I haven't seen this thing in probably 10 or 12 years, and I've had it for probably more than 20 years. Been hiding packed away in a box sitting in the back of the shop. Dragged it out today to take a peek.
Why did I say it was better than NOS? Because it's a GM part that wasn't sold over the counter at a GM dealership. What is it, then? It's a COMPLETE G-body steering linkage assembly ready to be stuck to the car while it was going down the assembly line. The report I got this was from the Arlington plant circa 1985 or early 1986. There's an orangy-red paint mark on the center link and a blue paint mark on the 800 series box pitman arm. I don't EVEN want to know how it walked out of the plant. But, nonetheless, I ended up with it. Look for yourself. There's nothing here that doesn't back up that claim, but I have no discernable, iron-clad proof. I know, dozens of people claim that whatever NOS part they have is a "straight off the assembly line" piece, but on a few occasions, I've actually ran into that. I've been around enough GM parts and original factory parts to know this is factory stuff. NO over the counter GM pitman arm came with the PC decal.
Since the only difference in the assemblies from a 600 series and 800 series box was the pitman arm, I'm guessing the plant just pulled the PC tagged assembly and stuck it on the 800 series box cars. Simple.
As seen in a build sheet...the YA steering box with the PC steering linkage:
Another neat little feature is the almost ALWAYS missing PC code sticker on the pitman arm. I can see why. The thing is brittle. It wraps around itself and sticks to itself. Coated paper, and it gets old, brittle, and crumbly. In fact, when I went to place it on the floor for the picture, it broke.
While I have made a PC code decal in light blue from an 87 442 example, the font is different on that one, along with being white, but yellowing over the years. I'm surmising that the blue one was done for the Pontiac plant, or it may simply be an updated label because a couple of years had passed, who knows. Luckily, I had that font on hand and of course, I've recreated that label now, too. I have a picture of a red one on an 88 MCSS, but it was pretty beat up.
Just my style. I can just pop off my old linkage, measure the length of the current tie-rods and get it within shouting distance of correct toe-in. Somewhere along the line one of the green thread protectors got missing on the tie rod end. Note that old-style idler arm. I think I'm just going to clean it up, take care of a couple of corrosion spots, and satin-clear it.
And here's the tag that broke off.
Why did I say it was better than NOS? Because it's a GM part that wasn't sold over the counter at a GM dealership. What is it, then? It's a COMPLETE G-body steering linkage assembly ready to be stuck to the car while it was going down the assembly line. The report I got this was from the Arlington plant circa 1985 or early 1986. There's an orangy-red paint mark on the center link and a blue paint mark on the 800 series box pitman arm. I don't EVEN want to know how it walked out of the plant. But, nonetheless, I ended up with it. Look for yourself. There's nothing here that doesn't back up that claim, but I have no discernable, iron-clad proof. I know, dozens of people claim that whatever NOS part they have is a "straight off the assembly line" piece, but on a few occasions, I've actually ran into that. I've been around enough GM parts and original factory parts to know this is factory stuff. NO over the counter GM pitman arm came with the PC decal.
Since the only difference in the assemblies from a 600 series and 800 series box was the pitman arm, I'm guessing the plant just pulled the PC tagged assembly and stuck it on the 800 series box cars. Simple.
As seen in a build sheet...the YA steering box with the PC steering linkage:
Another neat little feature is the almost ALWAYS missing PC code sticker on the pitman arm. I can see why. The thing is brittle. It wraps around itself and sticks to itself. Coated paper, and it gets old, brittle, and crumbly. In fact, when I went to place it on the floor for the picture, it broke.
While I have made a PC code decal in light blue from an 87 442 example, the font is different on that one, along with being white, but yellowing over the years. I'm surmising that the blue one was done for the Pontiac plant, or it may simply be an updated label because a couple of years had passed, who knows. Luckily, I had that font on hand and of course, I've recreated that label now, too. I have a picture of a red one on an 88 MCSS, but it was pretty beat up.
Just my style. I can just pop off my old linkage, measure the length of the current tie-rods and get it within shouting distance of correct toe-in. Somewhere along the line one of the green thread protectors got missing on the tie rod end. Note that old-style idler arm. I think I'm just going to clean it up, take care of a couple of corrosion spots, and satin-clear it.
And here's the tag that broke off.
