69 Z28 Distributor Hold Down clamp

[rally]

Gentlemen what did the factory Z Points distributors use for a hold down clamp? Was this clamp used thru out Chevys production line? I see one on ebay that looks like the right one. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

[JohnZ]

Mine has the single heavy-gauge stamped fork-type clamp (not the two-piece formed wire clamp).

[rally]

Thanks John, appreciate the info. The one on ebay looks like the one you have described and have. Happy New Year.

[My68SS]

Hi John, was that style of one piece clamp only a Z thing, with others receiving the two piece wire and saddle?

[68camaroz28]

Hi John, was that style of one piece clamp only a Z thing, with others receiving the two piece wire and saddle?

Know our 69 L78 Nova had the one piece clamp like on John's Z and our 69 SS350 has that type as well if I remember correctly.

[JohnZ]

Hi John, was that style of one piece clamp only a Z thing, with others receiving the two piece wire and saddle?

I don't know that anyone has ever tied that one down to a specific period for either style; Jerry and folks who have seen lots of known-original cars probably have better guidance.

[Charley]

On my ZL1

[Jerry@CHP]

Last year for the wire style distributor hold down was 1968.  As a matter of fact, in the Nov 1968 issue of SSDI they talked about how the wire style hold down clamp would not hold the distributor in place while road testing a 1968 Z28.  Jere Stahl had to keep resetting the dist for the road test.

Jerry

[68rs327conv]

Would the wire style clamp on a base engine with painted intake be painted also or just plated metal?

Mike

[tmodel66]

To my understanding all were painted Orange except the ones on Aluminum intakes.

[68rs327conv]

So the engine was painted after the distributor was installed, can anyone else confirm

Mike

[tmodel66]

Read this and look at the pictures of the engines in the racks. It shows the distributors already in the engine and they're painted.

http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml#chev

[Charley]

Orig hold down of a 69 low hp Camaro I have. Painted and the underside overspray idndicates it was painted on the engine.

[JohnZ]

Orig hold down of a 69 low hp Camaro I have. Painted and the underside overspray idndicates it was painted on the engine.

That's exactly what I'd expect to see - a coffee can was placed over the distributor to mask it, and at least some overspray will typically show on the collar and hold-down clamp.

[My68SS]

So from Jerry's observations, it would seem that we at least have all 67's, 68's and early 69's using the wire clamp, then changing to the stamped steel clamp, with the changeover possibly somewhere early 69.
In any event, the wire clamp on my 12c built 68 would seem right. [whew!]

Perhaps other early 69'ers could chime in with what's on their motor to see if we can narrow down the changeover date.