Hello, everyone. My early build ‘69 needs (among other things…) headlight rock shields.

I know there is one set for ‘68-early ‘69, and then late ‘69-on. From my research here, it seems that the E69 had some sort of notch on the shield that went away when Chevy redesigned the shield. I couldn’t find the reference to the shields in the Bizzoco ‘69 Stingray book, so if anyone has a page # I’d be grateful; the author does a good job of explaining the changes over the build cycle and the reasons why.

Given my early ‘69 front grill, should I buy the early ‘69 shields? Or, does it matter at all, and the later ‘69 shields will fit just fine?


Thanks!




“I can see your headlights”

At Zip:

https://www.zip-corvette.com/68-69e-...k-shields.html

 

I can’t answer your question Coronette but I’m happy to hear you are replacing your missing shields. 👍🏻👍🏻 It’s a pet peeve of mine on early C3s and easily remedied with available replacements.

 

I am pretty sure there are actually 3 different types. I believe type one was used thru January 1969. The reason they changed them was because the earlier design interfered with how the headlights were opening and closing. All the shields will fit fine but the early styles might catch on the headlights, or so they claimed…

 

Thanks. That’s precisely my concern, that I get the “correct” one for my car (built 10/68) and they interfere with the operation of the lights, and I should’ve gone with the later ‘69 shields. As is well known, Chevy made a number of improvements over the 16+ month production. I presume the new shield design was considered an improvement.

I just now saw early ‘69 shields for sale here (missed the sale by a few weeks), so if the buyer is here perhaps he can weigh in.

 

I pulled mine out to help with air flow through the grill. I as overheating at the track and pulling them got me cooled down enough to continue

 

Thanks. I wonder if that’s why mine were removed. Mine has an ancient Hurst shifter.

I found the reference to the newer design on page 160 of the Bizzoco book. He doesn’t say why the design change was made, though.

I couldn’t find the part in the 1969 assembly manual, and looked particularly in the front end section and the headlight section. The manual is helpful because some versions have handwritten date changes. Does anyone have a photo or screen shot from the manual with this part? I want to buy the shield to protect the headlights from rocks, but I’m also concerned that the early ‘69 design might impede the light operation.

If it’s not an issue, or if there is no real difference between the early and late ‘69 designs, that would be helpful to know as well.

 

Part number 11


looks like it might be dated 12-15-68 for the change but hard to read

3966559-60 is the same part numbers for my 72

The GM parts wiki for 68 only shows the two
3930415-16 shields for the 68
3966559-60 shields for the 69




M

 

Hi Coronette,
I have a similar early '69 build date (10-31-68). I have never had any headlight interference issue with the rock shields FWIW. I did not find the part numbers listed on Mooser's post (need to do more cleaning) or the PN's are stamped under the flange area where the shields are attached. I took the grill off for you and included a photo of what is on my car if that helps at all. I issume these are the early '68 shields but did not find any part numbers to confirm that assumption.

Original dirt and bugs.

 

It's interesting that yours doesn't have the corner notch that the later ones have but neither of the two I listed have that cut out on the bottom that yours has. I wonder if that was a assembly line work-around for the last of the 68's before the new ones were available or something


There was some speculation in the dates for the change in this old thread
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...mp-shield.html

M

 

Those are the 3 versions I was referring to. What KS has IS the earliest version. You will find that 1st version up to at least mid January 1969. It’s on my mid January 69 roadster that has been sitting in a garage untouched since 1978 before I bought it. By Feb they used version 2 which is what they now describe as 1968-early 69 which in my opinion is incorrect. It should be labeled as mid 1969. Then after that is the last. I’m not sure when the last version started which they have listed as 1969 thru 1972.

From what I observed, the cut out is not a workaround but the original version. From what I heard, it was made bigger because lights were still getting broken. I’m not sure when the problem of stuck headlights supposedly happened.

 

Thanks, both of you. I appreciate the information and explanation.

I did see this in the AIM but #11 looked like a bracket to me. It’s also interesting that it didn’t show any updates to this part in the handwritten notes (at last, not what I could decipher).

I didn’t see any other changes that warranted a chance in design (again, from what I could tell). I’ll go ahead and order the part.

I wonder what is the difference between the 1.80 and 1.90 on the parts list. The price?

This seems to be the part, although the description seems to be for a different part altogether:

https://www.topflightautomotive.com/...gaAqE0EALw_wcB





AIM headlamp housing & assembly

 

[QUOTE=Mooser;1606467246]It's interesting that yours doesn't have the corner notch that the later ones have but neither of the two I listed have that cut out on the bottom that yours has. I wonder if that was a assembly line work-around for the last of the 68's before the new ones were available or something.

Hi Mooser and ed427vette,
Speculation on my part but I wonder if the shield cutouts on my car, especially the long lower cutout, was for increased airflow because my car is a L-46 350/350 with PS, PB, and factory AC? My car has the taller Harrison radiator and no expansion tank? Definately a tradeoff to engineer cutouts in the shields to help engine cooling while still trying to protect the headlight lenses.

Pretty easy to remove my shields (3 recessed hex screws) so I might go ahead and do that tomorrow just to find the part numbers you showed in your post. I will post back here if I find anything.

Thanks for the post Coronette, this shield discussion has been educational for me too. Great place to learn.

 

It's kind of messed up on my copy but beside the 11 call out the circle has what's left of the number 4 in it and if you look at the change log the #4 looks like the date is 12-15-68 and there's a vague looking word shield in the description beside the date.
M

 

[QUOTE=KS69Coupe;1606468287]I did a quick scroll through the options pages and don't see any mention of it in there. It's also possible that it was done at the dealer maybe under a service bulletin if a customer complained of a overheating issue ????
M

 

I have no doubt it exists, I'm just not sure when it's referenced. I can only find those 2 different part numbers in any of the books. Even in the 68 AIM version I have, which has dated changes in Feb of 68 it lists the 68-69e number and there's no mention of it replacing something earlier


and in the part history book it's the same

No idea what the part number for the ones with the wide notch out of the bottom might have been
M

 

What that note says is "WAS 3930415-16 SHIELD". So, mid-December for the AIM that part had at least a number change, and likely a design change as well. The one catalog (Oct. '68) where it's listed shows the parts as specific to '68 or '69 (Yes, Coronette, the 1.80 and 1.90 are the prices for that catalog). By Sept. '74 that dual listing was dropped.


Interestingly, the 1973 parts history/supersession book shows different dates for the right vs. left, but the 416 certainly was replaced by 560 earlier than July '70 given the 10/68 catalog above.


What all this means... I have no clue. The dates of change are pretty widely spread and inconsistent from one document to the next.

 

I did originally buy the 68 version of the shield and it interferred with my headlights and so I bought the 69 version. But I had changed my headlights to the later 69-up version. Don't forgette that the original 68 headlights are smaller. And yes, Coronette, the 1.80/1.90 is the price. Lou.

 

interesting information, i got the original headlight shields from my march built 69 ill be listing for sale soon, they have the 2 little tabs stapled on them like the set that was just sold a month or 2 ago in the FS section, but they don't look like what in the pics attached in this thread.

 

Hello All,
Well, I did remove the RH Early '69 shield from my car and spent a few hours cleaning it up and looking for part numbers. Here's what I found. My car has been repainted once and they painted right over the top of the RH shield...nice, what a pain to restore back to just the black plastic w/o paint.

1. Did not find any PN's on the RH side. Will restore the LH side later this week and will look for a stamped PN on LH side. Was looking for PN 3930416 and did not find it stamped anywhere on the part.
2. I am 99% certain this plastic part was made like it is at the factory that produced the shields. The injection mold marks and ejection pins used to release the parts from the plastic mold are all still present. I don't believe this shield was modified at the delearship upoon delivery or modified at a later date. All of the edges of the part and the edges of the upper and lower cutouts are exactly similar: same edge thickness, same edge finish on cutouts and the part itself.
3. there is some evidence of the RH shield being attached with a screw used to hold the grill. Possibly to prevent the headlights from catching the shield??

Not sure if any of this helps or hurts Coronette but it's interesting if nothing else.

Before - covered in overspray black paint

Few hours of wet sanding with 800 grit to get all the paint off. Thought maybe I would find a PN under the primer and paint but no luck

marked up the injection mold ejection pins and also marked the lower right corner where this shield was being held with one of the screws used to secure the grill

 

Nice (for future reference I've had great luck using brake fluid to remove paint from plastics and it never touched the plastic at all)
That certainly looks like it was made with that notch in the bottom, so did gm actually make 2 different parts with the same part number or is there a different 68 part number that disappeared and isn't reference on the books as being superseded by the one you have there..
M