L-78 drive shaft stripes

[Bill Rose]

69 L-78 (4 speed) ElCamino: In box 19 on my build sheet, there is a black mark right where the prop shaft code is. I can read 20-B? .... and maybe another B?? Anyone know what the code would be, or what color (and how many) the stripes should be? What does the B that I can see, stand for? Black, blue?

[Mr70]

I can not confirm what exactly yours came with Bill,but I have seen early Chevelle/Elcaminos come with OB stated in box 19,and their driveshaft had one stripe Orange,the other Black.BU was usually Blue.The 2 might mean two stripes,as some had one,others three.
I have various 1970 L-78 Elcaminos showing OR-BLK,built with M-21 transmissions & 3:55 posi from both Atlanta & Kansas Assembly plants.
Before 1970,these codes were vague and brief.BY would stand for Black & Yellow.
In 1970 and later,they started being more specific across the board with these codes,and used BLK for Black,BL Blue,BN for Brown,PK for Pink,OR for Orange,YE for Yellow & GR for Green.
Baltimore was odd,in that they used their own 2 letter unrelated system that I'm still trying to figure out..

[Bill Rose]

Thanks for the info Rick. I'm thinking the ElCamino used different colors codes from Chevelles, because the Camino wheel base is 4" longer.. Wouldn't that make the drive shaft 4" longer? The reason for paint stripes was to show which drive shaft a line worker should grab, right? When I cleaned/sanded the drive shaft, it was hard to tell, but the first line looked black, then there was two others, that didn't show any color thru the surface rust. Anyone else out there with an ElCamino build sheet? I would think, all the drive shafts were the same for all manual trans Camino's?? Why would an L-78 be any different?

[Mr70]

I agree with you somewhat up to this point.."I would think, all the drive shafts were the same for all manual trans Camino's??<u> Why would an L-78 be any different?</u>

I have found most plants alternated driveshaft color codes for some reason.
One Example:Any 1970 L-78/Manual trans Chevelle hardtop or convert. built at the Kansas plant before 11/1/69 shows a Blue-Yellow stripe designation.
Around 11/2/69 they went to Pink-Orange for the exact same equipped vehicles.
The rearend ratio,bodystyle-(meaning Convert.or H/Top),or wheels chosen look as though they had nothing to do with it.The engines horsepower &amp; transmission-(Manual vs. Auto.),and a time frame were what each assembly plant was looking at when these colors were chosen,but I do not see an obvious percise pattern.
Sometimes they even went back to what they used early in production,only to be reused again near the end of production.And even shared a color code over to a different engine horespower,that they just stopped using on another engines HP previous..i.e. 396/350HP color code now being used on 396/375HP,once it was discontinued on that previous engine.
Bear in mind this is only one plant and one vehicle designation.Imagine all the possiblities within 7 different assembly plants &amp; time frames and engine/trans. combinations.

You need to find a 1969 Elcamino built at the same plant as yours,with the same engine HP &amp; trans. as yours,and as close to your build date as possible for a proper guideline.

[Postsedan]

Bill,

I posted this a while back....it`s a 70 Chevelle driveshaft with Turbo 400....not what your asking for....but I would think the dimensions are all the same. Mean while I will try and dig up Gregs driveshaft...picture.

[Bill Rose]

Thanks Dan. I carefully sanded the drive shaft trying to see the colors, but it showed nothing more than approximately where the stripes were. There was slightly less, light surface rust, where the stripes were, so I do know about where they were. With your dimensions, I'll know where to put them. Now I just need to know the colors.

Anyone out there, with knowledge of the 69 Fremont, L-78, 4 speed, El Camino drive shaft stripe colors ??

[Mr70]

What's your build date Bill?

[Bill Rose]

Rick... The assembly date of the car was 5C...