69 L46 engine french lock AIM

[Keith M.]

Sorry to post this but...I have been up and down the 69 AIM and cannot for the life of me find where the info is regarding the exhaust manifold french locks. not in the engine section. not in the exhaust section. Anyone know what page it is on?
Kind regards,
Keith

[Leif A.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

Keith,
The exhaust manifolds were part of the engine assembly that was received as a complete unit at St. Louis. There will be no mention of them in the AIM. What question do you have regarding the French locks.

[Keith M.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

Keith,
The exhaust manifolds were part of the engine assembly that was received as a complete unit at St. Louis. There will be no mention of them in the AIM. What question do you have regarding the French locks.

Hi,
Thank you for that. What I am really after is the original GM part number. I was also curious where they were in the AIM but you answered that. Sometimes a given component will be in an unlikely location in the AIM....not the case here. So right now mostly just wanting the orig part number.

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

Keith,
The exhaust manifolds were attached to the engine at the engine plant, not at St. Louis, so they don't get called out in the AIM. Even the illustrations showing the exhaust manifolds don't show the french locks. I guess they didn't need to add complexity to something irrelevant to the assembly line.
Jeff

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

Hi,
Thank you for that. What I am really after is the original GM part number. I was also curious where they were in the AIM but you answered that. Sometimes a given component will be in an unlikely location in the AIM....not the case here. So right now mostly just wanting the orig part number.

Keith-------


The 1966+ small block exhaust manifold bolt lock was GM #3880844.

[Michael L.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

IIRC the TIMJG has some good info on installation and proper appearance of the french locks although it doesn't list the part number which Joe already provided.

Mike

[Lawrence M.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

The "french locks" are illustrated on page U69 Sheet A5 in the 1969 AIM. They are referred to as "existing end bolt lock". They are not listed in the parts list on that page.

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 L46 engine french lock AIM

A little more:

GM #3880844 was replaced in July, 1987 by GM #14081241. The latter is virtually identical to the former except for one feature: it has three very small, round indentations spaced about equally along the "U" of the lock. I have no idea what the purpose of these indentation is but GM must have thought it important enough to add them and, consequently, change the part number.

Pre-1966 small blocks used a different exhaust manifold bolt lock which was configured differently than the 3880844. Among other differences, the bend over tabs were "roundish" rather than "squareish".