1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or other?

[Scott S.]

I found an excellent and detailed article explaining the year-by-year differences in ignition shielding. It's by John Amgwert in the Spring 1986 Restorer, titled "1963-67 Corvette 327 Engine Radio Ignition Shielding Wire Shields & Routing Supports".


Under the heading "Shielding Material and Finish" it says:
"Chevrolet specified that the upper distributor shield was to be constructed of stainless steel and the entire outside surface was to be polished. Also, the left-hand front and rear horizontal spark plug shields were specified to be constructed only of polished stainless steel. While all the other bright shielding pieces could have been constructed of polished stainless steel according to Chevrolet specs for each part, they appear to have all been manufactured using Chevrolet's "optional" manufacturing specification of chrome plated, buffed and polished cold rolled steel. It appears that all other bright shielding parts, except for the upper distributor cover and the left-hand front and rear horizontal plug shields, were made of chrome plated steel. Why the Chevrolet engineers chose to have the left-hand horizontal pieces made only in stainless steel is a puzzle to me. I have not been able to determine the reason."

It appears that my top ignition shield and LH front & rear horizontal spark plug shields are indeed made of stainless steel, as they are the only ignition shielding parts that exhibit no rust. I am guessing that these stainless steel parts can be cleaned and polished, the clip(s) replaced on the top-shield, and they should be ready to re-install.

The rest of the ignition shielding is another story. I am missing the front & rear RH horizontal shielding, so I need to replace those. The remaining parts are accounted for, but not being stainless steel, they have rusted, some more than others, which leads to my question.

Given the condition of the parts pictured below, in the experience of members here, can (or should) these ignition shielding parts be restored, or should I be looking for used originals in nice condition, or something else?

Thank you,
Scott

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

A few more pictures.

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

Here are a few pictures of the stainless steel ignition shielding parts for comparison.

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

Left-hand horizontal shields.

[Gene M.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

Scott,
If you want to avoid the possible deductions of reproduction parts restored originals is the way to go.

I suggest buff and polish the original stainless. And if money is no option send out the steel pieces for replating. But the better the parts are to start with the less time the plater will need to invest in to complete the job. Bad pitting requires more copper than non pitted steel parts.

Cost wise the reproduction chrome plated steel shields are cheaper and look fine to me as a judges perspective. I have done cars both ways (purchase new and replate) both are ok. The replated parts always seems to look much better than the reproductions. They are installed in areas that if not polished to their maximum luster will pass judging dispite the better chrome quality.

The two lower "V" shields need to have the 4 steel riveted braces removed and clear zinc plated then rivited back on after the shields are chromed.

[Chris E.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

The main top shield looks great! Just missing the front and rear clips. I'd keep that one, polish it up a bit and have it judged.

The left side spark plug shields are stainless, whereas the right side (passenger side) are chrome. Those look to be in OK condition, I'd try and restore those. But the V-shields are too far gone, I'd punt on those and get repops. You can try to restore the verticals. They don't look too far gone. Restored original will almost always score better than repop.

[Anthony P.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

I recently restored all of the stainless parts for my 1962. The top section was a mess with scratches and small dings, and now it looks like new.

What I did was:
1. Sanded all of the surfaces with my orbital sander using 220 grit paper
2. This revealed any major scratched and dings.
3. I banged out any dings using pieces of wooden dowels and truid to bang them out from the inside.Major scratches I filed down with a steel file.
4. Re-Sanded everything again with 400 grit and my orbital. I did have to do some hand sanding to get in the small areas.
5. I purchased the Eastwood stainless steel buffing kit with 3 levels of buffs, and abrasives. http://www.eastwood.com/combo-buffin...ess-steel.html

12 hours later the top and verticals were like new. I did end up purchasing repro shields that went over the spark plugs, sinec those were missing.

My 2 cents..

Tony

[Gary B.]

Don't make the same mistake I made; over-restoration

Scott,

If you choose to rechrome the non-stainless shielding, don't make the mistake I made when the plater asked me if I wanted show chrome and I said yes. They came out much too nice and I fear those pieces will garner a deduct for being over-restored.

Gary

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

Scott,
If you want to avoid the possible deductions of reproduction parts restored originals is the way to go.

Hi Gene, thank you very much for the reply. Restoring the original parts has been my main approach so far. I am still learning how to distinguish between a good restorable 'core' and a part that is too far gone to be worth the effort.

I suggest buff and polish the original stainless. And if money is no option send out the steel pieces for replating.

When you say send out the steel parts for replating, are you referring to everything except the stainless steel ignition top-shield and the two LH horizontal shields? The stainless steel top-shield and the two stainless steel LH horizontal shields do NOT get chrome-plated, just buffed and polished, correct?

Cost wise the reproduction chrome plated steel shields are cheaper and look fine to me as a judges perspective. I have done cars both ways (purchase new and replate) both are ok. The replated parts always seems to look much better than the reproductions. They are installed in areas that if not polished to their maximum luster will pass judging dispite the better chrome quality.

Is the potential "problem" you are describing with replated originals that they may end up looking too nice (over-restored)?

The two lower "V" shields need to have the 4 steel riveted braces removed and clear zinc plated then rivited back on after the shields are chromed.

Thank you for the tip!

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

The main top shield looks great! Just missing the front and rear clips. I'd keep that one, polish it up a bit and have it judged.

The left side spark plug shields are stainless, whereas the right side (passenger side) are chrome. Those look to be in OK condition, I'd try and restore those. But the V-shields are too far gone, I'd punt on those and get repops. You can try to restore the verticals. They don't look too far gone. Restored original will almost always score better than repop.

Thanks Chris, sounds like good news on the stainless parts and maybe both verticals, at least I'll give the vertical shields a try. The four lower spark-plug shields (or 'plug boot shields', 2 x 3815084 and 2 x 3817657) might clean up too, I think they were covered with so much grease that it may have protected them from rust. Those lower "V" shields do look pretty rough though.

According to the article referenced in my first post, it looks like I need to locate the following:

Ignition top-shield grounding clip # 3904869 (p/n 3882701 from 1966 looks the same and will work, but may have hydrogen-embrittlement issues)
Ignition top-shield rear grounding clip ("Carb") # 3838050

Right hand horizontal (front) # 3880996
Right hand horizontal (rear) # 3880998

Left Lower shield ("V" shield) # 3819763
Right Lower shield ("V" shield) # 3819764

[Scott S.]

Re: 1967 original ignition shielding - restore these, replace with good used, or othe

I recently restored all of the stainless parts for my 1962. The top section was a mess with scratches and small dings, and now it looks like new.

Hi Tony,

I recently found what I'm pretty sure is one of the vertical ignition shields from my grandmother's 1962 Corvette, it was with the '67 ignition top-shield and one of the stainless LH horizontal shields in the garage attic. Besides some grease and dirt, the '62 vertical shield looked great, wish I could use it.

What I did was:
1. Sanded all of the surfaces with my orbital sander using 220 grit paper
2. This revealed any major scratched and dings.
3. I banged out any dings using pieces of wooden dowels and truid to bang them out from the inside.Major scratches I filed down with a steel file.
4. Re-Sanded everything again with 400 grit and my orbital. I did have to do some hand sanding to get in the small areas.
5. I purchased the Eastwood stainless steel buffing kit with 3 levels of buffs, and abrasives. http://www.eastwood.com/combo-buffin...ess-steel.html

12 hours later the top and verticals were like new. I did end up purchasing repro shields that went over the spark plugs, sinec those were missing.

My 2 cents..

Tony

Thank you for the explanation and the link, I will check it out.

[Scott S.]

Re: Don't make the same mistake I made; over-restoration

Scott,

If you choose to rechrome the non-stainless shielding, don't make the mistake I made when the plater asked me if I wanted show chrome and I said yes. They came out much too nice and I fear those pieces will garner a deduct for being over-restored.

Gary

Thanks for the heads-up Gary, I will try to find someone who is comfortable doing 'flash-chrome'. I have read in the archives that many platers don't like to do it, because most of their customers are underwhelmed when they receive the finished product.

On the other hand, the show-chrome will probably protect the part better, and somebody around here probably has a trick for dulling them down just a little.