Bill Pritchard
04-03-2011, 08:48 PM
After recently reading kwhizz's great story about his 66 L79 Chevy II, and how he eventually came to 'mess it up', I thought about similar stories that happened with me and some of my friends back in the day - when we were young and 'knew it all' <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif I'll bet that there are many similar stories out there, and that they could make for some interesting reading.
So, I'll start out.....In June 1972, I bought a 70 Z28 as my everyday driver. It was puffing a little blue smoke on start-up, so I figured valve guide seals needed attention. Pulled the heads and had them freshened. When they went back on, a set of Appliance headers also went on. The car ran absolutely great after that. By that winter, I decided I wanted to have a second car that I could use just to drag race, so I bought a beat up 69 Z28 minus drivetrain. The plan would be to use the LT1 from my 70 Z as the race car engine. So, I found a 210 hp 327 from a 67 Camaro and rebuilt it to power the 70 Z. Used the intake, air cleaner, and valve covers from the LT1 so that, externally, it <span style="font-style: italic">looked</span> like a proper 70 Z28 engine. Now the dumb part...in my infinite wisdom, I figured that in order for this 327 to go back in the 70 Z, I needed to use the oil pan from the 70 Z on the 327, so that's what I did. Problem is, the 70 Z oil pan had no internal baffling, due to the LT1 having a windage tray. The 327 ran great in the 70, but when you'd get on it, all the oil would climb the walls of the oil pan and oil pressure would drop to ZERO <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/shocked.gif By this time, I was <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">really</span></span> tired of working on the car that I needed to use to get to work every day. Several of my friends had bought new 73 Z28's, and I was about to start a new job that paid much better than what I was accustomed to, so I figured I should just buy a new car, too. Let's see, how do I trade in the 70 on the new 73 so that no one knows the engine oil pressure issues? Remove the aftermarket oil pressure gauge I had in the car - check. Install oil pressure idiot light sending unit with spade terminal broken off, so that when the wire is attached, you can't tell that it's non-functional - check. Problem solved <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/whistle.gif
So, I'll start out.....In June 1972, I bought a 70 Z28 as my everyday driver. It was puffing a little blue smoke on start-up, so I figured valve guide seals needed attention. Pulled the heads and had them freshened. When they went back on, a set of Appliance headers also went on. The car ran absolutely great after that. By that winter, I decided I wanted to have a second car that I could use just to drag race, so I bought a beat up 69 Z28 minus drivetrain. The plan would be to use the LT1 from my 70 Z as the race car engine. So, I found a 210 hp 327 from a 67 Camaro and rebuilt it to power the 70 Z. Used the intake, air cleaner, and valve covers from the LT1 so that, externally, it <span style="font-style: italic">looked</span> like a proper 70 Z28 engine. Now the dumb part...in my infinite wisdom, I figured that in order for this 327 to go back in the 70 Z, I needed to use the oil pan from the 70 Z on the 327, so that's what I did. Problem is, the 70 Z oil pan had no internal baffling, due to the LT1 having a windage tray. The 327 ran great in the 70, but when you'd get on it, all the oil would climb the walls of the oil pan and oil pressure would drop to ZERO <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/shocked.gif By this time, I was <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">really</span></span> tired of working on the car that I needed to use to get to work every day. Several of my friends had bought new 73 Z28's, and I was about to start a new job that paid much better than what I was accustomed to, so I figured I should just buy a new car, too. Let's see, how do I trade in the 70 on the new 73 so that no one knows the engine oil pressure issues? Remove the aftermarket oil pressure gauge I had in the car - check. Install oil pressure idiot light sending unit with spade terminal broken off, so that when the wire is attached, you can't tell that it's non-functional - check. Problem solved <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/whistle.gif