I've been looking around at a lot of pictures of 68-69 vettes to figure out what side pipes and wheels to get and noticed that some have the farthest rear gill filled in. Why is that? Were some like that from the factory or does it imply an aftermarket piece?

 

My '69 has the back one closed in:



Not sure why.

Dave

 

I don't know the story, but on a design of such timeless beauty it sure looks unfinished. I'd cut it out in a heartbeat if it's not a truly rare shark in question, or at least paint it flat black as I did on the L71 I once had. Opening it up would improve aero and underhood cooling...

 

It's not unfinished, this is the correct original design. Leave it alone.

It should be flat black unless it's a code 900 Tuxedo Black car, in which case it would be body color.

 

I knew that, but it being "original" doesn't make it better. I also knew at least one purist would chime in to say not to change a thing. Thank you for proving my intuition correct..

 

Isn't there lots of things behind that "gill"? the number one body mount for sure, probably the pedal box, maybe even the door post? Painting it black makes sense. I like the four gills, wish my 75 had them, I only have one.

 

I'm doing the front clip on my 68 right now. Those are actually the front vertical bonding strip that supports that part of the fender. I had to carefully remove them using a putty knife so they can be re-bonded to my new fenders.

 

Can't put my hands on a picture of the '69 I had that shows the flat black behind the trim, but it looked good. I've seen aftermarket 'glass with all 4 gills open, and figure anything that's behind them could be hidden with a little black paint. Wasn't aware of that bonding strip issue with factory 'glass. Seems an oversight on the drawing board...

I've actually looked into putting the '68-69 gills on my SA because (with all 4 open) that design provides so much total outlet area, but after learning how expensive those panels can be I think I'm just going to enlarge the existing vent by pushing the back side of the opening in a couple inches. That would both accomplish my goals and remain more period correct for the body...

 

You can see in this picture the other bonding surface where the gill bonding strip gets bonded to. It is thefront support in the picture. You can see it is located right where the rear gill would be.

 

Is that supposed to insinuate that you knew someone would say something wrong or weird or whatever, and my post proved that? Besides, the post before you stated he was "not sure why" the end gill was closed. I told him why.

Some people would argue that original does make it better. (yes I know there's plenty on this Forum who would argue the direct opposite) You act like you made some brilliant prediction "knowing" that someone would point out the correct configuration. Wow, who didn't see that coming? Regardless of all the newbies here, we are still talking about Corvettes, right?

Sorry I'm a "purist" (wow, never heard anyone say that like it's a bad thing) who isn't interested in hacking up a stock car.

 

Thanks for all the responses. When the car was repainted they must not have masked off the black part and just covered it all with red. I'll just cover it over with some flat black paint. From the picture of the blue car, it looks like the chrome gill inserts do not interfere with the filled in part. Is this true for all the aftermarket inserts?

 

Yes, the GM and aftermarkets fit the filled part, as that is the original design. The difference in some of the inserts is that some repros are all chrome, where the original design is actually the leading edges are chrome with the center sections painted silver.
You also need to buy about $25 in screws and nuts to install them. (for some reason the screws come in a full set ($5-ish) but the nuts come in one side only so you need 2. ($10 each)

 

"Purist" is an insult? Hmmm. You failed to notice I was laughing when I posted. Thing is, we all have opinions, and after stating mine I had simply expected the counter to come, thinking it was somewhat humorous from my side of the fence to see the exact words "correct original" for the only reason not to make a change. Sorry you took it badly, but your reaction to my poking fun at a feud that is evidently more serious than I imagined exemplifies why purists (for the lack of a better word), often come off as if looking down from some ivory tower on those of us who feel it's OK to move beyond the way things may have been done half a century ago like we were a bunch of Bubba's "hacking up" anything we get our grimy hands on.

Besides, I knew better than to start cutting on my '69 Tri-power, even though I didn't know why the gills came that way. However, I stand behind my observation that the closed off gill will forever look unfinished in my eyes. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

As for an explanation, we have to thank bj1k for that, but now I'm left wondering how aftermarket 'glass with all 4 gills cut out evidently get around that bonding strip placement.

Bottom line is we're both right, and now that we've both gotten defensive about the dfiferent perspectives from which we view things, I suggest that we should both have a cold one and lighten up because, afterall, we are talking about Corvettes.

 

This is correct.
I've owned several '69's and all had the 4th gill painted black. Sometimes this is missed by unknowing body shops when they repaint the car and mistakenly viewed as an uncut gill.
When the gill is painted black it is virtually undetectable from the other 3 cutout gills unless you're closer than one foot from it.
Best,
Greg

 

It's a step of the front fender bonding process on the 68-69. I looked at the area closely when I was redoing my front clip. It needs to be sealed up from the outside elements. In my case, my car has a/c and the driverside footwell vent is deleted.
Bryan

 

For 68 and 69, the first three gills are functional. The last on each side is a fake and were painted semi-flat black to give the appearance of being open like the other three on each side.

There a cowl bonding area behind each of the fakes.

 

The after markets get away w/the open fourth gill,cause the body bonding area on the cowl bonds between the 3rd,and 4th gill on each side.The bonding strip on the clip has the vertical that bonds to the cowl piece,then the square that is glued around the 4th gill,so you could leave this out,but it is also the area where the vents go for non-air cars,or air cars.just the passenger side vent.There would be a issue of debris getting up in there,and laying on the top of the rocker/side of the door upright........

 

Thank you, very much. Clears that one right up.