I am looking for someone who has an original unrestored or corrctly restored 396ci/350hp 70 SS Chevelle,or someone with a great memory. I have purchased the alternator heater hose retainer,which is a black bracket that attaches to the alternator bracket with one bolt and secures the two heater hoseses together. This retainer is identical to the one on the passenger side inner fender,which serves the same function. My problem is that i have seen some very nice 396 and 454 restorations which use this retainer and some which do not. The Chevelle SS restoration guide says this retainer was used in early 1969,but was removed per a service bulletin due to "restriction problems". The guide then says it was used only on 350ci engines and again on big blocks in 72.I would really like to know if this part is factory corrct for my car.Thanks in advance and Any information on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

I have also seen them both ways, I belive all of the early cars recieved them, the only way I would know this is that I had a brand new one back in Mar of 70 and it had the bracket, u gotta know by now that Chevrolet did some strange things back then , and this is one of those things that nobody can prove or dis prove,no concourse judge , be it at the NCOA nationals or a s Super Chevy show will take off points either way, maybe more input is needed by some of our historians, good Luck Sir, L89SEDAN

1970 "Factory Assembly Manual" does NOT show the clip you are refering to on a big block without A/C. The Factory Assembly Manual is the AUTHORITY on how the car was designed to be built. I recognize that some cars were build in other ways but the Factory Assembly Manual is a Chevrolet Engineering document which defines "Engineering Intent". In my mind, you can always defend the car by referring to the the manual. Only place I know of that would check to this level of detail is the NCOA Diamond class. I judged 68-72 underhood at '96 NCOA nationals and I wouldn't have cought this as long as it looked original. After all, at NCOA, a team of four people only spend about 15 minutes on each car.

[This message has been edited by Fred Aldrich (edited 01-01-99).]

[This message has been edited by Fred Aldrich (edited 01-01-99).]

[This message has been edited by Fred Aldrich (edited 01-01-99).]