Inline Tube - 1969 Pontiac GTO Bobcat Engine Detail
Inline Tube 1969 Royal Pontiac Engine Detail
We all want a neat clean engine compartment with the engine being the
center focal point. With any nice car the details make it a stand out. What we
first have to understand is that building an engine from the factory was a
process. This was a fast assembly line get it done process. The bins of parts
were arranged and the building process began. It was a job to an assembly worker
that in most cases did not know one engine from another and was doing a job laid
out in a manual. Engine assembly manuals lay out the process and tell the
story. Most engines were at some point of assembly before the painting process.
Some brackets and parts while plated or painted ended up with engine blue paint
on them. The engine had a paint instruction page which defined what to paint and
what to stay away from. Plenty of fittings, brackets and hoses were painted
over in the process. I have seen distributor bases with paint on them
indicating the distributor was in the engine before paint. I have also seen
chrome valve covers with blue paint on the gasket edge that tells me that there
was a mask that went over this part to protect it. The engine manual also shows
the intake and the exhaust manifolds as part of the paint assembly with notes to
stay away from these areas. This explains why there is still paint on certain
parts of the engine and others have very little. I used to wonder why Pontiac
oil pans were always rusty on the bottom! The worker never got down to get the
bottom with the paint gun, the sides are as far as the paint went. The engines
were not masked but had light overspray on the edges of everything the worker
was to stay away from. This is what makes is so hard to define a color of a
part. A bracket may have been plated silver and bolted on the engine and at a
later time painted over in the process. Today as we over restore cars we over
restore engines also. If we restored the engine as it came we would consider it
sloppy and a poor restoration. So let’s call this 1969 GTO RAM AIR IV engine
over restored.
When the engine was tested and the
inspector stamped OK on the front of the head, we have seen these inspector
stamps in numbers 1-9 and even upside down. The WW block sticker was to identify
the engine to the line worker. It was much easier to see the big sticker than
the small WW id below the sequence number stamp next to the sticker.
Since this is a 69 Ram Air IV
although similar to the standard engine a few items are different. The valve
cover breather tube is gray phosphate, the wires are date coded and the factory
wire looms give that factory look.
This is a aftermarket oil sending
unit but painted to match the original with the correct brass elbow. We used a
standard white filter but the oil filter should be painted along with the bolts
since it was on the engine assembly. The filter has no marking since they were
bought at the factory in bulk but was also on the engine and should have blue
over spray on it. The edges of the manifolds and the spark plugs would also have
blue paint on them. The manifolds had a phosphate grey type of coating to
protect them but would also have blue engine paint on the edges.
The distributor was also part of the
engine assembly and should have blue paint over the plated hold down and bolt
and the base of the distributor. Many of these parts had light spray that over
the years has been covered with grease and oil.
The Ram Air Aluminum intake and water
neck was spared the paint. The bolts were nature plating’s of silver and black
zinc and phosphate. The stud in the front of the water neck was standard on all
engines weather they used it for power steering or not for manual. The black
square indent plug was on Manual trans cars in place of the vacuum unit. We have
the correct tower clamps and tin coated fuel line. The PVC original valves had a
olive green plating and standard fuel hose connecting them to the brass intake
fitting.
The throttle bracket was gray
phosphate on the RA4 and engine color on the RA3 and standard engines. The
throttle cable and bracket was put on later and the hold down is silver and the
cable is has the tag PB that is noted on the build sheet. Coil bracket is silver
zinc and the coil is black. The throttle return spring is blue and if additional
tension is needed a yellow smaller dia. Spring is added. The power brake booster
vacuum hose is clipped to the tang on the throttle bracket.
The preheat tube that runs from the
shroud to the air cleaner is black but has also been seen in silver with black
paint over it. The originals were metal and the reproduction is black paper with
a metal core and is more durable. The tube is held to the shroud with a pinch
style clip. The shroud is gray phosphate and the folded metal style is RA4 and
the molded shield is RA3. We have seen this shroud in black, silver and grey
phosphate. It is held in place by the head stud with slotted silver nuts. The
end holes of the exhaust manifold are also larger for expansion and are the only
ones that use the lock tabs.
The negative battery cable runs to
the stud of the head and the special star washer is applied first then the
battery cable and finally the nut. Again we see the slotted nut that holds the
preheat shroud to the engine head stud.
The engine alternator has the stamp
XC that is for the standard 37 amp unit and has the black plastic cap that
protects the power end stud from coming in contact with metal. The cap is also
commonly seen in red. The bolt that holds the Alt at the engine bracket is a
built in washer bolt that we have another washer behind so we do not scratch all
the paint when it is tightened down.
The harmonic balancer was on the
engine at the time of paint so the balance bolt would have blue paint on it and
the black pulley bolted on after paint. Notice the pulley bolts are black. The
AC delco fuel pump is held on with the correct TR bolts and special aluminum
washers. The fuel hose has the green fuel clamp and the red fuel return clamp
with the correct fuel hose markings on the hose. The belt is a smooth non cogged
belt. The fuel metal line is tin coated and preformed. The water pump bolts
should have the indented star bolts painted over blue. All brackets were put on
after engine paint so the bolts would be silver or black zinc.
The dip stick tube would be blue and
the dip stick was natural since it was put in after engine paint. The manifolds
had a gray phosphate coating but would have engine blue overspray on the head
edge that would of most likely burned off after a few hours of running the
engine.
This is a solid motor mount on the
left side only the original would be metal and rubber. The tube above it is for
the battery cable to run and keep it off the hot manifold. The motor mount bolts
to the block have the special indented heads and inspection marks to let the
inspector know they are tight. The starter brace runs from the engine block
motor mount to the front o f the starter. This brace help to hold the starter in
place. The starter body is black and the end cap is bare metal.
The starter body is black and the
rest bare metal. The starter solenoid has a heat shield if you got RA exhaust
manifolds to keep the heat from this part. The starter also has silver starter
bolts and one galvanized starter shim.
This shows the correct manifold color
and the manifold bolts with the circular head markings. The end bolts holes in
the manifolds are for expansion and use the locks that have not been bent over
yet. You can just barely see the RA IV inner heat shield. There is an inner
shield to contain the heat around the manifold and keep it away from the wiring
harness.
The RA IV has a separate heat
crossover for the choke and a second heat riser tube. The front and the rear of
the intake manifold use the standard bolts and the center bolts have no built in
washer but have a separate thick washer to hold it all in place. All RA IV had
the wiring gutter bracket because on the RA 4 it has an extra hole on the left
side to hold the heat riser collar. The choke is held in place with a Philips
screw with a lock washer. Chrome valve cover cars use silver zinc bolts with
built in washers. The carb has been sent out to be re-plated and a new white
strip vacuum hose installed. The carb bolts are black phosphate.
The RA IV used a heat shield on the
under intake crossover to keep heat from the intake gas. It used small hex head
screws to hold the shield halves together. The shield is silver zinc and had the
thick washers to hold the crossover to the engine block. The silver zinc intake
fitting is for the air cleaner vacuum.
The air cleaner base is gloss black
with the RA foam seal. The vacuum switch is light green and the vacuum hose that
runs from the switch through the air cleaner base is black with a white stripe.
This hose has the white union that connect it to the under hood pan vacuum
actuators. Also notice the green date code on the air cleaner base. Every
original Pontiac air cleaner has this factory date code stamp.
Inline tube supplied all the engine
tubes, brackets, fittings, bolt kits, ink stamps, wire looms and marking
pencils. These are the detail items that make a good engine complete.
Sources:
Inlinetube - Brake & Fuel Lines,
Parking Brake Cables, Hoses, Valves, Brake & Fuel Clips, Disc Brakes
15066 Technology Drive
Shelby Twp, MI 48315
586 532 1338
