I'm scratchin' my head. Conventional wisdom says if an engine component is shown in the AIM being assembled on the final line, it was NOT on the engine when the engine was painted at Flint/Tonawanda. AIM books clearly show the fuel pump, pump mounting plate, fuel lines, gaskets, Etc. going on the engine at St. Louis and makes mention of the fuel pump push rod and its shipping bolt. Now for the 'mystery'....
Walking scrap yards and collecting original AC fuel pumps (4656 and 4657), the last four I've garnered ALL had traces of Chevy orange overspray along the top side of the pump's mounting ear. These came off 'untouched' Chevy passenger car/truck engines from the '59-64 era.
What's an 'untouched' engine? Well, I call one 'untouched' when the freeze plugs are bare--no ID/size emboss, the front/rear intake manifold gaskets have faded Chevy orange paint on 'em + the tiny horizontal mount 'GM' ID tags are present on these gaskets and they fully surround the block's water pump and distributor shaft cutouts vs. running on the outside only AND when cylinder heads are removed, pistons in the bores are NOMINAL size....
The orange paint overspray observed on the last four 4656/4657 fuel pumps I've seen makes me restless. It suggests these pumps were on the engines (both 283 and 327) but loosely masked when originally painted. Might be there was a difference between passenger car/truck engine configuration at Flint/Tonawanda vs. Corvette with respect to the presense/absense of fuel pump. Might be fuel pump WAS mounted (have to plug that HUGE lower hole somehow to fire/test run an engine to prevent massive lower oil leak) but subsequently removed on some final lines for better fixture clearance/damage reduction to move the engine onto the frame.... Also, could be a scrap yard fluke and statistical abberation.
What do we know on this obscure subject?
Walking scrap yards and collecting original AC fuel pumps (4656 and 4657), the last four I've garnered ALL had traces of Chevy orange overspray along the top side of the pump's mounting ear. These came off 'untouched' Chevy passenger car/truck engines from the '59-64 era.
What's an 'untouched' engine? Well, I call one 'untouched' when the freeze plugs are bare--no ID/size emboss, the front/rear intake manifold gaskets have faded Chevy orange paint on 'em + the tiny horizontal mount 'GM' ID tags are present on these gaskets and they fully surround the block's water pump and distributor shaft cutouts vs. running on the outside only AND when cylinder heads are removed, pistons in the bores are NOMINAL size....
The orange paint overspray observed on the last four 4656/4657 fuel pumps I've seen makes me restless. It suggests these pumps were on the engines (both 283 and 327) but loosely masked when originally painted. Might be there was a difference between passenger car/truck engine configuration at Flint/Tonawanda vs. Corvette with respect to the presense/absense of fuel pump. Might be fuel pump WAS mounted (have to plug that HUGE lower hole somehow to fire/test run an engine to prevent massive lower oil leak) but subsequently removed on some final lines for better fixture clearance/damage reduction to move the engine onto the frame.... Also, could be a scrap yard fluke and statistical abberation.
What do we know on this obscure subject?
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