Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

[Shane G.]

This is a photo of three examples of "blue stripe" ballast resistors I have for my 64. The first is the one I took off the car. I believe it to be the original for the car. The second is an NOS example. I took it out of its slightly weathered tin, and found it to be slightly weathered too, but good for illustrative purposes if not the judging field. The last one is one of the newly available ones being sold by some of the reproduction parts houses as well as a couple of "businessmen" on Ebay. Please do not pay $66 dollars for one of these reproductions, as some Ebay bidders have been doing. They go for under $16, and wouldn't fool Mr. Magoo for very long on the judging field. I bought one to use while driving the car so I don't wreck one of my NOS ones. Dale P. and a few of these more experienced guys know all about these things. I do not know much about them, I just thought you might like to see the tab differences among the three.
Shane

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Well, it's a lot closer to original than the ones from the parts stores, but obviously different. Some people buy parts on eBay apparently because they don't do their homework very well. John Hinkley's example of the $2500 Camaro sill plates is the worst I've heard, but I'm sure there are a lot of others.

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Well, it's a lot closer to original than the ones from the parts stores, but obviously different. Some people buy parts on eBay apparently because they don't do their homework very well. John Hinkley's example of the $2500 Camaro sill plates is the worst I've heard, but I'm sure there are a lot of others.

[Duke W.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Excellent post! Pictures really are worth a thousand words. One question. Does it appear that any of these examples have or possibly ever had a "blue strip"? I can't see any evidence in the photo, but visual inspection under various lighting conditions will usually reveal more.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Excellent post! Pictures really are worth a thousand words. One question. Does it appear that any of these examples have or possibly ever had a "blue strip"? I can't see any evidence in the photo, but visual inspection under various lighting conditions will usually reveal more.

Duke

[Jack H.]

More goodies

Walking the scrap yards for 15 years, I've pulled all variations of mounting band equipped ballasts off Chevy cars (highly rounded end with/without break-away tab as well as 'squared' end with/without break-away tab) from the mid-50's through the 60's. The two samples you show as 'NOS' and 'Service' are examples of what I call a 'squared' end version.

Now, on scrap yard cars who can say what the vehicle's repair history is/was and whether or not the ballast was replaced in it's prior life..... But, the yard sampling is so randomly UNIFORM that I tend to doubt there's ONE single factory NOS concours correct version of the mounting band as many of our senior judges expound today.

As far as 'scam' artists using eBay to get $50 and up for a $15 Shafer's Classic Reproductions, GM Licensed Restoration Part, ballast resistor, well P.T. Barnum said it best a century ago--"There's a sucker born every minute."
If these buyers put there effort into NCRS facilities to learn/understand, they might save $$$ and enjoy the hobby at the same time.

And, hey, there's another 'fad' out there that deserves discussion too. It's what happens when an eBay seller simply SHOWS a form of original GM service packaging along with the part. The price skyrockets, like somehow the 'box' sitting next to the stupid part somehow makes it 'correct'..... Back to the ballast.

Do yourself a favor and unscrew/remove the terminal mounting hardware from all three of the ballast resistors in your picture. You'll see that ALL of them have the 'dual slot' style ceramic that my yard walks tell me came into being around '57-58. Early ceramics did NOT have a trench then went all the way under the mounting hardware to the outer ends (easy to see/detect on the judging field).

The screw terminal's insert is held in the ceramic by a punch-over tab that flatens in the recess of 'trough' in the ceramic. Early ballasts had a single punch-over tab on the inside. If this tab fractured, it was possible for the insert to 'spin' and the contact not to tighten properly. Result: possible intermittent ignition while the car is underway on the road! The later ballasts 'improved' things by having TWO punch-over tabs (hence the slot or 'trench' in the ceramic had to be enlongated) and could withstand a single tab fracture failure.

My hunch is that when you pull the mounting hardware on the Shafer's Classic Reproduction part, you'll see a contact insert with only ONE punch-over crammed into a late period, full trenched ceramic. I don't believe this 'configuration' of the part EVER existed and it's potentially unsafe.

So, what good is the GM Restoration Parts program when a guy comes along, takes the license, gets his drawing package, blows off reading it, gets a legitimate monopoly on a part and builds/sells whatever FEELS good!!!! These parts are advertized as CORRECT by several catalog houses and I'm here to tell you this is absurd....

Yep, they're cost effective, they're pretty, they work, but I can't see one single thing that reflects a ballast resistor that was actually used in the St. Louis factory on a production Corvette.... So, what's the 'CORRECT' claim apply to?

[Jack H.]

More goodies

Walking the scrap yards for 15 years, I've pulled all variations of mounting band equipped ballasts off Chevy cars (highly rounded end with/without break-away tab as well as 'squared' end with/without break-away tab) from the mid-50's through the 60's. The two samples you show as 'NOS' and 'Service' are examples of what I call a 'squared' end version.

Now, on scrap yard cars who can say what the vehicle's repair history is/was and whether or not the ballast was replaced in it's prior life..... But, the yard sampling is so randomly UNIFORM that I tend to doubt there's ONE single factory NOS concours correct version of the mounting band as many of our senior judges expound today.

As far as 'scam' artists using eBay to get $50 and up for a $15 Shafer's Classic Reproductions, GM Licensed Restoration Part, ballast resistor, well P.T. Barnum said it best a century ago--"There's a sucker born every minute."
If these buyers put there effort into NCRS facilities to learn/understand, they might save $$$ and enjoy the hobby at the same time.

And, hey, there's another 'fad' out there that deserves discussion too. It's what happens when an eBay seller simply SHOWS a form of original GM service packaging along with the part. The price skyrockets, like somehow the 'box' sitting next to the stupid part somehow makes it 'correct'..... Back to the ballast.

Do yourself a favor and unscrew/remove the terminal mounting hardware from all three of the ballast resistors in your picture. You'll see that ALL of them have the 'dual slot' style ceramic that my yard walks tell me came into being around '57-58. Early ceramics did NOT have a trench then went all the way under the mounting hardware to the outer ends (easy to see/detect on the judging field).

The screw terminal's insert is held in the ceramic by a punch-over tab that flatens in the recess of 'trough' in the ceramic. Early ballasts had a single punch-over tab on the inside. If this tab fractured, it was possible for the insert to 'spin' and the contact not to tighten properly. Result: possible intermittent ignition while the car is underway on the road! The later ballasts 'improved' things by having TWO punch-over tabs (hence the slot or 'trench' in the ceramic had to be enlongated) and could withstand a single tab fracture failure.

My hunch is that when you pull the mounting hardware on the Shafer's Classic Reproduction part, you'll see a contact insert with only ONE punch-over crammed into a late period, full trenched ceramic. I don't believe this 'configuration' of the part EVER existed and it's potentially unsafe.

So, what good is the GM Restoration Parts program when a guy comes along, takes the license, gets his drawing package, blows off reading it, gets a legitimate monopoly on a part and builds/sells whatever FEELS good!!!! These parts are advertized as CORRECT by several catalog houses and I'm here to tell you this is absurd....

Yep, they're cost effective, they're pretty, they work, but I can't see one single thing that reflects a ballast resistor that was actually used in the St. Louis factory on a production Corvette.... So, what's the 'CORRECT' claim apply to?

[Shane G.]

Blue stripe

The original ballast resistor I took off my car has no trace of a blue stripe like the NOS ones have. It was pretty dirty, but I could find no evidence of the blue stripe while cleaning it either. It makes sense to me that the factory would have used parts with this visual cue on the assembly line, but there was nothing on this one.

[Shane G.]

Blue stripe

The original ballast resistor I took off my car has no trace of a blue stripe like the NOS ones have. It was pretty dirty, but I could find no evidence of the blue stripe while cleaning it either. It makes sense to me that the factory would have used parts with this visual cue on the assembly line, but there was nothing on this one.

[Mike L.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Very interesting post, I have three NOS ( still in the Delco boxs) D1111 ballast resistors I'm going to check to see if there is any difference in them. I'll post my report.

[Mike L.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

Very interesting post, I have three NOS ( still in the Delco boxs) D1111 ballast resistors I'm going to check to see if there is any difference in them. I'll post my report.

[Mike M.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

I also have a few blue line resistors. The one that was on the car which I'm not sure if it is original has Delco Remy stamped on the bracket part where it bolts to the fire wall. I have 2 others the same still in the box. 3 more have on the top of the bracket hurst mfg-corp Princeton Indiana, also one has no blue line on it(brand new in the box). Can someone explain the differences here and are any of these correct for judging. All were bought from GM in Canada. How would the 2 different types be judged, other then the names I can't see any other differences. Thanks Mike

[Mike M.]

Re: Ballast Resistor Comparison Photo

I also have a few blue line resistors. The one that was on the car which I'm not sure if it is original has Delco Remy stamped on the bracket part where it bolts to the fire wall. I have 2 others the same still in the box. 3 more have on the top of the bracket hurst mfg-corp Princeton Indiana, also one has no blue line on it(brand new in the box). Can someone explain the differences here and are any of these correct for judging. All were bought from GM in Canada. How would the 2 different types be judged, other then the names I can't see any other differences. Thanks Mike