disappointed with factory assembly manual

[CRGRS 66]

I ordered the factory assembly manual, and am disappointed with the quality of and amount of information in it.

Does anyone know of a better publication that would help a first time 60-66'er like me?

[Breadstick]

Look at the shop manuals. They're great.

[1963c-10]

2nd that...get the shop manual. You'll have to buy the 63 shop manual and the 66 supplement

[rideblue00]

The assembly manual is obviously a collection of random drawings. That is not in any particular order. Thats the way it goes with older info like this. Unfortunately, its the best we have. Do you have something you need help with? Theres a few guys on here that have all stock and original trucks. They are the only real reference we have.

Tom

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by Breadstick

Look at the shop manuals. They're great.

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

2nd that...get the shop manual. You'll have to buy the 63 shop manual and the 66 supplement

Originally Posted by rideblue00

The assembly manual is obviously a collection of random drawings. That is not in any particular order. Thats the way it goes with older info like this. Unfortunately, its the best we have. Do you have something you need help with? Theres a few guys on here that have all stock and original trucks. They are the only real reference we have.

Tom

Thanks all. I do have the shop manuals on CD. Nothing I need help with right at the moment. Appreciate the input.

[padresag]

with the assembly book one has to know what you are basically looking for. there is a lot of info there. you just have to find it
ron

[Curzulla]

I feel your pain...I just ordered the dealers parts manual... With this, I now own all the repair manuals and the assembly manual...

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by Curzulla

I feel your pain...I just ordered the dealers parts manual... With this, I now own all the repair manuals and the assembly manual...

Is the dealer parts manual useful? If so, where did you get it it?
Craigerr

[markeb01]

The difficulty with the factory assembly manual is the contents were never originally intended to be in a publication. It’s a collection of sub-assembly reference drawings for use by workers on the production line. Someone fortunately assembled all these drawings into one collection and called them a manual, but since the contents are just random pieces of information, there is no index and almost no order to the drawings. It can take forever to find what you are looking for. From reviews that I’ve read, the CD version is many times more difficult to deal with because you can’t put sticky notes all over the pages.

I agree the factory shop manual (and yearly supplements if needed) are the best source of information on the old trucks. I have the paper copy of the 1960 Chevy Shop manual and have used it extensively, both for myself and for researching info for other forum members. The CD version may actually be easier to deal with, but I haven't used one personally to know how effectively it was put together.

Old “Motors Manuals” for your year truck can also be very helpful, and offer a lot of general mechanical education. These are pretty much an Ebay purchase. Here's a typical example:



In my experience, Chilton’s Manuals are about 75% less valuable than a comparable Motors Manual, and Hayne’s Manuals are virtually worthless.

[Slow Build]

Don't mean to hijack thread but has anybody bought the manual on CD. I see them on ebay and was wondering if it is a direct copy of the original shop manual.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-64-65-6...rature&vxp=mtr

[CRGRS 66]

I purchased the CD, and it appears to be general motors publication reprinted with permission. Wish I bought the book as it is rather cumbersome skimming through the CD. Rather than purchase the manuals I will just print out sections as I need them (at work with the laser printer of course). It does look like a very good reference.

[x1buellist]

I am sorry to hear this about the Assembly manual. I just bought one from Classic parts and have not received it yet. I was hoping the assembly manual would help me determine where rubber pads/spacers go on the body. Plus was hoping it would show which fastners were correct for different areas of the truck.

[CRGRS 66]

It certainly has a lot of good information in it, just not organized in any logical manner for the restoration process. There is also no index whatsoever. I am still glad I bought it, but just disappointed. The Shop Manuals are definitely worth purchasing. And again, I bought the CD, wish I bought the book, but I will survive.

[ozzyman]

My dad gave me the factory assembly manual along with the truck, I flipped through it and my conclusion was I would spend more time trying to find what I was looking for than figuring it out on my own lol

[Slow Build]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

I purchased the CD, ..........look like a very good reference.

Thanks for the info.

When I got my assembly manual the first thing I did was look for the index. Hmm....there isn't one. It's kind of a PITA but I wouldn't want to be without it. You have to do some searching but it basically shows you the order that everything goes together without all the annoying instructions to deal with. Priceless.

[gcburdic]

Hey guys....if yall are up to it, I know the 67-72 guys colloborated on indexing the 67-72 factory assembly manual....I think each person participated and took 10-20 pages and logged them into a google doc....here's the final product....https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...sOXcwVWc#gid=0

Maybe you guys can work on doing that for the 60-66 manual??

[1963c-10]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Hey guys....if yall are up to it, I know the 67-72 guys colloborated on indexing the 67-72 factory assembly manual....I think each person participated and took 10-20 pages and logged them into a google doc....here's the final product....https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...sOXcwVWc#gid=0

Maybe you guys can work on doing that for the 60-66 manual??

I have considered this myself. Im willing to do the 63 year, maybe a couple of others could take a year also.

[gcburdic]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

I have considered this myself. Im willing to do the 63 year, maybe a couple of others could take a year also.

Great....the guy that headed up made a "sign up" thread here maybe create a thread like that and get it going....just need a couple more folks to step up and take on this task

[chevy_man5]

I think I have the assembly manual shown at the top of the page at home, if so, I'll help out!

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Hey guys....if yall are up to it, I know the 67-72 guys colloborated on indexing the 67-72 factory assembly manual....I think each person participated and took 10-20 pages and logged them into a google doc....here's the final product....https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...sOXcwVWc#gid=0

Maybe you guys can work on doing that for the 60-66 manual??

I take back everything I said about the 67-72 group... you guys are ok!

Seriously, great idea! As mentioned I have a CD version. I have 63,64,65, and 66. I will take the 66 manual. I will print the whole thing out, work on an index, then re-scan the whole dxmn thing, then post a link so it can be downloaded at will. Suddenly, I am very pleased that I bought the CD!

[chevy_man5]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

I take back everything I said about the 67-72 group... you guys are ok!

Seriously, great idea! As mentioned I have a CD version. I have 63,64,65, and 66. I will take the 66 manual. I will print the whole thing out, work on an index, then re-scan the whole dxmn thing, then post a link so it can be downloaded at will. Suddenly, I am very pleased that I bought the CD!

I think they are talking about indexing the assembly manual in your first post. The manuals on the CD have a vague index in the front of them. (well mine for my '60 does anyway)

[CRGRS 66]

I sit corrected

[gcburdic]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

I take back everything I said about the 67-72 group... you guys are ok!

Originally Posted by chevy_man5

I think they are talking about indexing the assembly manual in your first post. The manuals on the CD have a vague index in the front of them. (well mine for my '60 does anyway)

literally go page by page and index whats on each page for the 60-66 factory assembly manual as shown above in your 1st post....seems like a monumental task, but pretty easy once you get 10-15 folks helping....I know there's some active 60-66 guys that can tackle this....

[JJchamp48]

Geoff, can you email the doc directly to me? I want to do some manipulating of lines etc for printing and editing in future if needed. vwjh@hotmail.com
Thanks,
Vickie

[JJchamp48]

Alos, cant see a header...what do the columns mean?