Finally onto the front brakes, sub-frame and the restoration of the brake system and suspension. Mike Gibbons will be restoring the dust shields, brackets, booster and master cylinder while I work to restore the front rotors, calipers, sub frame and suspension. After soaking the rear springs in Evapo-rust over the past week they are now looking really good. Next up I will press new bushings into them and they will be ready to use once again.

The 12 bolt housing is also being rebuilt and restored right now. I have chosen to leave the housing alone and plan to restore it to stock. If I decide to run slicks or take it to the track later, I will swap the restored diff for a prebuilt Moser Muscle Pak unit. For now I will stick to restoring all the original parts that came with the car and make as much of it factory restored as possible. The rest will be Day 2 of course.

https://i.ibb.co/2MRsyR8/IMG-2282.jpg
Booster and Valving off to Mike Gibbons for restoral and plating services.

https://i.ibb.co/b1htpHY/IMG-2297.jpg
Original front rotors to be mic'd and ground if within spec. They will be fully restored if they're OK to use.

https://i.ibb.co/VJgM9nh/IMG-2304.jpg
Front calipers will be rebuilt and look to have had brand new pads installed back in the 80's. These will be fully detailed and still have the dust caps.

https://i.ibb.co/nPh9dCJ/IMG-2301.jpg
I will restored all of the front steering and will detail it to the nines. The power steering box was added by a previous owner and will stay.

https://i.ibb.co/6nCv9z0/IMG-2291.jpg
Here are the rear springs after being cleaned up in Evapo-rust. New bushings will arrive this week and these will be good to go.

https://i.ibb.co/G5DZ2CK/IMG-2305.jpg
Sub frame before restoral. I will split the ball joints later today and plan rebuild the front A arms and repaint everything.

Everything is looking good.
That's the late issue subframe. I thought they came out much later in the year...Joe

That's what was in the car Joe? I didn't know there were different issue sub-frames until now? What's different about them?

Back in the late 80's someone started to restore the car and everything on this subframe has been redone at one point. It's been repainted, had new control arm bushings installed, new ball joints and the subframe bushings were redone. The springs were changed to raise the car up when the the original owner had it back in the day, and Robin told me they cut them down in the 80's when he had it. Those springs are still in it today and I am changing those out for a set of Moog's with stock Z/28 ride height. Once the brakes are totally redone, it will all go back together, but with a fresh coat of paint.

When I got the car I looked at the front engine frame mounts which were different (appear taller) than the Z/28 mounts. The part numbers are GM part# 3955183 & 3980938 which are regular small block and were likely changed when the second owner installed the 327 back in 74. I plan to swap those out for the correct 3945507 and 3945508 frame mounts before it goes back together. It still has the original (over sprayed) Endura Bumper brackets on it but for sure those have been off the frame horns at one point and were not disturbed or repainted when the sub frame was freshened or painted.

Hey Graeme, here's my frame for comparison. Appear to be the same?

Attachment 172947

Holes are different in a couple places Rob?

On my drivers frame horn, one hole is elongated. The first cross member has 2 holes on the right side that your doesn't have, and the pass side cross member has three holes above the frame mount where mine only has 2. I'm sure there's more to be learned but these are slightly different from what I can see in the images.

The oval hole was used later because of the introduction of the carbon canister for the next year Nova from what I understood. I will see if I can do some research...Joe

I just looked at pics of my 70 Nova sub frame and it has the same elongated slot, and the 2 holes on the drivers side front cross member which were used to mount a clamp for the pollution lines that went to the charcoal cannister.

Maybe the sub frame was swapped out for a better one as was often done when someone caved in the front K member with a floor jack or when the rear bushing holes were rotted out. In either case, it makes no difference to me and the one that was in there is the one that's being used. Picked up my buddies spring compressor today and will remove the springs and the control arms tomorrow.

My 09D (1969) frame has the elongated hole.

I just read a thread on CRG & it had indicated that probably sometime in Aug 1969 for the oval hole. That would make since as Chevrolet was back to making 1969 Camaros again instead of the 1970 Camaro.
Graeme. I agree. Use what you have....Joe

As I have often said, if only these cars could talk?

In the early 90's this car moved as a roller between a few car guys who were known for bartering first gen cars and parts. Obviously someone back in the day started to restore it, but never got further than the front clip. They actually did a decent job on the subframe as all the front suspension and brakes were previously redone before the subframe was painted. It will now make for an easy clean up and I'm not planning to over restore or powder coat any of it. Just a good scuff followed with an epoxy paint and it'll be good to go.

Once I get the front springs out, I'll pull the calipers apart to see what they look like inside. I'll then rebuild and detail the calipers while the other parts are out for plating. I've only got a few weeks left to get any painting done so I gotta stay on it now. Fall is upon us here and the seasons are changing quickly in the great white north. Yesterday I was riding my Harley and it was 85 degrees. This morning it's 50 degrees and they are calling for a dusting of snow here tommorrow as a storm is coming down.

You guys in the desert have it all somedays. :flag:

We have you up north with the cold weather and Dave in Texas where it's too hot to paint. Extremes!

It's cool and overcast here today, but that's keeping me in the shop where more work will get done. Checked the rotors this morning and they are measuring 9.90 and 1.020. Good thing is that I have another pair of nice takeoffs that measure 1.010 and 1.030 that I can use. They are now off for a soak in the Evapo-rust tank and should come out looking like new before being re-used.

https://i.ibb.co/Hd47nWm/IMG-2322.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/k5cpW0g/IMG-2323.jpg

More of the mundane stuff while I restore the front brakes and rebuild the suspension. All of this has to be done ahead of the more exciting Day II parts as the car needs to become a roller again sometime before year end. Here are some more pics for those who like the original stuff being re-used, and a couple neat paint daub pics on the front calipers. Also seen here is a restamped build date for one of the calipers. I have not seen them restamped before but I'm sure it happened when parts sat around.

The one caliper was cast in July and assembly stamped 227, but must have sat around for months before being picked up for use since it was restamped 049 atop the 227. The other caliper was stamped 32 for an assembly date and was cast 361. Now that all of the rust has been removed, time to paint them up, install new o-rings & seals and lightly face/machine the rotors. All factory brakes for this car and no repro parts being used other than the soft lines.

https://i.ibb.co/YTsN1L0/IMG-2344.jpg
Ready for a light surfacing.

https://i.ibb.co/khTbZHB/IMG-2361.jpg
Cleaned up in Evapo-rust

https://i.ibb.co/FVR6BBK/IMG-2355.jpg
Dust shields and caliper brackets are now going out for plating.

https://i.ibb.co/qMjn5Qj/IMG-2345.jpg
This caliper had an nice daub or orange paint and both dust caps on the bleeders.

https://i.ibb.co/3T2Vq11/IMG-2347.jpg
It was stamped 32 for an assembly code and was cast 361st day

https://i.ibb.co/qCqgsrz/IMG-2349.jpg
This one was cast 207 and must have sat deep in the pile as it wasn't used until February...

https://i.ibb.co/GMvkB9D/IMG-2350.jpg
It was first stamped 227 as it appears, and was then restamped 049 by the looks of its assembly stamp?

While cleaning up the other parts, I also decided to restore a spare pair of low mile calipers I had sitting here as spares. They turned out to be pretty clean as the pistons show. Earlier today I then got around to pulling the front springs out and split the ball joints. Now I will tear down the control arms before painting them...and may install new hardware if I can find some nice original stuff.


https://i.ibb.co/0MCyg41/IMG-2356.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Cb28F98/IMG-2363.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/M60VMxH/IMG-2367.jpg

It's all blown apart here. Tomorrow I will get the bushings pressed out and I guess I might as well media blast it and have everything powder coated and do it right. (lol)

https://i.ibb.co/SsCBR99/IMG-2378.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WWwRsRt/IMG-2376.jpg

This is too cool !!! My calipers are RH casting# 204 with date restamped 48?, and LH casting# 355 date stamped 32. I thought one got replaced but maybe not now, given how close the build day is for our two cars.

:hmmm:

It's uncanny the similarities between these 2 cars built within a day of each other Rob. It's like the same batch of parts were being picked over by the same guys on the same lines, but a shift apart from each other. I take it there must have been a run of calipers dug out and re-stamped that particular week where they used whatever was left in old inventory? Maybe they ran short on production or they deliberately cleared out old stock. Cool to know for sure.

That is some cool documentation of component dating right there! Thanks for sharing all your discoveries.

Looks great Graeme!

Thanks Tim.

Just popped out to see my bodyman / painter today and the plan is to get the car out to him next week. I have a couple options for the way the bodywork and paint can be handled, but that also determines the timeline in which it will be done. I have some decisions to make before the car is brought to him next week. The plan is to polish a couple spots on the original paint, and custom tint a match of the Daytona Yellow. He is 73 years old now and still going hard.

https://i.ibb.co/9g48Cv6/IMG-2445.jpg

Another Yenko member knew I was hunting for more 714 Yellow Houndstooth seats and found me another excellent pair of front buckets which can be used to salvage materials including a nice pair of headrests and hinge covers that can be cleaned up and died as required. These are on the way up to me right now and the cores look better than the ones that came in the car. Today I'll get the rest of the original tinted glass pulled out of the car and cleaned up. The dates are all matching but I'll need to order a tinted windshield with similar LOF date codes.

https://i.ibb.co/MCY4VrL/Yellow-Buckets.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/CQ3N6V5/Yellow-714-Seats.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YLf8CVM/Yellow-Headrests.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7g7J6xt/Yellow-Hinge-Covers.jpg

69 Z/28 Day II Project (Air Force Brat)
 

[QUOTE=NorCam;1507967]Probably not a bad idea Mike. Was going to rebuild it and beef it up, but building a new Moser diff is so much more in line with what this car actually needs. Planning on a 9K screamer for it in the future so I might as well build the diff I am going to need down the road.

I'll figure out what to do with this one later and might offer it up locally.[
/QUOTE]

My brother Joe races NHRA A/S with a 396 L78/L89 G-Force combo and was the record holder (9.88 E.T. at 135+ mph) from 2016-2018 when NHRA reset it to minimum. He uses the Moser 12 bolt rear end, originally designed by Kenny Thomas Racing Enterprises (KTRE), with 5:13 Pro-gears and a 2:91 first gear ratio and the rear end holds up beautifully. I highly recommend this rear end. Don.

That's almost exactly the same combination that my friend Shane Smith runs in his A/S '69 Camaro, except I think he's using a Jerico. He was running a 427 until about 2 weeks ago. He bought the Moser housing from me when I was still a Moser dealer. I did all of the welding on the housing to add brackets and other stuff to it. He has his running in the very low 10s at the moment.

Body is now 100% stripped and ready to take a quick trip for media blasting of the floors, the cowl top/opening, firewall and some of the jamb areas. The glass was all cleaned up after pulling it out and it's now ready to go back in at a later point. The A-Arms are also stripped and are booked in for media blasting and power coating along with the sub frame and the rad support. Making steady progress here.

https://i.ibb.co/4SzX6XX/IMG-2542.jpg
Both of the doors on this car are in excellent condition with no apparent rust.

https://i.ibb.co/y075N9Q/IMG-2540.jpg
Last look before it's media blasted and rushed off to the body shop.

https://i.ibb.co/RBfg35c/IMG-2555.jpg
These are off to the powder coaters next week as well.

https://i.ibb.co/TLBMcvS/IMG-2500.jpg
Tried to snap a shot inside the door and wound up with an imprompt selfie (lol)

This car still has the original stripes visible in the trunk jambs along the bottom of the tulip panel so I documented those measurements today and then checked them against a good quality template kit that I bought a few years ago. Remarkably, they are spot on with each other and I will now use them for the top of the rear stripes. I also measured the front header panel and cowl panel so that the front stripes are spot on as well. Doing this so the stripes are correctly re-applied when it comes time.

https://i.ibb.co/r3qm9GM/IMG-2691.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QrZ2BYw/IMG-2636.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nBh90hX/IMG-2632.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tcMtVZK/IMG-2626.jpg

Great progress, cool to see these little details.

Nice

Here's the original front cowl panel which I plan to reuse, and the original front header which I'd like to save as a wall hanger. It has a few dings along the front edge so I'm going to try and find an NOS one before the front clip is ready to mock up. If I can find a new one to go on the car, I will hang this one up.

https://i.ibb.co/Fhx9jsr/IMG-2723.jpg

I have a few more days before the body heads out so I've been staying busy as I rebuild the front calipers, the entire steering assembly and I've also been cleaning up all of the window regulators, glass channels and related door hardware. All of the window channels are going to look like brand new and it's all coming along real well.

https://i.ibb.co/PhQW3sw/IMG-2717.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gwfDPvP/IMG-2719.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pyKKtMJ/IMG-2722.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nsFRm3L/IMG-2724.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XJf60jq/IMG-2727.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/RYsbTQt/IMG-2728.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PT0Nf3j/IMG-2729.jpg

Car is out to be media blasted and then it's off to the bodyshop. The floors and firewall are being media stripped along with the jamb openings. From there the car will be getting some sheet metal repairs and a set of NOS quarters installed. At the same time, the front sub frame and related parts are being blasted and powder coated. Should start to look very different real soon.

https://i.ibb.co/99LvJpd/Rolling.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/g36kR9q/IMG-2812.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Hz3pDpj/IMG-2813.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/th6szKc/IMG-2826-Copy.jpg

In order to get my sub frame rebuilt in expedited fashion, I chose to have my caliper brackets and dust shields plated locally. Been a while since I've used this outfit but they turned out quite nice. Now to get my calipers painted up and detail to steering arms & drag link. It should all be ready to go back together in a week or two with a freshly coated sub frame.

https://i.ibb.co/68BCYn0/IMG-2856.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/P9B4PvT/IMG-2852.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/KLWK7j9/IMG-2853.jpg

Coming along nice Graeme! I like how we can really see the patch a previous owner made for the tunnel caused by the KABOOM.

My car is stuck in body shop prison.... I didn't need to blast the car because there was hardly and rust at all meaning I'm not taking the frame out until after the car is painted. I can't even restore my frame until the car is painted. Deep breath... Hopefully not too much longer.

You may beat me :hmmm:

Did some media blasting of the floors today and here's some of the progress so far. The good news...there are some areas of the floors that are really clean and can easily be saved.

https://i.ibb.co/FhyJRwr/001-Pass-Floor.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GCX9mmk/003-rear-floor.jpg

The bad, is that it needs both rear floor pans and the drivers floor pan replaced. You can see all the pinholes showing light from the underside.

https://i.ibb.co/0DFgQHz/004-Underside.jpg

The ugly...is the clutch explosion repair that was sectioned into the lower cowl area back in the 80's. Not bad for a home grafted repair, but in need of some professional repair.

https://i.ibb.co/ZzwBrPM/IMG-2871.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Vjvtkm8/IMG-2866.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NNcYRs4/IMG-2865.jpg

Nice! Will you try to preserve anything like the X crayon marks by the package tray?

:biggthumpup:

The X 7 crayon marks were taped over and so was the trim tag. I can see some old crayon markings on the center of the firewall and will wait until the dust has cleared today to see what those letters were under the layers of paint.

The vital stuff was taped off and I'm not really going too far with this. Just a clean up of the floors and jambs so I can see what there is to work with and what can be saved?

Graeme,

PM sent.

- Warren

Thanks Warren :3gears:

Went back to the shop where the car was being media stripped to look at the car again tonight. It's all finished up and on its way to the bodyshop now. I stopped in to look at that grease pencil mark on the center of the firewall and it's clearly marked "OK" right in the middle below the seam sealer. I've seen build numbers and other stuff written on firewalls, but this is the first time I can recall seeing the word OK written on it. Next up...cutting, welding, hammers and dollies!

https://i.ibb.co/44TSPtP/IMG-2900.jpg

With the car now in the body shop, it's time to start restoring many of the other parts. Deciding to rebuild the stock diff with a set of Strange axles and a new 3 Series carrier, today it was stripped, power washed and deburred. It heads out for media blasting and powder coating tomorrow and should be back together in fairly short order.

https://i.ibb.co/ySQ1pFn/IMG-1681.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hZK0gBh/IMG-2965.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/SydhcHd/IMG-2972.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BynD1wY/IMG-2977.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rZytGz1/IMG-2976.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wRW75Mm/IMG-2985.jpg

With all of the metal parts now out for powder coating, plating and chroming, it is time to start in on some the interior restoration. I have never done the seat frame restoration before and just tore these ones down to prep them for the upholstery guy before he sews and patterns the new covers. Planning to blast and paint the frames, install some lower springs, new burlap and fresh cotton before the new covers go on. I've also been experimenting further with Evapo-rust to clean up the rosewood dash parts. This original set had been sitting around for over 30 years. The backs were rusty and the fronts were heavily stained from years of being exposed to various elements. After dunking them for a couple days, the rust is gone and I will now fine sand the back sides and repaint them with black trim paint before I polish the fronts of the rosewood. They should clean up real nice when I am done with them and the seats will look great with new covers going on soon. Keeping my foot on the gas here and trying to get things done before the snow is upon us.

Just wondering? How many of you guys have restored your own seats with deluxe covers and such?

https://i.ibb.co/nmQmXkN/IMG-3001.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/McDMr1N/IMG-2999.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/547hkH5/IMG-3011.jpg

I don't know if you saw this...Joe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO8HFyPjunE

Yes I did Joe. Just yesterday in fact. Very good video to understand what's involved in rebuilding and installing covers.