Sounds great!!:headbang:

Great job dialing in all those little details around the car Matt. The engine bay looks so much better with all the little details having been addressed correctly. Booster and master look just killer now.

Very well done!

Thanks, all, for the kind words - it means a lot! :beers:

Finally fixed the stance!

My front ride height was at about 26” to the bottom of the center of the fender wells (rears are a lovely 24 3/8”). I worked with Kevin at Coil Spring Specialties on a custom set of front coil springs, and I first ordered in the spec recommended by Wayne D Guinn. This brought my fronts down to about 25 3/8”. Not quite happy with it but now having a proper baseline, I ordered a second adjusted set and now the front sits level front to rear, at about 24 3/8” �� Perfect!

Thanks very much to my friend Mark for prepping and painting “as-cast” then installing the second set :beers:

So far no rubbing anywhere, on 215/65 BFGs and factory YH rallys, and the spring rate of 507 lbs/in feels planted but not too stiff.

For reference, the front left actually sits about 1/4” higher than the front right, but I decided to keep the custom springs the same left to right. Not sure if others have observed this ride height different left to right but it’s ok w me :3gears:

My Z sits at 24.5" front and 25" at the rear. Both front and rear springs are original to the car with the correct Firestone Sport Car 200 tires. I would say, yours are close. I'm sure my springs sat a little higher when the car was new. Once those front springs settle, they will be at my level or a little lower.

You might be having the most fun of anyone on the SYC forum with your car. Kudos to you!

Matt,

I bounce around to different cars/topics on this site and your ‘69 thread is one of my periodic stops.

Besides the great story, your photos are incredible!

Thanks, Chris

FWIW if there is one thing I do remember of a brand new 69 Z from when I was a kid, its that they sat slightly up in the front. Not level

Thanks, all, for the kind words, and fair enough, Frank. I know there’s a range in the AIM and maybe they came out differently in the factory, but honestly I went for the stance that I like. The car just looks wider, and meaner, now. It is amazing to me in person what a difference the new ride height makes to the presence of the car :beers:

This weekend I finally finished a project I’ve been working on for over a year - a new set of wheels and tires for the Z.

The Minilites are from Trans Am Race Engineering in 15x7 with 4” backspacing and 15x8 4.5” bs. They come in a beautiful coat of painted silver but I decided to customize them, working with a local shop to polish the outer lips, media blast and leave raw the centers, then clearcoat.

Tires are BFG T/As in 215/65 and 255/60, modified by Diamond Back Tires to have smooth sidewalls. I then drew up a stencil based on the current Blue Streaks run by historic Trans Am. Thanks to my friend Jason for cutting the stencil with his Cricut. We used manila envelopes for the material. I then added some tape as spacers to keep the stencil slightly off the rubber surface for a clean release. Paint is white Plastidip in a rattle can, which has held up well so far on a test tire I painted a few months ago. One great aspect of Plastidip is it is easy to clean up if you make a mistake or have overspray. It took me several tries experimenting with technique before I was happy with it.

Really happy with the wheel and tire fitment. Thanks to John at TARE for the custom machining for the backspacing as well as the custom lug depths so I could use the factory 7/16” wheel studs. Those studs are approx. 0.800” in rear proud of the drums and 0.900” in front, so with John’s machining I’ve got a good 7 threads engagement for the lug nuts.

More photos to come :beers: