Ground Strap Question

[IZRSSS]

...WRONG

These cars can get really frustrating...U63/A7 (bottom left) clearly shows two different screws / fasteners. Mine are obviously the same. If these are factory they should only be for the body / firewall and not the frame.

Boston's (and I'm only speculating) look the same. If his are the same and are factory (which they certainly look factory), then his screws should only be used on the frame (per AIM) and not on the body / firewall.
 
Steve's pic show's two different screws. His are probably spot on.

To complicate the issue…U63/A6 & U63/A7 (bottom right) show yet another screw / screws. Can anyone be certain all fasteners ended up where they were supposed to? And to take it one step farther; how is something as complicated as this judged?

[bertfam]

Can anyone be certain all fasteners ended up where they were supposed to?

You guys are getting too hung up on screw and bolt head markings. GM fasteners were supplied by multiple vendors and were dumped in the same bin as other suppliers screws and bolts. No one on the lines cared what the head markings were and just grabed what was in the bin. Most cars have a mix and match number of head markings on their car so don't worry if your car has something different than another car.

Ed

[sixt9x33rs]

IZRSSS,
this is exactly what my u69 has.
Here is a pic of the firewall to sub frame strap.  My '69 Z28 is a Norwood built first week of May (05A) with a U79 "Blue Light" AM/FM Stereo, 4-speaker system with the multiplex-amplifier, shown on page 445 of the AIM.  I purchased the car with about 45K original miles and restored it.  It had all (4) ground straps which I still have.  I attempted to clean and reuse the straps but they did not clean up to like new condition so I replaced them.  The capacitor (fan blower noise suppressor) in the picture is detail #2 shown on page 439.  Note that it states “ALL EXCEPT C60” for air conditioning and includes the body to frame ground strap.

I also included a picture of the Inner Fender Well (skirt) to Frame strap shown for an L-6 engine car on page 441.  My car is obviously a V-8 car but it did originally include all (4) ground straps.  The "E" head screw with star lock washer was on the strap in frame position so I reused it.  All the other screws that go into sheet metal are replacements offered by AMK, #B-11099, 1/4-14 x 5/8” screws, Zink plated with a "D" mark.  These are the #9420415 called out in the AIM.  Note that the screws that go into the frame are #9420152.  I can not be sure if the “E” mark screw I have is original.

Does anyone have an original U79 Radio car build about the same time period as mine with the original ground strap screws still in place in the frame positions?  Are they like the “E” head screw?  I would love to see a picture!

Thanks.

Dave

[srode]

Can anyone be certain all fasteners ended up where they were supposed to?

You guys are getting too hung up on screw and bolt head markings. GM fasteners were supplied by multiple vendors and were dumped in the same bin as other suppliers screws and bolts. No one on the lines cared what the head markings were and just grabed what was in the bin. Most cars have a mix and match number of head markings on their car so don't worry if your car has something different than another car.

Ed

the screw that went into my frame was the one that was supposed to be in the firewall and visa versa, I'm sure you are right Ed, the as delivered cars weren't perfectly aligned with what the AIM indicated.   Obviously so in my case with the missing 4th ground strap too. 

[IZRSSS]

You guys are getting too hung up on screw and bolt head markings. GM fasteners were supplied by multiple vendors and were dumped in the same bin as other suppliers screws and bolts. No one on the lines cared what the head markings were and just grabed what was in the bin. Most cars have a mix and match number of head markings on their car so don't worry if your car has something different than another car.

Ed

Now that you’ve explained how this part of the operation went down back in the day, it makes perfect sense; why get hung up on it?

Now, for those of you familiar with the Camaro Nationals; would this be a deal breaker moving up from Bow Tie Class to Legend Class?

[Steve Shauger]

Not speaking for the judges in that program, but I wouldn't lose any sleep. The Bowtie class is a 1000 point system and they spend roughly 20 minutes per car. There are many other "significant" areas that attention is paid to.

[IZRSSS]

It isn't the Bowtie Class that concerns me, its the Legend Class...

[Dave69x33]

Thanks for the additional pictures. 

As we continue to try to restore our cars to more accurate standards, I believe we all can agree that correct NOS and/or clean restored dated coded parts along with the correct hardware are what separate the exceptional cars from the nice cars.  And exceptional 1st Gens are not always ultra rare ZL1s, Yenkos, and JL8s, but include all original 6-cylinders well done with neat family histories.

My hope is to find other U79 and/or AM/FM radio survivor cars that still have the original hardware and attempt to discover some commonality on hardware used based on the plant and build date.  This research is not limited to only radio ground straps, but includes all the hardware used on our cars.  I realize that more than one suppler supplied many of the various hardware pieces on our cars, and the assembly line process was not perfect; mistakes and variation was common and to be expected.  But if we can discover from survivors and original cars that one or several hardware markings appear to be common for a build period, we can then only "assume" that a certain head marking(s) to be correct. 

Keep the pictures coming along with your plant and assembly build date!

Thanks

[67L78]

If a 67 came without a radio would it still have the three ground straps?

Richard

[Petes L48]

If a 67 came without a radio would it still have the three ground straps?

Richard

Take a look at UPC 63/69 sheets A6 & A7 in the 67 AIM, you'll see that installing the ground straps was part of the radio install process.  So no radio, no straps.  Nor would you have the static collectors inside the wheel hub dust caps.

[srode]

  Nor would you have the static collectors inside the wheel hub dust caps.

What's this? 

[big iron]

Shown in the 67-68 AIM U63 A1 but not shown in 69 AIM. Not sure that the 69 had them. The 69 AIM revision 1 shows, "carry over not removed" ?
Corvette suppliers have them.
Bob

[JohnZ]

<<The 69 AIM revision 1 shows, "carry over not removed" ? >>

That's "carryover NOTE removed", which reflects removal of the '68 static collectors; after many years of installing them, they finally determined that the collectors didn't accomplish anything, and cancelled them on all car lines.

[srode]

Very Interesting - what do they look like I wonder.

[Mike S]

Very Interesting - what do they look like I wonder.

 Here is a shot of the ones in my 67 Camaro's.

Mike