Original Born with Battery Trays LOS NOR

[69Z28-RS]

That was my thought as well, Mike..  although I don't have my original, nor do I have great photos of an original..  The AMD appears to be a good choice for those of us who have previously replaced the original!

[janobyte]

68 04D Norwood

[68camaroz28]

Im not sure if this helps since I dont own it anymore, but this was the tray in my LOS 10c of 1968 built 69RS  I sanded and painted it with POR black but I dont have pics of it all cleaned up, just this one photo before I detailed it. Fun topic to follow.

That is a service replacement due to the nuts all running straight and some other small items how the service replacements were made.

[68camaroz28]

Updated list:
67               Jon’s 1100 mile take off-No Tab- Has angled nuts
67 11A LOS Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Robert
68 03D NOR Has tab Darrell
68 04D NOR Has tab Janobyte
68 05E NOR Has tab Danny
68 06A NOR Has tab DaveV
68 07C NOR Has tab JerryG
68 07D NOR Has tab Skip
69        LOS  Has tab Mike1971
69        NOR Has tab Mike1971
69 11A NOR No tab Has angled nuts & orig. battery hold down clamp. Noyenko
69               Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Noyenko
69 01C NOR Has tab Jude
69 02D NOR Has tab SteveS
69 03B NOR Has tab SteveS
69 08C NOR Has tab Bullitt65
69 09A NOR Has tab (late built) Robert
69 09D NOR Has tab (late built) Skip


On the pictures of originals I’ve accumulated they all have a very similar pattern in making. The rectangular nut on the underside of the battery tray where the battery hold down fastens is oriented the same way on originals and also service replacements but 90 degrees off on the AMD reproduction.  Service replacements have all three nuts oriented the same but on originals each of the three are at different angles but each maintains that same ange from tray to tray. Originals always seem to have a slight angle in the tab and the tab corners have a distinct 45 degree type corner break or nice radius. Originals display a sharp depression from the dye used whereas service replacements seem to be more rounder and not distinct. Another view of the repro picture followed by Jerry’s 07C 68 Z/28 original battery tray with some arrows showing specific items.




OK, lets see about transforming one of those AMD battery trays to be a dead ringer for a born with rascal!
I started by carefully removing some of the corner weld on the rectangular nut, placed a bolt in the thread, and while supporting the tray on a vice gave the bolt a hit with a hammer. OK, it took a few hits but it came out.



Clean some burrs off, orient the rectangular nut correctly and tig weld back in from the top side because the clamp hides any small imperfections but the underside could be seen with a mirror or by feel. Special thanks to Lonny and East Coast Muscle Cars for the tig welding. I probably would have burned a hole clean thru.



Now by working the tab to match (I used hand files for a lot of this) with some sanding followed by a glass bead operation lets see how it compares to an original.
The top picture the AMD tray after rework compared to the bottom tray of Jerry’s original. Umm, looks good to me.
Next step a good coat of epoxy primer followed by a top coat.

[ZLP955]

Is there a possibility that the trays with the less-defined stamping in the hold down clamp area could be from an alternate/standby supplier, rather than later service replacements? I doubt that there was a sole supplier to the assembly plants, and each one may have had subtle differences in the stamping details.
I have noted on several trays that they have a row of 'K's or possibly 'X's stamped on the 2 rectangular nuts used to bolt the tray down, but these trays also lack the tab detail that you've noted as indicating assembly-line versions.

[68camaroz28]

Is there a possibility that the trays with the less-defined stamping in the hold down clamp area could be from an alternate/standby supplier, rather than later service replacements? I doubt that there was a sole supplier to the assembly plants, and each one may have had subtle differences in the stamping details.
I have noted on several trays that they have a row of 'K's or possibly 'X's stamped on the 2 rectangular nuts used to bolt the tray down, but these trays also lack the tab detail that you've noted as indicating assembly-line versions.

Could be Tim as the population accumulated is small but what helps is the range of gen I's from 67 to 69 that so far show the same characteristics. Maybe they had the same supplier but when production stopped for GEN I's and went to a different design for GEN II's they picked up a different supplier in the early 70's to make service replacements. So far all service replacements look the same from real old ones to more newer ones. Sellers on Ebay have NOS ones from $195 to $399.99 and none of them are correct.

[68camaroz28]

Anyone else have or believe to have an original battery tray? Man these things are hard to find!
We have added an important one to the list with pictures as its the same design/year as what Jon had displayed on the Yenko site and also here in a different thread but will post both of them. One item that seems to be the same on all original trays are the three nuts are oriented differently but each of the three maintains the same angle/orientation from one original tray to another.
Updated list:
67               DaveV same design as Jon's No tab with angled nuts
67               Jon’s 1100 mile take off-No Tab- Has angled nuts
67 11A LOS Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Robert
68 03D NOR Has tab Darrell
68 04D NOR Has tab Janobyte
68 05E NOR Has tab Danny
68 06A NOR Has tab DaveV
68 07C NOR Has tab JerryG
68 07D NOR Has tab Skip
69        LOS  Has tab Mike1971
69        NOR Has tab Mike1971
69 11A NOR No tab Has angled nuts & orig. battery hold down clamp. Noyenko
69               Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Noyenko
69 01C NOR Has tab Jude
69 02D NOR Has tab SteveS
69 03B NOR Has tab SteveS
69 08C NOR Has tab Bullitt65
69 09A NOR Has tab (late built) Robert
69 09D NOR Has tab (late built) Skip
Maybe we should call these the fang trays! Here is Jon's:


And now Dave's Fang Tray:

[Mike S]

 The fangs may likely be worn tooling, IMO. Much like how we see NOS panels with some rough cuts that don't appear on others of the same type.

Mike

[dutch]

Chick
I didn't take any pictures of mine NOR 02D - but the tab looks identical to the first 2 pictures you have posted in this thread from what I can see..

Randy

[68camaroz28]

I was looking at pictures of the AMD reproduction battery tray and it sure looks very accurate. It even has the rectangular nuts though the welded in position isn't the same.

Mike

The fangs may likely be worn tooling, IMO. Much like how we see NOS panels with some rough cuts that don't appear on others of the same type.

Mike

Possibility Mike but would think that might be seen in late 69's, not 67's. I'm wondering if it had something to do with there was no material there so when pressed the two fangs as I called them was the start of forming the tab but with no material it never formed.

[68camaroz28]

Chick
I didn't take any pictures of mine NOR 02D - but the tab looks identical to the first 2 pictures you have posted in this thread from what I can see..

Randy

Thanks Randy and sent you a PM.
Updated List
67 DaveV same design as Jon's No tab-two sharp points w/correct angled nuts
67 Jon’s 1100 mile take off-No Tab-two sharp points w/correct angled nuts
67 11A LOS Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Robert
68 02D NOR Has tab Randy (Dutch)
68 03D NOR Has tab Darrell
68 04D NOR Has tab Janobyte
68 05E NOR Has tab Danny
68 06A NOR Has tab DaveV
68 07C NOR Has tab JerryG
68 07D NOR Has tab Skip
69 LOS Has tab Mike1971
69 NOR Has tab Mike1971
69 11A NOR No tab Has angled nuts & orig. battery hold down clamp. Noyenko
69 Has tab but not as pronounced as many. Noyenko
69 01C NOR Has tab Jude
69 02D NOR Has tab SteveS
69 03B NOR Has tab SteveS
69 03E NOR Has tab Eldon Has one sharp point with tab
69 08C NOR Has tab Bullitt65
69 09A NOR Has tab (late built) Robert
69 09D NOR Has tab (late built) Skip

Eldon sent me pictures of his 69 03E and it has the tab, angled nuts, and 1 (one) fang like. Thanks Eldon!

[asm69]

Here is a picture of my battery tray. I believe it to be original. 1969 z28  Los built October 1968.

[Steve Shauger]

Attached is a pic of a 69 3B original compared to a repop I purchased in 2009 from Ron @ MCCP in Il.

[1968RSZ28]

Steve, I know it's only one photo, but that repro looks dead-on the original.

Paul

[Steve Shauger]

I'll take better pics but you are correct almost dead-on.