68 BB Fan Shroud design

[Patrick N.]

Can any member help me determine the style fan shroud I should have on my L68? Was the shroud modified during production at all-the one in the car now is close to one that was "canceled" in the AIM? All the other shrouds in the AIM, page B4 being the closest design, are different from the one I have currently. I will post a pic tonight of the one I have to see if it is correct or not.

Thanks,
Pat
68 427 / 400
88

[Jack C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Patrick, after you post you pix I"ll take a look at mine. It's a Jan 22 built car.

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Thanks Jack,

I will post them in an hour or so. I have a March 8th car so should be very close to your design. I suspect my shroud is service replacement.
Thanks,
Pat
68 427 / 400
88

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Photos of shroud: General Tire logo is on all three parts. Fiberglass is light gray to dark gray-thoughts?

[Jack C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Patrick.I believe mine is the original one that came with the car. No rivets or pn# like yours shows.

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Thanks Jack,

I appreciate you looking at this, I am gaining confidence that my shroud is a replacement and will need to be swapped out.

in your second pic there is a bolt holding a thinner strip of fibeglass, is that an extension on the shroud?

Thanks again,
Pat
68 427 / 400
88

[Jack C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Np. The bolt is holding the extension in place.

[Ronald L.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Hi guys, last year (with the help of some key forum members) I posted pictures of all three: 66, 67, 68, they are all distinct and very different.

Light gray glass was a late 70's or 80's thing. Pat, for sure you have a later "68 design" service replacement shroud. The pair of rivets through the left side are a give-away as we've documented several BB 68 Shoruds with GMPD/dealer id's on them from the early 1980's. It was the we started seeing one or two pieces of the light glass with the other pieces being darker.

I also recently had the opportunity to see the 66 BB 390 car I restored in 1980, still intact with its original fan shroud (less a little more paint). The interesting thing on that time capsule is the inspection stickers. They aren't the same size as what you can buy today (yet - I'll fix that soon) ---and--- they are on the part before the part was painted black, not on top of the black paint. This makes the third 66-67 shroud I've seen in this condition.


I actually have a 68 shroud that has the 1967 AIM part numbers molded into the part near the GT logos. Does yours have the 68 part numbers molded in?



Here is the link from last year, if you need more details, I am sure to have those archived:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=79374&highlight=shroud&uid=1584

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Thanks guys for your help,

Ron, The shroud I have has part numbers molded in but non match the AIM numbers. The link you attached was great, thanks! You mentioned black paint on earlier shrouds, was that done away with for the 68 and beyond?

I will begin tracking a replacement down, has anyone an opinion on how the aftermarket repos compare / how well they do in judging?

Thanks again

Pat
68 427 /400
88

[John C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Pat

When I bought my 68 it had a shroud similar to yours. It looks to have the same part number you show for the top section. It has the rivets but is molded in a black fiberglass and does not have the general tire logo (see picture 1 below). My car has had the fan, fan clutch, and radiator recored before I bought it so I'm pretty sure the shroud has been replaced as well.

I looked at replacing it when I rebuilt my engine but I wasn't really happy with the repro. They have a lot of rough cut edges the originals don't have so I put the old one back in. I think with a little work the rough edges could be smoothed out to make it workable. Pictures 2-4 are of the repro.

If you decide to go with the repro I can make you a deal on what I have.

John

[Ronald L.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

The repro's don't look the same.
What part numbers do you have in that shroud (maybe they are 67 AIM numbers)?
The paint was done away with starting in 67.

[John C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Ron

The one I have on my car now has 388826? (the last number is unreadable) molded into the top section of the shroud.

The repro doesn't have any number on it.

John

[Ronald L.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

You should be able to find at the left and right joints the left and Rh part numbers as well. The center section sounds perfectly normal. Those pieces will lend a little history to this and help to be sure you get the exact original part. I can get pics of the one I have with 67 part numbers if they did not get posted last year.

[John C.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

Ron

The left side number is 393557?. So this number does look like it's a match the 68 AIM. The right side is unreadable as the has been taken apart and re-bonded at that joint.

When looking for the side part numbers I did see a faint General Tire logo on both side pieces.

John

[Ronald L.]

Re: 68 BB Fan Shroud design

These details for 66 67 68 are spread across three threads, Ill try and pull them together.

66 part numbers:
Top: 3888269
LH:3886887
RH: 3886888


67 part numbers (changes over 66)
Top: 3888269
RH: 3911110 major retool, angled off as in the pictures in this thread
LH: 3886887

68 part numbers - this shorud was completely different that the previous years, added angled flange to close out to the radiator, the angle RH cut, curved notch and closed out cooling hole for the alternator.
Top: 3888268
LH 3935571
RH 395572

Now the interesting thing to note in this thread:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=79027&uid=2260

Was that late 67 appears to have this shroud configuration. I doubt it since the fan hits the shroud if you use the service part on a 66 67. Starting with the center hole versus the 66 67 center top hole to the left, etc.

More interesting is I have one of the 68 shrouds with these 67 part numbers molded into it. initially it was a puzzle how that could have happened, but I expect its one of these late 67MY early 68 parts before they combined everything up into the final service part for these three years: 3938940

For sure that light gray is an 80's thing, it is identical to several I used in this research last year that still have dated dealer stickers on them.