That there is what it`s all about!

Rick - Gets It!

Happy New Year!

Dan

Because we are trying to use as much as possible of the original parts for this car or at least original 69 parts and not reproduction I took some original 69 front running lights and spent many an hour restoring them correctly instead of repops which are close but not close enough. They required a fair bit of effort but I think it paid off. Fortunately I was able to Simple Green the gaskets and reuse them as the repops are again not even close. Through research and help from Phil I determined that the Yenko/COPOs would have the stainless trim around the lens so I located a pair and polished them. The lenses were then restored after many hours of hand buffing and repainted exactly as the originals including the overspray.

A good pair of front running lights are getting harder to find....the attaching screws are usually always rusted and broken off, needing drilling and tapping.

Very nice :)

Dan

Your transformation and attention to detail is inspiring! What did you do to get those galvanized (or zinc plated) brackets to look like new?

Nice job on the turn signals Rick.... and everything else for that matter. What great progress you are making on the car. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Keep up the great work!!

Not sure which brackets you are referring to but if it is the front marker lights they were simply glass bead blasted, bodyworked, swedged nut reattaced, primed and painted. These are plain steel and not galvanized or plated originally.

I have been slowly working on the interior parts for the car and a nice surprise showed up today from Scott (Spooky). Perfect timing! He sent me these two lock knobs for the Chevelle which will be a very nice asset to the interior. Thank you Scott for your generosity and kindness. Much appreciated!

Phil, I think it goes without saying that I would not be where I am at today with this car if not for your generosity and open communication. Ditto to Mike and Grady. You have all answered every question, sent many photos and several needed parts which I MUCH appreciate. You guys are the best!

Christmas just keeps on coming! I just opened a box from Earl H. (MNYenko), He too wanted to play a part in the car's restoration and sent me an original NOS air cleaner flame arrestor, fuel tank cap, radio tune knobs and NOS headlight bucket. You guys are unreal and Annie and I are deeply indebted.

Nicely played Earl!!!!

I wish I could do more for you and Annie, it's just awesome that this car is in your hands and not another huge collection.
And thanks for the thread, learned a bunch, and thanks for sharing. :youguysrock:

Mike

Rick;

Sorry for the delayed response.


The engine is .030" over--strangely enough, when we checked the bores on initial examination, they were actually pretty straight--but they were just over .002" oversize, which would've left .0075"+ piston to wall clearance with the original pistons. That would've rattled like hell when it was cold which obviously wouldn't do, so we had to go .030" with new pistons to get the wall clearance where we wanted it.


The heads are bone stock with 2.19/1.72 valves and a 3 angle valve job, that's it.



The cam is pretty close to the factory 143, but with a little less duration and a touch more lift (I never divulge exact cam specs, that's up to Rick if he wants to reveal them). The LSA is fairly close to stock, and it idles much as the 143 cam would.



Since this is a 4 speed car with a 4.10 gear, Rick & I initially discussed spicing things up just a little, but since this car will never be pounded on and hero dyno #'s weren't part of the plan, I decided to try to pick up as much low end and mid-range torque as I could w/o sacrificing anything up top. I'm pretty happy with the results, esp. considering it surpassed my goals (460 lb.ft, 475 HP) on the very first pull. FWIW, coolant temp was 180° and total timing was 36°.



I wasn't able to test with the headers I wanted to use which I know for 100% fact cost at least 20+ lb.ft <4000 rpm. The plenum divider was left intact as well, which left another ~20 HP upstairs on the table, but I didn't want to sacrifice the low end torque to get it. We also could've cooled the engine down to ~130° and found another ~15 HP, but again, hero #'s weren't the objective and I wasn't going to go pounding on the #'s matching engine to a $200K+ car just for bragging rights.


I want to thank Rick again for the opportunity to play such a large part in this build. I'm honored, and I'm grateful.

….

…. This thread is so great

…. Seeing all the details that go into a restoration like this is really fantastic.

… This is what makes this site so great :youguysrock:

,,,

Another oddball. Our 69 had what appears to be a 68 Malibu dash plaque on it and can be seen in the original photos. The photo is what I took off a 69 parts car (upper) and what was on the Yenko (lower) which I believe to be a 68. Ours is a March 69 car so not early by any stretch. Has anyone ever seen this in their COPO as well? This car what totally unmolested as far as interior and chassis goes so in no way do I think someone changed it out in the first year of its life.

Dan Vasic has a black 1969 shell restored and by memory it had the 68 dash trim piece.

Maybe 5 years ago.... let’s test my memory of tiny useless details :-)

Ryan W31

There is a white 69 Yenko Chevelle I’ve seen that also has the 68 Malibu dash emblem. Definitely were a few 69’s they came this way for whatever reason.

If i had to choose based on appearance and correctness a 69 malibu dash plate would be the way to go. Who knows how a 68 plate wound up in there but i wouldnt put it back unless there are other documented 69 yenkos confirmed being delivered this way

Rick I know this Restoration is keeping you very busy but you asked about wheel cylinders a while back and I responded that the correct wheel cylinder for 69 Chevelle SS is 15/16”. I believe 7/8” is correct for a 70 Chevelle SS. I just restored my original wheel cylinders a few months back and confirmed from my photos that they are in fact 15/16. Good luck

Thank you for your input but that is not how I operate. One of the things I have prided myself on over all the years is restoring these cars how they were found and built (assuming they were original) and not how the majority of them were built. Case in point is Dana's 68 Yenko with no SS emblems on the fenders. One of a very few that came that way and was restored accordingly as this is part of the Yenko history and I have no intention of changing that history.

Jim S's 69 Forest Green Yenko had no 427 emblems anywhere, no hood stripes and the stripes did not say Yenko SC on the body stripes. I wanted to restore the car that way but he won out. Again, changing history is not my intent so regardless if this is not the correct plaque, that is what came on the car and what will be going back on. I have heard from a couple people already that state they have seen 69's with this plaque.

Yes you did and thank you again for that. At the same time almost every other person I have checked with said their car had the 7/8" so I was confused and thought I would put it out in public to see what everyone else had. Ditto on the rear brake hose. Seems to me I asked Dan Vasic this question as well based on how many he has had apart. I have been busy so my apologies for not mentioning yours and my conversation. I need to start writing things down! LOL

For the interior dash plaque its not out of the realm of possibilities that the original dealer installed as part of the prep. If it was missing from the factory or damaged somehow they may have simply went to their stock and installed what was there. Not sure how you would look at this then. The car should have had a 69 version but eneded up being delivered to the OO with a 68 version.

Without being there yourself when the OO picked it up, you may never know for sure. memories get real fuzzy on this detail stuff after 50 years!

In that case if it could be somehow authenticated I would likely restore it how it SHOULD be not how it was. If I hear from other COPO owners that have the 68 then I will leave it. However, as so many of them have been previously restored that may not be the answer either.

Heard from another 69 SS396 owner and states the same as you Sam, 15/16".

I'll confirm what Sam has said about the wheel cylinders. I pulled these original cylinders from my '69 Chevelle, KK 4.10 axle and they are 15/16.

Maybe that 3/16" rear brake hose is somewhat standard too. I just have not laid hands on enough 69's to know.

I have seen them on "early" 69 chevelle SS cars like the black chevelle Ryan has described in an earlier post. Not sure about COPO's or Yenko's.

I just said, there are indeed others that were delivered this way. I recalls specifically asking the owner about it on the white sYc Chevelle and he didn't even know what I was talking about until I pointed it out, and said that it's the same spear the car always had as far as he ever knew. I have no reason to believe yours wasn't that way since day one as well. I absolutely would restore it the way it was delivered, including the 68 dash spear.

rear brakes
 

Rick
My June built Baltimore 69 SS vert had the 940 15/16 rear brake cylinders and the 3/16 inch rear brake line

thanks
 

Rick
I wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post all of this information. it has been extremely helpful!! I just got my car back and started the rebuild process. Your insight, pictures and processes have me rethinking and re-doing processes I have already completed. it is a true inspiration

Ha, Ryan try more like nearly a decade ago....Ryan has the Best Memory, LOL.

Rick, I would DEFINETELY use the original as found name plate in your Yenko Chevelle.
We have seen this and we have learned that it did happen.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...Black+Chevelle

Dan

My car has all original interior (including the rug) and has the 68 style Malibu dash trim

Was that trim piece different for the 68 and 69 Malibu?

I know the 1969 SS 396 trim had a different grain pattern then the 68 but I see some people sell the 68 and 69 Malibu trim as the same part?

The steering wheel emblems for the COPO 427 Chevelles have come through with different ones.
some have the bow tie , some have the Malibu some had the SS

mine has the bow tie

Am I the only one that’s not seeing all the pictures! Last week I could see them all this week most of the pictures are gone!

Same here, strange :tongue:

Mike

Unfortunately I intended to delete the first post only in the thread because it was a duplicate. What happened (due to a bug/issue) it deleted the whole thread! I was able to restore the thread, but inexplicably the pictures were lost. I've been in contact with web developer and he hasn't been able to find a way to retrieve. Very unfortunate because a lot of work by Rick went into this thread....

Oh no, bummer.....this will be a lot of extra work for Rick....to re-insert all the missing pictures.

Steve, I feel your pain.....as a Moderator I have unfortunately made the same mistake.....now my approach is, if it is not broke....don’t fix it.

Dan

I believe the entire edge shape of the trim piece is slightly different between 68/69 malibu, and for certain the font is specific to each year, with the 68 version using the script "Malibu" vs. the 69 wording in all caps, similar to the 69 Malibu 1/4 panel emblem.

Related to the wheel cyl, any thoughts looking into a vintage parts counter book and see if there several part numbers for different applications? Thus helping to understand if they used both sizes due to some performance modifications?

Rick stinks all your pictures are gone but I hope u continue to share your progress and pictures of this great car!

Joe Barr
thanks for posting the pics of the 68 vs 69 Malibu dash trim pieces
Mine has the 69 block letter one

Many people contacted me asking what happened to the photos that had been posted throughout this thread. My apologies for not getting them back on here sooner but time has not allowed it.

I am going to go back to the beginning of the thread and try to repost what was there but I kept no record of what photos I used and since there are now 6505 photos in that album. It takes an immense amount of time to go through and find the photos that pertain to the thread and then reattach them. About 45 minutes to an hour for each posting. More than likely there will be a lot of photos that were not posted before as again, I do not recall which ones I used so keep checking back through the thread for updated photo postings. This may take several days or even weeks so please bear with me.

Many people who contacted me privately appreciated the detailed information so I decided to go back and try to fix it instead of just leaving it as is. I also need to update the thread with the current status of the car but that will have to wait for more time. For now, here is a teaser. Thanks for your patience, I will get them reposted as soon as possible.