Clem Z.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

jerry simmers and his wife drove that car back from st louis the same time i picked up mine. we all flew out together and pick them up on april 14 as i still have my paper work. i remember pulling the coil wires out when we stayed over in st louis so no one could steal the corvettes. i still have those special valve spring tools i made back then because i changed a lot of valve springs both here and on the road

[John D.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

Verle, I had one of Zora's prototype big block fuel engines in my 66 BB. Yea right. I guess a lot of you old timers know that Zora tried to convince the big brass to put FI on the big blocks. He had a few protype jobs made up. Supposedly someone in the Chicago area has one of those baseplates for a big block. Course we know Zora was turned down as the old POC Holley was much cheaper to make and service. And it put out more CFM's. John

[Barbara S.]

Re: Correct oil cap(s) for '65 L78 engines

Bottom line, you can restore a car to standards based on Noland's book or you can restore to NCRS standards...

Jack. You wearin' your crabby pants today? Someone needs to give you a hug.

[Jack H.]

Naw...

you can't see 'body English' in posted text, Tony. Point is Noland's book is really getting along in years now. And, when he reissues it, he really doesn't update the text/pictures.

There are a number of known errors + some of the pix are NOT from factory production vehicles. So, while this is a GREAT resource book, you have to take it for what it is...just one more book on Corvette restoration and not a be-all, end-all, final authority.

[Barbara S.]

Re: Naw...

Unfortunately, the NCRS JG's are far from being unabridged. There are gaps in the information provided. It's nice to fill in some of the blanks, and authentic vintage photos seem to be good research material to at least consider and discuss.

[Joe L.]

Re: Naw...

Tony-----

Yes, there are "gaps" in the JG's; no doubt about it. The most disconcerting ones are cases in which information is known (and used in the judging process by judges that happen to know it or otherwise believe it), but not recorded in the JG's. I suppose that some of this is inevitable since if the JG's contained the information regarding every configuration of every component and every nuance thereof, the information would not be able to be contained on a 250 GB hard drive, let alone a paper document of "manageable" size.

Many years ago Dave Burroughs coined a phrase that is very useful. That phrase is "typical of factory production". As a practical matter, this is the only way that a car can be judged. Even that standard is not absolutely hard-and-fast since exceptions can be made when a non-typical item can be DOCUMENTED as original for any particular car. Of course, that is virtually impossible to do in most cases. Plus, even if a particular "non-typical" configuration is documented for any particular car, that does not mean, by extension, it applies to any other car. It might or it might not.

As far as the oil cap goes, it may very well be that some 1965 L-78's were built with a zinc plated oil cap. However, the black version is definitely "typical of factory production"----no doubt about that, at all. In the case of an oil cap, it would be virtually impossible to document what cap was originally on the car unless one had a good photo of the engine compartment of THAT car on the day it left the factory. Very few folks have such documentation. An oil cap is, obviously, easily changed and a replacement could have been required and installed "anyplace along the way".

So, one might say "...yes, but the cap is configured exactly like original caps except for color and includes the original shell configuration, original 'S' rivet, and 'SM' stamping...". To that I say that these caps in zinc plated finish were sold in SERVICE for years, especially in the aftermarket Stant-packaged product. If in, say, 1971, some guy with a 1965 L-78 lost his oil cap and it was discovered when the pump jockey at the corner gas station checked the oil, the owner might have bought an oil cap then-and-there out of the service station's inventory which almost always included these caps which had wide SERVICE application. Even if you could talk to the owner involved, it's very unlikely they would remember such an event.

Vintage photos are, without a doubt, great resources. However, all they say, for sure, is how THAT car was originally configured. In the case of cars which were prototype, pre-production, pilot line, etc., one REALLY has to be careful about making the conclusion that any element of configuration is "typical of factory production".