Tag or Masking or Trash?

[Shiny]

Forgive the non-Camaro post but I stumbled on this site when searching for Fisher Body manufacturing details.

I recently found remnants of paper trapped under grommets.  The holes look like they were die cut or possibly from a "punch-through" installation.

Do these look like some type of ID tag, masking material left by Fisher Body, or random trash?

1970 LeMans assembled in Pontiac.  Paper was under adjacent grommets into trunk for fuel gauge wire and rear license plate lamp.  The grommet for the gas vent has been out before so not sure if it also had paper.

If this is "factory" residue, I'd love to see examples of the original tag or masking operation.  Any photos of similar observations would also be interesting.

Thanks and what a great repository you have created!

Mike

[1968RallySport]

Didn't Kurt mention that Fisher body would mask penetrations prior to checking for leaks during the water test before final assembly?

[Shiny]

Didn't Kurt mention that Fisher body would mask penetrations prior to checking for leaks during the water test before final assembly?

Awesome, thank you!  This is exactly what I was looking for.  Seems the general topic received some mileage here in restoration threads.  This thread even mentions the fuel sender, which makes me declare this explanation a winner!  https://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=17154.0

I will search the site for the more general water/leak test description.

Thank you for having a great memory and taking the time to reply!

Mike

[Shiny]

Here is the article you remembered that mentioned the 3 minute water test in the "Trim Shop Operations" section:

https://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml

I am grateful for this site and help.  My car is not worthy of restoration but has been a great learning vehicle (pun intended) about the engineering and manufacturing back then.  I'm constantly amazed by the design and manufacturing that went into GM's products and as a retired engineer, I miss the days of vertically integrated product development and manufacturing.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Shiny]

About the time I joined and posted here I reached out to the GM Archives asking if they had process details surrounding these tape shards.

A generous admin there forwarded my questions to a retired Norwood employee who in turn put the record straight. The water test hypothesis is disputed!

Here's the quote from the Norwood employee:


"The tape at the metal contact point for the subframe bushing was anti-squeak. These subframes were prone to body flex and movement between the body and the frame bushing and the black tape provided a barrier.

The Electrical harness tape with numbers were required to identify the correct harness or pigtail needed as called out on the production manifest for the specific vehicle being assembled. This number will match the manifest block number code on the "Build sheet".

Finally, the tape at the electrical grommet insertion was due to the production sizing variances encountered between the supplier of the rubber grommet and the production hole size. The tape was used to create a tight fit where either the grommet or the hole varied in size to the point where the rubber grommet capture was determined to be 'loose" to the point where the grommet could be prone to falling out under normal vehicle operational conditions"



When I re-installed the grommets for my license plate lamp and fuel level sender they both fit quite loose. I thought it was because they were old. It now seems they probably started life with a loose fit and the tape was used as a shim/gasket.

Interesting manufacturing trivia for me!

Mike