Got to meet blueaggie last night and see his '65 GS

[Brian]

I made a short trip down to Charlotte last night and got to meet James Scarboro (blueaggie on this board) and see his '65 GS.  Had a really great time meeting him and his wife and working on his car with him.  
  He has a great car that has been in his family since new--his dad ordered it new from the dealer in the Henderson, NC area.  His car has a really unique combo of options on it worth mentioning:
-4-speed
-manual steering
-manual brakes
-console with tach
-single speed wipers with no washer
-clock/convenience group
-radio with rear seat speaker option

It is also a late production car--built the 1st week of July 1965.  Does anyone know what week/month they quit building '65s?   That leads into a question I have about the engine in his car.  We check the numbers and it is the original LR code engine and the serial number matches the VIN on the car.  What is odd though is that it has '66 valve covers on it--the pcv valve is angled toward the rear, the oil fill cap is in the center of the drivers side cover and it has the rubber plug in the front corner of the drivers side cover.  Has anyone ever seen a '65 GS with these valve covers?  I was guessing that since it was a late production model that Buick may have already switched over to the '66 style covers by then.  
   The next question is about the alternator bracket.  There is a mounting issue with it and it has the cast aluminum bracket that mounts to the front two head bolts.  There are studed head bolts in those two locations, but the stud portion of the head bolt isn't long enough to reach through the cast bracket and put nuts on , so it is sitting on there loose and being held on by a support bracket that reaches down to the engine mount.  My first thought is the car may have originally come with the stamped steel bracket (like on the AC cars, but without the compressor mounting tabs on top).  Which non-AC alternator bracket is correct for a '65 GS and if the aluminum one is correct, are there supposed to be longer studed head bolts for the bracket?  I am going to help him get all that fixed correctly, but I am only familiar with AC cars and am not sure how the alternator is supposed to mount on a non-AC car.  

[WkillGS]

Brian, my 65 GS 'vert is an 8C car.....built 3rd week of August, 1965 in Baltimore.
Numbers-matching LR code engine has the steel valve covers you describe....angled pcv, oil fill in the center/ plug on the end.
At least one of my 66's has tabs spot-welded onto the rs valve cover to support the wiring harness. They're not on the 65 tho.
I've been meaning to post some pics of the aluminum valve covers I have for year ID purposes.... I'll do the same with the steel covers.

Cast alum alternator bracket is held against the head with extra-long head bolts. They may be difficult to find.

[Brian]

Is the cast aluminum alt. bracket correct for a '65 GS?  James said that his father had the engine rebuilt at some point in time, so that must have been when the head bolts got changed around.  Strange that it ended up with studded head bolts in that location and the extra long ones got gone.  Is it possible the extra long head bolts ended up in another location where they could thread in further and go undetected? 
  Sounds like they did switch to the new style valve covers sometime late in the '65 model year production. 
  James also needs a correct factory AFB carb for his car (an auto trans tag number carb will work fine).  It currently has a Rochester 4GC from an Electra/LeSabre 401 on it.   In addition, he needs a factory 65 air cleaner assembly.  I figure someone on here is bound to have those two items laying around their garage. 

[Mark Ascher]

Brian,

Glad you guys got to meet. There are a couple of alt. brackets for the 65 that need to be there. The cast aluminum one is right,
but there is also a bracket that attaches to the bottom of the aluminum bracket, and bolts to the motor mount down below.
Needs the bracket with the slot that the alt. adjusts in as well.

It is very possible that it could have 66 parts with that build date. Brian, you met Frank when you were here visiting. He has a 63 Impala SS coupe with mid-July build date. There are numerous 64 design parts in that car.

A 65 4 speed carb will be umm, hard to find. Still looking for one for mine. I'm stuck with a 66 4 speed carb, and feel fortunate.
65 air cleaners should be fairly easy to come by. If he can't find one, I've got that black painted one that is now an extra.

Mark

[Brian]

I know how hard to find those 4-speed carbs are (mine is safely hidden on the shelf in my garage), that is why I said an auto transmission tag number carb will work fine.  Only real difference is how it handles the signal for the vacuum advance and maybe the choke spring setting.  I have seen the auto carbs for sale at the charlotte autofair swapmeet on many occasions. 
  His car has the lower bracket that goes from the bottom of the AL bracket down to the engine mount, and also has the curved bracket on the top. 
   I am thinking the longer head bolts accidentally got used elsewhere on the engine.  Is it possible to do that, or would they bottom out without a bracket under them? 
  If anyone has a good picture of the whole alternator setup mounted on the engine, that would be great. 

[WkillGS]

   I am thinking the longer head bolts accidentally got used elsewhere on the engine.  Is it possible to do that, or would they bottom out without a bracket under them? 
  If anyone has a good picture of the whole alternator setup mounted on the engine, that would be great. 

It is possible the longer bolts were used elsewhere. The bolts in the middle of the head go into water jackets, so they wouldn't bottom out. The heads on those bolts longer will look slightly different.
On an untouched car I believe those bolts would be black (or rusted) since they weren't on the engine when it was painted. Accessories were bolted on at the assembly plant.
I'll take a closer look at mine and get some pics.

I need a 65 GS 4 speed carb too!  I've picked up a few 66 4 speed carbs over the past few years, but I've only seen one 65 on eBay.

[65GS]

from the description it sounds like the bolts are mixedup. the bolts for the alter. mount should be reg. head bolts but a little longer. the bolts with the threaded top are for the power steering bracket.

the steel valve covers you describe, are the same ones from my (02b) 2nd wk. feb build. eng. # LR 307.

enclosed are pics.

Al

[WkillGS]

Note that the head bolts for the alt bracket have integrated washers on the head....unlike the other head bolts. I noted that on one of my cars too. I'll check the others to see if they are all that way.