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68 spark plug brackets. I need some help on this one
I have been trying to find out if these two spark plugs brackets are correct for a 68 442. If not 68 what is the correct year for them? They came from a large parts parcel of a 68 442 but the manual shows (3) different brackets. Thank you in advance.
That is correct. I just found out they were off of a 65 Pontiac Tempest 326 V8. Now if anyone as pictures of the (3) original 68 442 spark plug (looms brackets holders) it would be much appreciated. If anyone as all (3) for sale it would be even better. Trying to be as original as possible here.
I don't know where you got the idea there are three brackets ,but there is only one on the drivers side and just a plastic holder for the passenger side [no bracket] , the brackets are extremely hard to find , I have had 68's for almost 40 years and bought many parts cars and have only found a couple of them over the years and I don't have any extras. you will be very lucky to find one at all
1968s had 2 brackets. The one on the drivers side that used the push on 4 wire separator, it also has a tab on it to secure the pipe for the brake booster. On the pass side is a '68 only tab that bolts to 2nd upper valve cover bolt with a 2 wire push on separator. The 2 wire one on the pass side was for keeping the wires clear of the '68 only style heat pipe for the air cleaner since it came up over the valve cover. It's not shown in the assembly manual at all!, but here is a pic in the service manual showing it on a big car. It's used on all V8s whether they had a/c or not. I put up some pics, sorry they're a bit hard to see as I already had a bunch of things back together when I took the pics.
Last edited by rob1960; December 6th, 2020 at 05:20 AM.
Thank you very much. Now if i can find a set of these. You would think that Inline Tube would reproduce them like they reproduce all the Pontiac ones but they don't nobody does. The search continues.
Rob, impressive info. You are correct the PIM doesn't show the passenger side clip... I attached both pages that would have shown it.
Then I went to survivor car pics I've collected, and I had some from a low mileage '68 442. It has the clip on the passenger side, but the heater hose is routed incorrectly.
Didn't mean to cause problems Luke!!! '68s had all kinds of 1 year only "stuff". I got very lucky with my car. Who ever rebuilt the engine was pretty meticulous about keeping all the factory hardware in place. No parts store bolts, all pieces parts in the right places. I've had a few '68s over the years & that right side plug wire bracket wasn't exclusive to the big blocks. The Cutlass 350s also used them. In '69 when they moved the vacuum valve assembly on the snorkel out closer to the air inlet the need for that extra bracket was eliminated. That's a nice pic of an original 442 engine bay!!!
It would be nice to see an actual picture of both brackets just to see what i am chasing after. I asked Inline Tube about it and they said they have no plans on reproducing them. I would think that you could sell at least 500 of them but what do i know.
I promised Louis(W27) I'd pull the spark plug wire brackets off & send him some pics, over my xmas break, which I did. I wanted to add them to this post for anyone to see. As was discussed earlier the double wire one on the pass side isn't shown in the assembly manual but I've owned a few '68s over the years they had the RH bracket. Ames, the Pontiac people have the correct 4 wire push on holder, Ecklers Chevelle has a kit that has the correct 2 wire push on holder but it only comes in a set of 4 for $16.99
Last edited by rob1960; December 28th, 2020 at 04:17 AM.
With the proper dimensions, I could model these brackets in cad and laser cut them at work.
The two wire one would be a piece of cake, the four wire one would be easy, except for the
oval embossing. I don’t think we have the tooling for that, but I can check.
The only issue will be getting laser time. The shop has been extremely busy lately
Rob, thank you very much. If i ever get a hold of a (2) wire bracket i will duplicate it by hand, the (4) wire one would be much harder but at least i know now what i am chasing. Inline Tube as no intentions of reproducing them at all. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to every one. Louis.
Here's a couple more pics. I also found a drawing from the '68 assembly manual that shows the LH bracket & how the pwr brake vacuum pipe is secured to it. As you can see it's A-body only, the big cars are completely different as their bracket bolts bolts to the intake not the valve cover.
Last edited by rob1960; December 29th, 2020 at 04:22 AM.
That's great Louis, glad you found them!. It should be easy for you to make that right side bracket after seeing your reproduced lube tags. I'm not sure how good the pics came out that I sent you via email but the ones on this post sure came out nice, clear & large.
Rob, thank you very much for all your help. What's really great is that the driver side would be hard to replicate when the passenger side is not. I think i will wait until i have an original in front of me so that it will be exact. Shame on Inline Tube for not replicating it. It will be easy for me because it's a flat piece. The search goes on........
I finally made a 68 442 passenger side spark plug bracket from the pictures that Rob uploaded so a "Special Thank You Rob" the results were great. I used a much thicker gauge of steel and it fits snug in the black plastic. First time making anything from scratch from pictures only but i am pleased with the results. Thank you Rob.
Looks great Louis, Glad I could help!! You should have made some more, you probably could sell a few to the '68 guys here! Olds blue paint???You running a 455 in yours??
Rob, thank you. I tought about it but it took a long time to make it. I think Inline Tube should make 500 sets as they would sell fast but what do i know. Yes it was a dealer warranty replacement engine (no numbers on it) she still runs pretty good with small oil leakage but still a torque monster. Thanks again.
December 1st, 2020, 03:03 PM
