L78 Dipstick finish

[m22mike]

Question... Would the Dipstick and tube be bare metal finish on a L78 69 NOVA ? I am not sure where it was installed..on the line or at the engine plant.
Thanks Mike A

[nuch_ss396]

Mike,

Good question! The pictures I have of BBC engines going
down the painting line don't appear to show dip stick tubes
in place. However, these pictures are of low quality. Due
to the fact that the dip stick tube used one of the exhaust
manifold mounting bolts for attachemnt, one would expact to
see some overspray on the tube itself. I would have to
believe though that the dip stick itself was natural in
color. I suspect that was added at a later time anyway.

I will go back to these pictures and repost if I find
anything to the contrary.

Nuch

[SS427]

On Tonawanda engines, the tube was added after engine painting and was natural and covered in Cosmoline.

[Woj]

Mike,

For what it is worth, the tube on my 396/325 hp is a natural finish.

Phil Woj.

[nuch_ss396]

Mike,

I found the pictures I referenced above. It does not appear
that the dip stick tube was installed at the time of painting.

To put a kink in this, I just remembered an L-35 Caprice I
took apart about 6 years ago. I was the first person to
take the engine apart and I recall the dip stick & tube
having remnants of orange paint on them.

Nuch

[SS427]

If I remember correctly, I believe Keith Tedford has an original picture of his '69 SS396/375 hp Chevelle when it was only a few days old and it shows the natural dipstick. I have the photo on my home computor but not my office one.

[Mr. Chevy]

Mike, dipstick itself is left natural. Not too sure on the tube, but I agree with the others, probably was natural also..

Rich

[737Driver]

Here is a paint line PIC from 1967 and it doesn't appear the tube is installed. Notice the stringent use of breathing masks. It looks like one guy has a cig hanging out of his mouth. I wonder if he is still on this earth?

[nuch_ss396]

Mark,

There is a water curtain to the rear & bottom of the
engines and that cut down tremendously on overspray.
This is one of the pictures I was referring to. Where
did you get it? Are there more of them? I'd like to
have as many of these as you have........

Nuch

[m22mike]

Thanks for all the responce. It was my guess that the tube was added after paint. Thats the way I will go with it.
Thanks Phil, I knew you would be there.
Great shot of the engine paint line, thats cool.
ref to the cicarette... in the early 70's at my first job as a A & P mechanic (Aircraft mech) I worked for a small fixed base operator here at CAK, we all had ashtrays on our tool box's. We mostly did not light up if there was open fuel around.
Thanks Mike A