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

[1969L89]

Very nice! I have followed this build from the beginning.

[ZLP955]

At 73 years old, he's probably one of the most ambitious and hardest-working body men that I've ever met. He used to go 7 days a week and 12 hours a day on these types of projects. At present, I think he's still working those kinds of hours and typically he works on only one car at a time.
Sounds like he loves his work - and that shows in the end result. Very nice

[NorCam]

I've been busy working on my septic tank and mulching leaves the last couple days but Ron has been busy with the car. Truck is welded in nicely and the NOS quarter has been fit on the passenger side. He told me it fit like a glove and he has an excellent door gap as seen. The trunk welds won't be finished at the back edge until he has fit the NOS drivers side quarter. Weather forecast says we're getting a dump of snow here tonight but I'll get out to see the car over the weekend.

https://i.ibb.co/PjRpNTM/IMG-3338.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6mDJQHK/IMG-3482.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/cDgc6sB/IMG-3478.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yn0VSDK/IMG-3479.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2Nzhtys/IMG-3481.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dmym9th/IMG-3480.jpg

[cruiserofland]

Exciting stuff.

[Damien]

Never a good day for septic work! 😂

[NorCam]

Yup...had some high ground water last spring and learned that the stack had some leaks around the seals. Had to wait until fall to dig it up and replace the top of the stack with a new conversion top. Buttoned it up today and backfilled the hole. More landscaping in the spring to dress it all up.

[Chuck_Burg]

Very nice door gap! That’s something to be proud of. I went with an NOS fender on my 67.... funny it actually fits slightly better than the original one and the shape where the fender is rolled on the door gap is better than the original too. My guess is GM made improvements as time went on. My original fender is probably the 33rd or 34th week of 66. All my original sheet metal is dated around early to mid August 66

[COPO]

Great progress.

[NorCam]

Was out to pierce a couple holes on the firewall and add a couple nutserts for the console today. Ron was working away on the left quarter as he's now fitting the gaps at the door and aligning the panel with the wheel opening and rear tailpanel. It's coming along nicely and will soon be going onto the rotisserie. At that point, he'll start with the priming, bodywork and blocking of the panels while also finishing off the floors and firewall sections ahead of paint.

https://i.ibb.co/vZ98cYr/IMG-3508.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fQ2N1PS/IMG-3510.jpg

[napa68]

This is really coming together nicely Graeme. Great planning, great execution as usual!

Tim

[x77-69z28]

Great progress Graeme! I wish my body guy had that kind of determination!
Buddy

[NorCam]

Great progress Graeme! I wish my body guy had that kind of determination!
Buddy

Thanks Buddy & Tim

Ron's been fairly steady on it and keeps track of the hours he spends working on it. Up to yesterday, he's clocked about 100 hours on the sheet metal work and should have that finished up around 110 hours before he turns to some cleanup of the underside (about 120 total on the metal work). Once on the rotisserie he will sand and prime the whole car before prepping and painting the jambs, openings and cowl plenums in yellow. He'll then prep and paint the bottom of the car and will also spray up along the the firewall.

He'll then get the body into high solids and will start working on the doors, hood, fenders and the front sheet metal while it's all out on body carts. When they are all ready to assemble, I will have already installed the sub frame and suspension so it's ready for the front clip to go on with the undersides of all the parts already sprayed with yellow paint where required.

Next, He will block out the entire car and ready it for base clear paint before striping it in black. Once cured he will give it a full 3 stage cut and polish to bring out the depth of the paint. It should wrap up at around 300+/- hours if all goes according to plan and it should be done in mid-November.

Note: I have decided to forego the grey primer/overspray look and will spray out satin black on the entire underside. It's not a numbers car any longer so no need to add the overspray or try to recreate everything right to factory. I'm OK with that...but I'm really still on the fence with styled trim. (ugggh)

[X66 714]

Like you said, it's your car. It will be great to see it back on the road & somebody enjoying it. It will get a lot of attention wherever you take it. Enjoy....Joe

[Rumbleguts396]

Cars looking great Graeme. I got to ask. Is this car a keeper for your son??? i hope i'm not putting any pressure on you. ROB

[NorCam]

No pressure at all Rob

This is to be my personal keeper. My son is helping out on this one as he learns a bit more about the builds and how to do all of it. Together we will be doing a car for him right in behind this one and that will likely be a second gen car. As long as I do keep this one, it will eventually pass down to him at some point but that's a ways down the road.

G.

[NorCam]

I recently bought another set of Yellow 714 Houndstooth bucket seats to have another spare set of used covers and seat cores, but mostly, bought these to get the headrests that were with them. Not split, not damaged and an easy clean up to become a nice set of original yellow headrests for the seats which are about to be fully restored. Score!

https://i.ibb.co/3Cyrjgw/IMG-3586.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/1Ry5QLb/IMG-3587.jpg

[NorCam]

Also got a little care package from Mr. Lightfoot and now have the decals needed for this little Z/28. Thanks once again Don.

https://i.ibb.co/HKQd867/IMG-3582.jpg

[X66 714]

Good score on the headrests. I'm going to have to dye mine to be that nice. I'm jealous...Joe

[NorCam]

I've been busy working with the interior parts and the seats over the last couple of days while getting things ready for the upholsterer. He received everything earlier today and will start rebuilding the seats early next week. Thinking that should wrap up fairly quickly. Also got things going on the door panels which are soon coming from Al Knoch. I sent them a color sample of the vinyl and they will color match the ABS molded door panels so everything matches the colors on the seats and rear panels.

In other news, Ron has been busy finishing up the metalwork and has really dialed in all the door gaps, trunk gaps, and all of the seams. He's also been cleaning up the window channels and readying everything for an epoxy primer which goes on next week. The plan is to get the car onto the rotisserie this weekend. Here are a couple more pictures of the metalwork as it's nearly done.

https://i.ibb.co/qB66JHc/IMG-3608.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/bX2R5h6/IMG-3609.jpg

[jbtech]

Looking great Graeme!

[NorCam]

Ron sent me a couple of pictures Friday night after putting 4 coats of 2K primer onto the body. Yesterday he was busy working on the body and the doors as he starts into the bodywork stage. I'll head out to see the car today and help him put it onto the rotisserie if he hasn't already done that. It's coming along nicely and won't be long before it's back on its wheels while being blocked out for color.

https://i.ibb.co/zrbrRLj/IMG-3610.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nmDL1fN/IMG-3611.jpg

[Zedder]

Looking good!

[COPO]

Wow, that's some quick work. Great progress.

[mr.4speed]

looks great!

[GMC_Typhoon]

I thought of your build last night when this rolled across the block. The TV guy said "You'll never see another one" Ha.

[GMC_Typhoon]

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1969-CHEVROLET-CAMARO-Z/28-242937

[NorCam]

That link didn't work for me, but if it's another yellow on yellow Z/28, I've now learned of at least 7-8 of them and I am sure there are plenty more. The option list on this one does make it pretty unique though. That being said, I have yet to find another yellow Z with the liquid tire chain option?

I was out to check out the progress and looked at the doors today. The driver's door had a dent at the front edge that Ron uncovered and pulled before fixing a couple of other spots & applying epoxy to the inner seams. He'll finish the doors and get them into primer along with the inside of the car before it goes onto the rotisserie.

https://i.ibb.co/qMMr04G/IMG-3621.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Q8B1cBv/IMG-3636.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/s3FDTyR/IMG-3633.jpg

[GMC_Typhoon]

That link didn't work for me, but if it's another yellow on yellow Z/28, I've now learned of at least 7-8 of them and I am sure there are plenty more. The option list on this one does make it pretty unique though. That being said, I have yet to find another yellow Z with the liquid tire chain option?

I was out to check out the progress and looked at the doors today. The driver's door had a dent at the front edge that Ron uncovered and pulled before fixing a couple of other spots & applying epoxy to the inner seams. He'll finish the doors and get them into primer along with the inside of the car before it goes onto the rotisserie.

https://i.ibb.co/qMMr04G/IMG-3621.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Q8B1cBv/IMG-3636.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/s3FDTyR/IMG-3633.jpg
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1969-CHEVROLET-CAMARO-Z/28-242937

[NorCam]

OK. I have seen pictures of that car. An X-77 body with the Style Trim Group added to the outside along with the blacked-out rockers. I contemplated doing that but cannot bring myself to add trim to this car. The difference between the 2 cars as far as options go is that this one is a chambered exhaust car, originally had a tilt column with a rosewood wheel, and of course the V75 option. It will be restored that way but will not have its numbers matching driveline. Instead, it has a well built 350 solid roller and an upgraded M23 transmission. in addition, it will be dressed entirely different than stock when it comes to wheels, tires, and suspension. It should also be able to blow the doors off any stock Z/28 which I am totally OK with. (lol)

[NorCam]

After pulling a dent out of the driver's door, Ron stripped the other side today to find a deep slash that was buried with filler. He cleaned it out, pulled the dent, and got it straightened before priming both of the doors. The good thing was that there was virtually no rust in either door. Floor and firewall work will come next. Looks like the orange door was set up for a remote mirror. That hole will need to be welded up.

https://i.ibb.co/z6Qn7qF/IMG-3645.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/d5zkKVf/IMG-3644.jpg

[rlw68]

After pulling a dent out of the driver's door, Ron stripped the other side today to find a deep slash that was buried with filler. He cleaned it out, pulled the dent, and got it straightened before priming both of the doors. The good thing was that there was virtually no rust in either door. Floor and firewall work will come next. Looks like the orange door was set up for a remote mirror. That hole will need to be welded up.



I thought all driver side doors have the hole for a remote mirror cable ?


:dunno:

[X66 714]

They all have the hole Graeme. Don't fill it. Here's a picture of mine before paint. I don't have remote mirror....Joe

[rlw68]

They all have the hole Graeme. Don't fill it. Here's a picture of mine before paint. I don't have remote mirror....Joe

Looks like some screw holes on the passenger door for a RH mirror. But thats the yellow door? So the orange one is ok :dunno:

:hmmm:

[NorCam]

Thanks guys.

I didn't know that hole was there on all doors or that it would be covered by a standard mirror. Just knew the door was from another car so thought it was an option. Learned something new today. Cheers

[NorCam]

Looks like some screw holes on the passenger door for a RH mirror. But thats the yellow door? So the orange one is ok :dunno:

:hmmm:

Rob, one of the former owners or perhaps a dealer may have added the right side mirror as it was on when this picture was taken back in the '80s. Not sure when it was installed but I will leave it there as I like having one on the right.

https://i.ibb.co/SsZtP8R/Robin-3-800.jpg

[rlw68]

Thanks guys.

I didn't know that hole was there on all doors or that it would be covered by a standard mirror. Just knew the door was from another car so thought it was an option. Learned something new today. Cheers

There is a metal tab also, inside the door near the hinge. It holds the remote cable away from the window.

:biggthumpup:

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Car sure looks good in the 80's pic Graeme. It's a shame it went to hell that quick. Your doing a great job. I enjoy this thread!!

[NorCam]

Thank you. Robin told me that picture was right after he got it. I believe that was 1981

Over the next 15 years, it saw some outdoor storage and that didn't do it any favors.

[Jonesy]

Minnesota plates on it!! :biggthumpup:

[NorCam]

Ron seam sealed all the joints, sanded the firewall and the door and trunk jambs today, then he primed/sealed the inside floors. I would imagine he'll prime the firewall tomorrow and put it on the rotisserie before getting after the bottom side. I'm headed out to the upholsterer's shop tomorrow and will stop in to see the car on the way back.

https://i.ibb.co/wSLgFdf/IMG-3661.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/74YBbZP/IMG-3659.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/8dG4csg/IMG-3660.jpg

[Jonesy]

Wow, those floors look great. Thats a huge accomplishment to get those off the list.

[NorCam]

Also dropped off all the door and seat plastics today. The plastics and the headrests will now be dyed to match the new yellow vinyl and should be ready early next week. Seats should also be wrapped up by early next week. Here are some shots of the frames being built up with new materials and the piping being made for the new patterns.


https://i.ibb.co/HBzTR88/001-frame.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jLHtsL1/002-build.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sCZWGXF/003-foams.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MGspxwy/004-rears.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/cwr0gyF/005-welting.jpg

[NorCam]

Minnesota plates on it!! :biggthumpup:

Yup. It went from North Dakota to Texas, then it landed in St Paul before going up to Brainerd for 10 years, then onto PA for some long term storage before being sold to me and arriving in western Canada.

[Z282NV]

I am new to this site but have been lurking in the background for quite some time. I have been a long time member of camaros.net and also recently joined CRG.

I just had to come on this thread for the first time to acknowledge what an awesome job Graeme is doing on this 69Z.
:beers:

Cheers, Joe

[NorCam]

Was out to visit with Mike @ Crown Automotive Interiors earlier today and see how the seats are taking shape. He was in the midst of building sections for the bucket seat patterns while I was there and shared a lot of info with me. I left there at about 2:30 and three hours later I was rolling into my driveway as he was texting me some images of the lower seat covers. They are bright...but it's going to look really good when it's all done.

https://i.ibb.co/YyF0ttM/006-inserts.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/25gr5xd/009-Welting.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/M1kLzXR/008-lowers.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/RDMt6Dz/WSYM0191.jpg

[ZLP955]

Fast work! Is that the original vinyl material in the background of your last image?

[NorCam]

Fast work! Is that the original vinyl material in the background of your last image?

Yes. The old covers can be seen on the side of the table in a few of the shots above, as well as on the second pair of buckets that are sitting down on the floor beside the table. They are old dirty and faded covers, but when you unfold the back seams to a piece that has not seen the light of day, the color is very close to the new vinyl. It also looks brighter under this T5 lighting than it does under natural light so the inside shots might be a bit skewed.

[TimG]

Those covers look great, this is going to be a great build.

[NorCam]

Slowly but surely Ron's been nibbling away at it. He went to sand the top of the trunk lid yesterday and found something odd. Insidious "creeping rust" which is like little hidden channels of rust that spread under the primer and branch out like a network of little veins. In this case, it was all hidden under the original factory primer. Like cancer in waiting. Anyways, stripped down to the bare metal, chemically treated, and now dressed in primer.

https://i.ibb.co/Vx1zx6z/IMG-3693.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/74BWH7j/IMG-3694.jpg

[NorCam]

Seats are continuing along and are on pace to be ready next week. Mike has just finished the seatbacks for the buckets and the patterns are nearly ready to go onto the frames. Just the buttons need to be finished up and he can wrap them up.

https://i.ibb.co/HNFV8dN/IMG-3697.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/F5n5d1m/IMG-3698.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/n35cWC2/IMG-3695.jpg

[NorCam]

Ron has also been steady on things today. The insides of the doors and trunk lid were sanded and sprayed with some color today. He also moved the car onto the rotisserie and will now get the floors and the firewall finished up. Won't be long until the jambs will all be in color too. Then I can get it back down and make it a roller again.

https://i.ibb.co/nMw8MfL/IMG-3703.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rccyM2c/IMG-3702.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YbDbxF2/IMG-3701.jpg

[ZLP955]

That DY looks great!

[NorCam]

Got back to some other parts that needed finishing before it all goes back under the body. The diff and the springs were reunited with the traction bars and some temporary drums were drilled to fit over the axles and studs. Also did a test fit of some Lakewood shocks and might use these in combination with the Air Lift Bags. Next up I'll mount some old wheels up and it's ready to go back under the car in a week or two. The J-bar hardware will not be added until the suspension is loaded up and there's some good weight on it.

https://i.ibb.co/tHPs8dn/IMG-3720.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/K6K3d70/IMG-3723.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0tN3QX4/IMG-3726.jpg

[RPOLS3]

Looks great

[NorCam]

Dropped off the front end sheet metal today and things are plugging along. Floors were all sanded today and were then seam sealed. Should be dry enough to prime the floors tomorrow and then he'll add some black to the front firewall and the lower floorboards. From there it'll be time to paint the wheel housings, lower rockers, cowl sides, cowl top, and upper jambs in yellow. Ron will then paint the dash top black, back window corners and trim, and then the cowl opening with the correct gloss black stripe color.

I'll then be mounting the fuel line, front sub-frame, sub-frame connectors and the rear suspension will be then be hung to make it a roller again. The hood and the fenders won't take long and before I know it, the front clip will be painted on the insides before going back together. This thing is flying along now. I better get those inner front fenders lined with dust shields as it's going to be ready for those real soon.

https://i.ibb.co/MNv9Dh1/IMG-3727.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MNhDYp9/IMG-3730.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/zVr3vZj/IMG-3733.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7GKF8gx/IMG-3735.jpg

[ZLP955]

Great progress. Are you planning to reattach the standard single exhaust hanger bracket back on the driver’s side trunk floor?

[NorCam]

Nope. :biggthumpup:

Ron asked me, what this bracket for and do you want me to reinstall it on the new floor. I said it's a head knocker...and asked him to leave it off.

[rlw68]

Looks great! What are the holes in the outer wheel wells for? I know the lower one is a body plug.

Did you say 'frame connectors' ...

:biggthumpup:

[mockingbird812]

Looks great! What are the holes in the outer wheel wells for? I know the lower one is a body plug.

Did you say 'frame connectors' ...

:biggthumpup:


I believe this Camaro came with the optional liquid tire chain option.:laugh:

[NorCam]

Yes Sir. One of only 188 Camaro's to have had RPO V75 installed by the factory. An option also found in many Copo cars as it turns out. Everyone must have been using it for burnouts back in the day.

https://i.ibb.co/VYNJx7Z/Liquid-tire-chain.jpg

[William]

'Many' COPO cars?

There were 1,066 COPO Camaros built. 3 are known to have V75.

[NorCam]

I know of 2 from Canada myself, plus Bergy's, and was told there were quite a few others?

I guess many was a bad choice on wording.

[William]

We have build data on just under 500 COPOs so there could easily be a few more with V75.

Including yours, 4 Z/28s.

Enjoying your build progress!

[ZLP955]

Nope. :biggthumpup:
Ron asked me, what this bracket for and do you want me to reinstall it on the new floor. I said it's a head knocker...and asked him to leave it off.
No worries, thought I'd mention it as it's absence is a giveaway the trunk floor has been replaced. The protruding part of that bracket was cut off my car when it became a race car, probably for the same reason - to avoid being a hazard to heads.....

[NorCam]

I think it looks better w/o that hanger. Aside from looks, I'm not concerned about it calling any attention to the trunk floor having been replaced. I've hit my head on those hangers more than once and on this one, I won't have to worry about landing another divet on the back of my noggin. (lol)

https://i.ibb.co/SmFBn7n/IMG-3784.jpg

[X66 714]

Looks good….Joe

[jbtech]

Wow, you'll be tearing up the streets in no time!

[NorCam]

Bodywork is advancing on the front end sheet metal while the interior continues to roll along. The covers for the front buckets were finished last weekend and this week the upholsterer has completed the rear covers. He still needs to make the buttons for the seatbacks and is now covering the rear side panels. Should be ready to wrap the seat frames in a few days from now. In other news, a sample of the vinyl was sent to Al Knoch and they are now fabricating a set of door panels to match the color.

https://i.ibb.co/8dKZn1f/IMG-3809.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/qnRyB6C/IMG-3813.jpg

[NorCam]

And the hits keep on rollin' baby. The subframe and differential are back under the car and it's now back on the ground.

https://i.ibb.co/9TWnK7H/Friday001.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5974VJR/Friday002.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X25qSvW/Friday003.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VVG4hbw/Friday004.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/s3SkDTk/Friday005.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HpRG3pV/Friday006.jpg

[NorCam]

Other progress that was happening at the upholstery shop today. Mike has been doing an unbelievable job with the seat patterns and the installation of the new covers. It's really coming together here.


https://i.ibb.co/YRCV7sY/IMG-3881.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rMm67sQ/IMG-3882.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jVwtHrR/IMG-3887.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/P1Y3PvH/IMG-3885.jpg

[COPO]

Amazing pace of progress. You'll be burning rubber in no time.

[Chuck_Burg]

This is looking better and better each and every day! Love it Graeme. I have the same frame connectors. I'm still waiting on the remaining parts of my car to get painted....

[NorCam]

This is looking better and better each and every day! Love it Graeme. I have the same frame connectors. I'm still waiting on the remaining parts of my car to get painted....

Thanks! The frame connectors are probably the best fitting set I have ever had on a first-gen car. I like that they fit up close to the floor and keep a low profile.

I keep watching your project to see how your hood comes out. I'm sure it's gonna be stellar, just like the rest of it. What else is being painted that you're waiting on?

[Chuck_Burg]

That's good to know, I wanted low profile as well without cutting my floors.

I am waiting on the hood (obviously), cowl, header panel, lower valance, and fender extensions. I also had the painter mask my black rear panel too close to the rear lower valance so we'll need to repaint that area and move the black masking line closer to where it'll be covered by the bumper. He said give him two more weeks... This is the problem with a production shop. Lots and lots of cars being repaired at all times. Easy for them to put the restoration paint job on the back burner. Plus they're short handed right now. Seems like there's always something going on over in the body shop. Hands down the most dramatic department at the dealership!...

[NorCam]

Yup...

I worked in a large GM dealership when I was a kid and spent some time in the body shop where I worked on my own car on the weekends. It was a true 9 to 5 thing there and nobody worked any harder than they needed to. It's hard to find a good body man or painter with old school skills and some work ethic these days. And yes...I know how lucky I am to have one that fits that mold.

Hoping your parts get some color real soon and your car takes off again. I can't wait to see it transform. Cheers :beers:

[napa68]

At this pace, you'll be out of work by January 1st

[NorCam]

Cool...I'll have some time to play in the Rockies this winter. (lol)

This is my favorite stretch after a good dump. Pipeline in Fernie BC on the way up to the cabin, and riding the Notch.

https://snoriderswest.com/images/uploads/fernie-trip-planner630.jpg

[NorCam]

The front end is now is in primer after some bodywork was performed to fix the front fenders. The passenger side had a little hidden rust at the bottom while the driver's side had a dent and a previous rust repair that was cut out and redone. Next, the front end parts will be prepped & painted along the edges. Then it'll be ready to install the front clip and finish up the trunk before starting to block out the body.

https://i.ibb.co/qyLnWn6/IMG-3893.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/1bH3VZQ/IMG-3894.jpg

[NorCam]

Lots of stuff going on with the restoration of parts here this week. In addition, Ron is continuing with the bodywork and furthering the paint prep. The inside of the hood, fenders, and the edges of the front end parts are all prepped in yellow now. The staples and splash aprons are complete on the inner fenders as they will also go onto the car later this week. Next up is the heater box which I'll hopefully install ahead of the front end sheet metal. Here's your daily dose of yellow for those who are following along.

https://i.ibb.co/N9GRW38/IMG-3910.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/zb0ccpb/IMG-3911.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/55BPJ8D/IMG-3904.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/G3WnHMn/IMG-3912.jpg

[big gear head]

It must be nice to get things done so quickly. It was 18 years from the time I started taking my car apart until I got to drive it again.

[NorCam]

I know this isn't normal Freddie? But I'm glad it's going the way it is. I don't think I'd be at this pace if it wasn't for Covid. It's made me realize that life is precious and there's no guarantee on how or when it ends...so enjoy every moment of it.

It will be done before spring! And thoroughly enjoyed after the fact. :burnout:

[ZLP955]

It's made me realize that life is precious and there's no guarantee on how or when it ends...so enjoy every moment of it.
Great progress, greater mindset :beers:

[NorCam]

Stopped into the body shop where Ron was busy painting tonight. Earlier today he block sanded the roof and just finished painting the black trim inside the rear window. He also sprayed the first coat of black on the underside of the hood with one more to go. Before the night is up, he'll be painting the cowl panel, rear spoiler, and insides of the lower fender extensions in yellow. He's also been busy with repairs to the Endura bumper which is looking awesome right now. If all goes well with assembly and the final stages of blocking, the car will be painted next week.

https://i.ibb.co/G0WkbRW/IMG-3940.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/w7jJtKt/IMG-3938.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Sv4DShN/IMG-3936.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pf69zty/IMG-3937.jpg

[NorCam]

On the interior front, Al Knoch has color-matched a set of molded front door panels and they are currently on the way up to me now. The rest of the interior was just performed by Michael Van't Wout at Crown Automotive Interiors in Red Deer, Alberta. He custom made the patterns, rebuilt the materials onto the frames, and assembled all of the seats for me. Earlier in the week, I also had all of the plastic's color-matched to the new vinyl and had the headrests dyed so everything pulls together nicely.

This afternoon we added the plastics to the seats and dropped the headrests in to see how everything looked. I have to hand it to Mike, he did a great job on the seats and I am very happy with the results. He also finished off the rear side panels although I still need to polish and install the stainless trim. I dragged them home this evening and set them up for a few pictures before covering them up again. The yellow looks much better in person than the pictures display as they do have a soft creamy hue to them (very buttery in person). Dare I say they are spot on with the original color...yet the camera makes them look a couple of shades darker (bolder) than they really are. Now to get the heater core painted and connect the controls so I can get it installed before the fenders go on this week.

Laughing out loud here as I try and keep this pace up. :biggthumpup:

The last of the upholstery completed before we assembled the buckets earlier today.

https://i.ibb.co/V2gnZ3T/IMG-3927.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/xhK8KzP/IMG-3928.jpg


And here they are after bringing them home earlier tonight. Setup for a few pictures before I store them away.


https://i.ibb.co/ZXMXpdj/IMG-3941.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6FFr16X/IMG-3942.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tqPGPpf/IMG-3947.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wQXqnC1/IMG-3943.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HFv6pLq/IMG-3944.jpg

[R68GTO]

Looking fantastic!

[SuperNovaSS]

Wow, the interior looks great!

Jason

[mockingbird812]

Looks great Graeme! Make sure you wear sun screen and sun glasses while operating that Z! :wink:

[X66 714]

I had problems with bees with my yellow/yellow...Joe

[NorCam]

Great. So between the car and interior, I can expect to get stung more. :bs:

[169indy]

"Murder Hornet Z",,, Chops the Head off the Competition,,,,,,,,,

[NorCam]

The small front end pieces are now painted and ready for assembly with the front end. Last night I rebuilt the heater box and collected all the parts I will need to install the inner and outer boxes today. I'll also get the inner fenders installed so the front can start going together this weekend. It should all be painted in a week from now, then comes the cut & polish.

https://i.ibb.co/0D3Lc6R/IMG-3951.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hLDbK6z/IMG-3952.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sJbyMrQ/Heater-Boxes.jpg

[BLACKLS5]

Sir, you work at an incredible pace. This car is going to look fantastic.

[NorCam]

Bah...it's just everyone around me who's going so fast. I'm just kinda standing on the sidelines and taking it all in (lol). Today, we added some sound deadener to the inside of the NOS quarter panels and spray tested some samples of the trunk spatter. We also installed the firewall pad and got the heater boxes installed ahead of the front fenders going on. Ron was busy hand blocking the fenders and doors before the front clip goes on this weekend. It's motoring right along. In case anyone is wondering, there will be no PTB artwork for this car. Keeping it clean and simple where the engine will do all the talking.


https://i.ibb.co/ww5KqrG/IMG-3960.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tzZRGG8/IMG-3961.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vZRdMQc/IMG-3963.jpg

[scuncio]

Great job! Inspiring stuff.

[ZLP955]

Looking good. Must be close to doing the stripe colour in the cowl/wiper linkage area too!

[NorCam]

Yes...

That will be sprayed pretty soon, but not too soon.

The "blackout" operation was not precise, and much variation has been seen, but the production-spec for the plenum area was "blackout", and it was done long after Z/28 stripes were applied.

JohnZ

[x77-69z28]

It must be nice to get things done so quickly. It was 18 years from the time I started taking my car apart until I got to drive it again.

Didn’t want to hear that Freddie! I’m at 9yrs, and losing patience!
Buddy

[x77-69z28]

Great work Graeme. I’m jealous for sure!
Buddy

[ZLP955]

Yes...
That will be sprayed pretty soon, but not too soon.
Yep the cowl plenum area on a Norwood Z had stripe colour applied by Fisher body, well before Chevrolet painted and striped the doghouse and installed the wiper linkage.
Ron is doing a fantastic job on this car, and the DY looks spot on. Enjoying the updates.

[NorCam]

Thanks Tim,

Ron's been on a tear the past little while. I agree the color is a great match. Just yesterday he was showing me the yellow tint he just got in for the base color. It was on backorder and just showed up the week before he was getting ready to spray it. Doors went back on today and tomorrow he'll be hanging the front end.

https://i.ibb.co/34nMc7Y/IMG-3976.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dbN6vy0/IMG-3977.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4tRrHHp/IMG-3975.jpg

[NorCam]

The cowl plenum is now painted with blackout, repairs are now finished with the urethane front bumper, and the inner fenders are now joined up with the front fenders.

https://i.ibb.co/cFTGr5L/IMG-3996.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HFtPDQj/IMG-3995.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GPnwGz3/IMG-3994.jpg

[Z28Project]

Looking great! That's the way I remember Daytona Yellow looking back in the day! I see too many at car shows that are off-color to my eye. They look too much like lemon yellow or something too bright.

[ZLP955]

Nice update, the VE3 came up looking mint. Meant to ask which firewall pad you went with, and if you had to overcome any fit issues, particularly around the fuse block?

[X66 714]

Looking great! That's the way I remember Daytona Yellow looking back in the day! I see too many at car shows that are off-color to my eye. They look too much like lemon yellow or something too bright.

I looked at some pieces from my car when it was painted in 1982 & it had a greenish tint to it. My paint shop had to work with the color for a while because some of the toners no longer exist. They finally got it correct & it matches the factory paint that was remaining on the inside top of the LH quarter, the area that's covered be the rear décor panel...Joe

[NorCam]

The firewall pad I used was the molded OE style pad available from HBC as Part INT-2951. It only comes with the plastic plugs so you have to buy the rubber plugs INT-1322 separately if you don't have some, but the quality of the pad itself was excellent. Trimmed at the perforated cuts for the steering column plate and only a small piece was cut for the pedal carrier base. It fit excellent along the heater box section, all holes aligned really well and the whole thing was fairly soft and pliable, yet strong. The fuse block section seems to be perfectly aligned yet I haven't installed that yet. I will in a couple of weeks though.

[NorCam]

As far as paint goes, I like yellows even when they are brighter, but I wanted to get this one right with the correct DY color. Ron is using the Sherwin Williams ATX basecoat/clearcoat system and matched the Daytona Yellow perfectly. The test cards he sprayed were spot on with the original finish found throughout the car. I am very happy with the color but cannot wait to see it with black stripes and clear later in the week. I'll head back up when it's ready to stripe.

[NorCam]

Ran a few parts out to Ron today and snapped a couple more pics as he was fitting the front end sheet metal. It's really starting to take shape now. I also took him a Rosewood wheel that I bought from another member here (Thanks Barry A.). It had a couple of small cracks that were previously repaired and shot with primer, so my buddy lent his painting talents and airbrushed some color in after the repairs were sanded down. Ron will now add some clear coat to the wheel to finish it up for use in "The Brat". Also seen below is the color of the trunk spatter which included a premade quart that I picked up from HBC. Not exactly Norwood looking colors but I'm OK with the way it turned out.


https://i.ibb.co/7YJ6wb0/IMG-4018.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/m8bCCbc/IMG-4023.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dfKBftv/IMG-4026.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2YyZV6P/IMG-4022.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wzV9rnx/IMG-4027.jpg

[markinnaples]

Wow, looking great. The trunk is especially looking good, great job by your painter.

[NorCam]

The hood is on. Just the first fitting with a few minor adjustments forthcoming. :biggthumpup:

https://i.ibb.co/sJSRQb7/Hood.jpg

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Graeme,
Don't forget to paint the trunk lid attaching bolts body color. That is a little detail some people forget...

[luv2sixty9]

Thread started 06/07/20 and possession of the actual car on 07/02/20 and today is 11/18/20....amazing record time...Awesome job!

[NorCam]

Graeme,
Don't forget to paint the trunk lid attaching bolts body color. That is a little detail some people forget...

Yup...he forgot about that but I have already told him. He's planning to paint that when he does the bumper and grill surround. Thanks for the reminder.

[NorCam]

Thread started 06/07/20 and possession of the actual car on 07/02/20 and today is 11/18/20....amazing record time...Awesome job!

Thanks for putting that in perspective David.

I dropped the car off to Ron on Sept 24th and he still had a week left on the vehicle previous to me, so in fact, he's been on it since Oct 1 which is pretty incredible.

We talk about it a lot and it's amazing how he cranks this stuff out at 73 years old. :worship:

[whitetop]

Thanks for putting that in perspective David.

I dropped the car off to Ron on Sept 24th and he still had a week left on the vehicle previous to me, so in fact, he's been on it since Oct 1 which is pretty incredible.

We talk about it a lot and it's amazing how he cranks this stuff out at 73 years old. :worship:

Just curious. How many hours so far?

[NorCam]

I asked a few days ago and he didn't have anything exact at the time. It's the 4th frame off body & paint job he has done for me and typically he's in the 300+ hour range somewhere. This one should be right in line with that, and I should know more about the hours in the coming days.

[NorCam]

Hadn't heard from Ron for a couple of days. He was busy doing all the little last minute things like adding the window clip pins to the sides of the rear window openings (behind the quarter sails), drilling holes for the 302 hood emblems (NOS hood), tweaking the fender gaps (I was a bit picky about them), masking off the entire car, covering the bottom in poly, and finally....cleaning the booth inside and out.

He has a few more little things to do in the AM and it will then be sprayed yellow. If that goes well, it will be masked and the stripes sprayed out as well. Then it's a few coats of clear and let it cure before the cut and polish starts. I can't wait.

[NorCam]

The car was painted yesterday with base sealer and color. Today I went out to help tape the stripes on the car and the black just went on about an hour ago. Still too soft to lift the tape off at the time of the photo's being taken. It's coming along nicely. Tomorrow it will get a few coats of clear and the color will then come alive with some depth.

https://i.ibb.co/7rCc1xj/IMG-4063.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YNPtRJJ/IMG-4064.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/JHC84w2/IMG-4067.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/K6FZDV8/IMG-4068.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fCdkt7t/IMG-4069.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/b1yGJQd/IMG-4070.jpg

[cruiserofland]

Damn that’s exciting. Something about adding the stripes feels like a major milestone for bringing a Z back to life! Congrats on the epic progress :beers:

[NorCam]

Ron painted the front cowl and the rear spoiler while off the car to get better quality and control of the spray. It was then pointed out to me last night that the factory method was to install the rear spoiler just before the deck lid was striped, then spray the stripe color with the spoiler mounted on the car.

I would think painting it off the car works better for the quality, but found it interesting that Norwood painted the spoilers stripes while mounted to the deck lid. We painted the stripes to halfway under the spoiler as I was taught to do years ago. With the factory method, the paint would just feather out under the leading edge of the spoiler. Here's a shot of the feathered edges as shot by one of the leading restoration shops out east.

Learned something new last night. Thanks to Joe S. for the info on this.

https://i.ibb.co/HD2c9c9/127273734-303925680751338-8360814972226636762-n.jpg

[NorCam]

The car was cleared today and will now cure for a couple of days. Once dry, the grill will be installed, the bumper will be fitted to the car and both pieces will be painted. Then it's time for a full cut and polish. I'm definitely liking what I see and trust it's going to pop once it's out from the booth lighting.

https://i.ibb.co/4V9FHnN/IMG-4073.jpg

[Lynn]

Can't wait to see pics in natural light.

[mr.4speed]

Look's great!!

[NorCam]

Ron has now started wet sanding the car. I was out to see it today and he's currently working it with #1500 and plans to hit it again with #3000 over the weekend. After that, he'll pull out the Wizards "Mystic Cut" and hit it with the power polisher to bring out that mile-deep shine. The grill and the bumper will then be fit after the polishing is complete. I'm loving the color after seeing it in person today. Killer contrast for sure.

https://i.ibb.co/wWJVVGq/IMG-4115.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dJzQZSF/IMG-4100.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6BQWGLq/IMG-4112.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sRpYZT6/IMG-4103.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X2Pkh4D/IMG-4104.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Z1XMD41/IMG-4107.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PWTF1Kb/IMG-4110.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4VgPHwm/IMG-4113.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/37WfmL2/IMG-4114.jpg

[x77-69z28]

Awesome progress Graeme! I was just looking through progress photos of my 70 Z project. I started it in 2012! You are making me look bad! I gotta get back to work on it this week!
Buddy

[NorCam]

Awesome progress Graeme! I was just looking through progress photos of my 70 Z project. I started it in 2012! You are making me look bad! I gotta get back to work on it this week!
Buddy

Pidder padder Buddy! Why put off to this week what you can start on today?

Life is too short my friend. :cool2:

[rlw68]

Graeme, its been four days without an update. We need a fix !

My 302 on the dyno. Trying to keep up with ya :burnout:

180055

[NorCam]

Graeme, its been four days without an update. We need a fix !

My 302 on the dyno. Trying to keep up with ya :burnout:


That's very cool Rob. I'm excited to see that and hope it was lots of fun? :cool2:

I was out to see the car yesterday and we agreed to leave it a few more days and do some more fitting of the bumper, another round of polishing, and some minor detailing. It won't be long now.

https://i.ibb.co/4JdbzD6/IMG-4119.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wKvLJsQ/IMG-4120.jpg

[NorCam]

A couple more pictures of the car from today. The grill and bumper will likely need a little more tweaking to be right for me but that's an easy fix. The rear spoiler in the shot below wasn't bolted down completely and has since been tightened down and is nicely aligned. It's come a long way in a couple of months.

https://i.ibb.co/kKVvpbr/IMG-4221.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hsJ1WJX/IMG-4220.jpg

[NorCam]

OK. Body & Paint is done and I was out to pick up the car today. We put a coat of Wizards shine master on it before putting it in the trailer, and it didn't take me long to change the wheels out once I got it home. Now the fun starts...Day 2 Style!

https://i.ibb.co/VmwC9fM/IMG-4256.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NthFL86/IMG-4261.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tB9BVBV/IMG-4255.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/M7yVVnN/IMG-4282.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QKqQhgG/IMG-4288.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WKk3fFL/IMG-4293.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/V9xPhJD/IMG-4295.jpg

[chevyman0429]

Daaaaaaaam looks Killer!

[cruiserofland]

Starting to look properly badass Graeme :beers:

[Zedder]

Looks awesome Graeme!

[big gear head]

Sweeet! You'll be driving this in no time.

[NorCam]

Sweeet! You'll be driving this in no time.

LOL...I'm in the shop pretending I'm driving it right now. Camshaft idling an all. :eek2:

[SuperNovaSS]

Sexy with a capital S!

Nice work by all,

Jason

[R68GTO]

Good Lord thats beautiful!:worship:

[1969L89]

Very very nice! Can't wait to see the finished product.

[TimG]

I love the wheels, the stance, and the traction bars........

[napa68]

As usual Graeme...........

SPECTACULAR!!!!!

[scuncio]

Looks tough with those wheels. Nice work.

[chevyman0429]

Too cool not to share!

[NorCam]

Adding to the restoration pics and the storyline of the undersides, I had Ron apply some overspray and satin black paint to the primer sealed underbody. While much of the rear section and tunnel area is prominently sealed in grey primer, the lower floorboards were painted black with the heaviest emphasis being up near the toeboards before painting the satin black firewall.

He then painted the lower rockers and rear wheel openings in yellow without being overly protective of getting any overspray onto the floor edges or the areas beyond the targeted pattern in an attempt to mimic what the factory did. Yellow overspray can now be seen where typically found on the factory painted cars including some overspray of the black sound deadener applied to the wheel well areas. I'm fairly happy with the end results and didn't want to over restore the car or get too carried away with overspray.

https://i.ibb.co/bW5P1m3/IMG-4298.jpg
Yellow overspray seen on the lower floors here. The label still needs to be removed from the added subframe connectors and they need some welding at the rears.

https://i.ibb.co/ZJRL5Tr/IMG-4299.jpg
Restored original 12 bolt rear with Cal Custom Cover and vintage Lakewood Trac Bars (Decal was a fun touch to be added)

https://i.ibb.co/MsVfZ7D/IMG-4301.jpg
Here you can see the yellow overspray in the tunnel area from the outer frame rails being sprayed.

https://i.ibb.co/Csnmxxm/IMG-4300.jpg
The same overspray patterns are found on both sides of the rear tunnel.

https://i.ibb.co/2WqtB8Y/IMG-4302.jpg
Lots of overspray under the tank mounting areas and on the leading edges of the lower trunk pan. Fuel lines were added after the fact.

https://i.ibb.co/xG0kPXL/IMG-4307.jpg
Here you can see yellow overspray and some sound deadener residue over the black on the rear of the floor pans. (non-deliberate effect)

https://i.ibb.co/f8CffnH/IMG-4311.jpg
The transmission tunnel is seen with exposed primer between the lower floor pans. The tunnel hole was torch cut into the new floor and rivnuts added.

https://i.ibb.co/6XSqTNS/IMG-4313.jpg
Here are the lower firewall sections looking back where most of the central area is satin black (except in the tunnel area).

[SPEEDYB]

Toms Differentials built my 12 posi for my V8 vega in 1977,
he was a big angry guy with a mean pit bull!
I raced w/that posi for over 20 years in different cars, bullet proof,
I remember that the rebuilt 4 series carrier, henrys axles & olds ends
cost $700, a huge hit back than.

[big gear head]

Tom was one of my suppliers when I had my rear end business. He knew more about a 12 bolt than GM, but he was kind of hard to deal with. Whenever I called to order parts I hoped that someone else would answer the phone. His daughter is trying to run the business now and seems to be keeping it going. Tom's has parts that nobody else has.

[chevyandpontiac]

Looks fantastic, the wheels really go awesome with the paint

[NorCam]

Freddie knew I was in need of some good quality bearings and an install kit and he was the one that suggested Tom's to me. The girls are running the business there today and appear to be doing a fine job of things. I believe it was Tom's granddaughter that was manning the phones and got me squared away. Really good service and even the young one was quite knowledgeable. They had exactly what I needed and they shipped it out the same day.

I highly recommend them if you're looking for made in the USA shims and bearings.

[NorCam]

I was out hanging some emblems and badging on the car last night and thought I'd better get some engine bay shots now that it's home and everything has been cleaned up. Aside from my powder coater getting the wrong color on the fender support bars (gloss black rather than satin) I would say it's looking pretty good under the hood. Once the wiring and front lighting is completed, I'll plumb the brake lines, add the pedal carrier, the tilt column, and the restored booster with the master cylinder.


https://i.ibb.co/sVq4T0Q/IMG-4328.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kHwXr7b/IMG-4334.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/RDKg69y/IMG-4336.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/q7rQ9fQ/IMG-4337.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hCXrmBL/IMG-4338.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fFVDJGy/IMG-4339.jpg

[mr.4speed]

looks great!

[TimG]

That car is going to be a blast.

[NorCam]

Just recently I was trying to think of what else I could add to the front of the car to make it a day-2 time capsule for years to come, and there it was in the sYc classifieds. A Baldwin style Stinger Hood that Jason Booth had squirreled away in his stash. Well...we were quick to make a deal but what made it even better was that a nearby friend and Day 2 dude Russell Rosales (mr.4speed) had also made something very unique available for this build. A really nice pair of 8" Cragar's mounted up with a wicked set of M&H Race Masters that I had been drooling over for some time.

Making it another step better, Russell is now making those parts come together as we work on getting a ride for the parts to come up to Canada. Can't say how that is going to happen (on the hush)...but it looks like it's quickly drawing together. More when the parts are united with the car, but a big shout out to Russell and Jason who are both completely awesome to work with and have each gone the extra mile and then some.

True car dudes who help to make this hobby so special!!!:worship::worship::worship:

https://i.ibb.co/tYQRsC3/MH-Racemaster-Wheels.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/zsFbJ0K/IMG-6697.jpg

[COPO]

The Stinger hood and the new wheels will look killer. I continue to be amazed how quickly and with such quality this restoration has come together.

[NorCam]

Yeah...me too actually.

Tearing it down quickly and getting it out for blasting helped to spearhead things, but the big push was from Ron who did the body & paint in a very short period of time. Now that it's home though is a different story. I've been busy squirreling away the needed parts and restoring a lot of them in my shop while the bodywork was going on. I've already started by putting more trim on the car in the past 24 hours than my green Z saw in 3 years of it sitting here after it was painted. Today I'll hang the rear bumper, install the front lighting buckets and the original T3 lamps.

I should mention that starting today, there will be 2 of us working full time on the assembly for the month of December. With that, it should start to take shape really fast. As usual, I'll be telling the story with lots of pictures so stay tuned as we work away at the assembly.

https://i.ibb.co/WDbkfLF/IMG-4320.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/cNtdGRs/IMG-4364.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5TGz493/IMG-4362.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rs1qbzj/IMG-4357.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BqkH17z/IMG-4353.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/khGQ145/IMG-4355.jpg

[X66 714]

Looks real good Graeme...Joe

[Chuck_Burg]

Looks great! I'm also amazed with your progress. Stoked you picked up Jason's Stinger Hood. Awesome to have two hoods for the car!

[NorCam]

In the past few days, I've had lots of time to go over the front end sheet metal and I'm not completely happy with the overall alignment or the fender to door gaps. In saying that, Keith and I will spend some time tweaking the gaps to see if we can make things a touch better upfront. After planning those changes, we set out to get the rear bumper installed and had it on and off a couple of times while chasing a 1/8" of overhang until we got it perfect. I have to say that Anthony at Alberta Plating did a phenomenal job plating the original bumper as it was expertly chromed inside and out.

Next, I unboxed a pair of rear guards I had thought were NOS because they were in an old carton? Once I pulled them out and tried fitting them I quickly realized those were a set of repro's that I had thrown into those boxes 4/5 years ago when I found a NOS set for use on the green car. Needless to say, these will be coming off when I come across another set of GM guards. If anybody has a nice set of NOS rear-guards, send me a message would ya? Here are a few shots of today's work including some decals from Don Lightfoot, a NOS trunk seal I got from Leo Pepino, and the bumper after it was fit back onto the car.

https://i.ibb.co/KrTPjXN/IMG-4389.jpg
Must have gone around and over under the car 50 times today. Where does the time go?

https://i.ibb.co/nks9gWD/IMG-4381.jpg
Test fitting the NOS latex weatherstripping I picked up from another sYc member. What a difference this stuff makes in closing!

https://i.ibb.co/yVGCThC/IMG-4398.jpg
All of the bumper brackets were blasted and powder coated. All new hardware was used.

https://i.ibb.co/s9hLb0J/IMG-4399.jpg
Triple chrome plated by our local plating guy at Alberta Plating. I think I'll take the door handles in now. (lol)

https://i.ibb.co/tpkG5Th/IMG-4403.jpg
Both sides are nice and even after a couple of rounds of fitting this original bumper.

https://i.ibb.co/xmvymyb/IMG-4402.jpg
The plating is just killer and now I will have to re-chrome the door handles and the mirrors as this makes nice originals look bad.

https://i.ibb.co/HKFHbZv/IMG-4404.jpg
The rear end is looking good and I did what I could to fit the repro guards, but they will change out when I find another NOS set.

https://i.ibb.co/cwPgxBN/IMG-4384.jpg
And the traditional trunk decals as sourced from Don Lightfoot. I took all of 10 seconds to place these without any concern. (lol)

[Crush]

That car looks fast sitting still!

[Zedder]

How can you not love a freshly restored car!

[napa68]

Hell, you are going to have time to build a car for your boy before summer!

[NorCam]

Hell, you are going to have time to build a car for your boy before summer!

When I'm done with this one...I'm taking a year off. :burnout:

[X66 714]

It's a disease....I doubt it...Joe

[cruiserofland]

Major chrome envy over here - looking spectacular!

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

I see he never did paint those truck lid bolts body color... It will look a lot better with those painted!!

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Career change???

You should do this full time!!

Ryan W31

[NorCam]

I see he never did paint those truck lid bolts body color... It will look a lot better with those painted!!


Yeah, he got the trunk latch keeper and the 2 bolts for the keeper but forgot about the hinge bolts. We agreed that we'd do another set and swap them out later. Lot's of time for that to happen.

[NorCam]

Career change???

You should do this full time!!

Ryan W31

I'd starve Ryan. There's no money to be made in this kind of stuff. :dunno:

[Andy]

Wow, excellent work on your Z! I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing the progress on it! Thank you for sharing.

[NorCam]

Wow, excellent work on your Z! I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing the progress on it! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for your reply Andy. :burnout:

Happy to be sharing the project and bringing all y'all some car updates and pictures every couple of days or so. More on the plate for today but also chasing a fitment gremlin with the front headlamp bezels today.

Why is it we can put together a car from scratch yet have an issue that eats hours with something as trivial as fitting a plastic headlamp ring? :thumbsdown:

[carnut4life]

Wow, that car is going to be stunning, can't wait to see it with the stinger hood installed! I too an amazed at the speed and quality of your work Graeme. We got our 4 speed 81 Z28 home from Canada about the same time your Z28 was delivered from the States and just got the NOS silver vinyl material for our Z from SMS yesterday. You'll have your car done before Legendary has my seat covers and door panels ready, very impressive.

[NorCam]

Yup...it's going kinda fast, isn't it? Brake lines and fuel lines were finished up today and now we're getting some interior parts ready for the headliner to go in next week. Still, lots to do but hoping to have it ready to roll out in Mar/Apr as soon as the snow melts and shake it down really well.

Hoping there's a MCACN show next year as I'd love to bring it down. I have plenty of leftover fabric from the seats if Kandy is available to model the yellow houndstooth in Chicago.

Do you have your son involved in the rebuild of the Z/28.

[carnut4life]

I hope you can bring it down to MCACN next year too, we've been every year since 2012 and have every intention of being there in 2021. I'm sure Kandy would rock a yellow houndstooth skirt for you if you brought one down, she loves to get dressed up.

We haven't done much to the 4 speed Z28 yet, I'm in the process of rebuilding the computer harness for my Mom's 81 Z28 so I can get the original carb, distributor and smog system back on it. He goes the junkyard with me to get parts and we've managed to get a dash, a AM/FM cassette and a bunch of other small parts for it at a yard about 10 miles from my house. Still looking for someone to paint it but we've got it narrowed down to two. I've got an older guy like Ron I want to do it but he's got 7 other cars he's working on so I'm not sure he'll be able to get to it next winter so my son and I will have time to finish it before he graduates high school. Unfortunately for me, I'm about 5 times slower than you are Graeme.

[NorCam]

In some other news this week, Russell Rosales was kind enough to drive over to Jason's place on the west coast and picked up the fiberglass stinger hood that was purchased last week. He then hauled it back to his place and snapped a few pictures of it sitting up behind his 70 Camaro which was really cool. While some of this was going on, I was quietly working to find a ride for the parts to come up to Canada in the midst of Covid. Needless to say, Russell brought the parts together to make things more accessible for shipping, and man did that ever come together with perfect timing. The hood was picked up and brought to his place last night, and by this morning our phones were buzzing with messages from the shipper who was trying to route a driver into the area to pick up the parts and get them onto a trailer bound for Canada.

Russell then headed home mid-morning to grab the hood and the wheels before delivering them to a convenient loading location where they were put into a trailer for the next leg heading north. With all that he has done to help me out with these parts and the very generous deliveries, all I can say is that Russell Rosales (Mr.4Speed) is just an amazing dude! A genuine person and a real hobbyist who has gone to great lengths to help out a fellow car guy. From what I have come to learn, it's not the first time he has stepped up to help someone out like this, and I am sure it won't be his last. I feel I have made a new friend in California, and hope to return the favor someday.

Thank you, Russell. You rock my friend! :youguysrock:

https://i.ibb.co/NFXpHY6/Hood1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2sWt4b1/Hood3.jpg

[Postsedan]

As I have said many times....the cars are just cars....but it's the great friendships that are created in this hobby and the generous acts of kindness are Priceless!

Kudos to Russell :)

Dan

[chevyandpontiac]

No doubt, Russell is a car guy that loves the hobby and bleeds 10W40. He is a great friend.

[SuperNovaSS]

Russell is top notch!

Jason

[NorCam]

As are you as well Jason. Great to work with and also very accomodating on this special little project. Thank you for everything with the deal on the hood and making everything available as you did.

You are a class act in every way! :burnout:

[NorCam]

Today we are back to work on the car with some detailing and prep of some parts like the pillar moldings, wind lace pinch molds, original visors, and laying out the headliner so that the creases are eased out on the fabric. Once that's installed next week, the window channels will be going in with the latex seals, and then the door hardware and glass can go in. Here are some pics of the hard lines which were installed on the fuel and brake lines yesterday. The fuel tank will also go in this morning and I will now decide on the length of some custom rear shackles we are making to raise up the arse end.

https://i.ibb.co/31SWJjt/IMG-4421.jpg
Brake lines being run along the front subframe.

https://i.ibb.co/df6P65q/IMG-4420.jpg
Restored Kelsey Hayes proportioning valve dated 038

https://i.ibb.co/ggFmgnw/IMG-4427.jpg
Fuel lines secured to the passenger side subframe. Drain plugs were a personal choice of being painted black when glued in.

https://i.ibb.co/zR8BZSS/IMG-4428.jpg
The repro floors have these seat belt anchors angled wrong. They now interfere with the brake line bracket

https://i.ibb.co/3CMQZ9L/IMG-4430.jpg
Front brake lines and fuel lines are now completed.

https://i.ibb.co/j5WbytG/IMG-4432.jpg
New brake hoses are secured to the control arms with restored original hardware.

https://i.ibb.co/BcG7pd2/IMG-4439.jpg
New radio ground straps were also installed up front. New body mounts can also be seen here.

https://i.ibb.co/7XFVNRX/IMG-4429.jpg
Here are the rear brake lines along the rear frame rail. Subframe connectors will soon be welded in with plugs.

https://i.ibb.co/JcRV0br/IMG-4435.jpg
These are the custom hanger bracket being made to extend the ride height. The 5" lengths will now be fabbed and powder coated.

https://i.ibb.co/4dVMspX/IMG-4437.jpg
And the rear hangers were painted before a new tank goes in. I chose detail gray for color over the standard black.

[napa68]

Z/28 porn..............:)

[R68GTO]

Looks great! Make sure you bend that rear brake line away from the seat belt hole. Could be camera angle but don't want your seat belt bolt to wear a hole in your brake line

[Xplantdad]

Looks great Graeme! Kudos to Russell and Jason :) :youguysrock:

[Lynn]

"...all I can say is that Russell Rosales (Mr.4Speed) is just an amazing dude! A genuine person and a real hobbyist who has gone to great lengths to help out a fellow car guy."

Well done gents. I have been on both ends of similar transactions. Coincidentally, I was on the receiving end on the twin to this hood. Mine is identical, although a bit more rough than this one. Found a smoking hot deal on it in the Chicago area. A fellow named Rob who goes by satz28 over on camaros.net picked it up for me, and kept it in his garage for a couple of months. I retrieved it from him after attending the 2016 MCACN. I didn't even have to pay for shipping that way. Come to think of it, that is when I delivered a box of parts from Texas to Ryan for his Cutlass S W31 project, and got to meet him and his son.

Is this a great site for a great hobby or what?

[Lynn]

The repro floors have these seat belt anchors angled wrong. They now interfere with the brake line bracket

Well that sucks. Seems like they can't make ANYTHING repop that is 100 percent correct.

I would just cut the end off the seat belt bolt. It adds no holding power anyway.

[NorCam]

For those of you with the ET or Cal Custom diff covers...what are you guys using to hold the rubber brake hose fitting atop the diff cover. I connected the hard lines and installed the soft line, but there is no way the typical bracket that bolts to the housing cover will align with the brass end of the soft line?

Here is some of the stuff we did today including cleaning of the sun visors, kick panels, upper pinch weld moldings, cowl ducting, and more. Also installed the rear fuel tank, started on the wiring and installed the rear brakes on the diff c/w hard lines.

https://i.ibb.co/kq88x1r/IMG-4497.jpg
Visors and headliner moldings turned out awesome!

https://i.ibb.co/XphHc2F/IMG-4463.jpg
The new fuel tank got some original insulators and then went into the car.

https://i.ibb.co/YcngQzJ/IMG-4490.jpg
Next up we installed the hard lines on the rear axles

https://i.ibb.co/RCnLJCB/IMG-4492.jpg
They fit great but the soft lines brass fitting will not reach the bracket from the diff cover.

https://i.ibb.co/JQNNQFc/IMG-4491.jpg
Right side hard lines fit great too.

https://i.ibb.co/B31Wr9F/IMG-4493.jpg
The issue is with the bracket that bolts to the upper left cover bolt. It won't align with the brass splitter block.

https://i.ibb.co/kmbN79R/IMG-4486.jpg
Finally, I got around to the brakes and e-brake cables on the diff.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

"...all I can say is that Russell Rosales (Mr.4Speed) is just an amazing dude! A genuine person and a real hobbyist who has gone to great lengths to help out a fellow car guy."

Well done gents. I have been on both ends of similar transactions. Coincidentally, I was on the receiving end on the twin to this hood. Mine is identical, although a bit more rough than this one. Found a smoking hot deal on it in the Chicago area. A fellow named Rob who goes by satz28 over on camaros.net picked it up for me, and kept it in his garage for a couple of months. I retrieved it from him after attending the 2017 MCACN. I didn't even have to pay for shipping that way. Come to think of it, that is when I delivered a box of parts from Texas to Ryan for his Cutlass S W31 project, and got to meet him and his son.

Is this a great site for a great hobby or what?

You said it Lynn!!

Ryan W31

[big gear head]

I know that you have had a lot of these cars, and you probably ran them hard at times. It's common for the Camaro and Nova rear ends to rip the spring perches off of the housing. Many people use 2 U bolts on each side instead of the T bolts to help support the spring perches. I've had to repair several Camaro housings where the axle tubes were ripped or the perches were torn. I don't know how hard you intend to drive this, but you might consider this. I know that the brake lines have to be modified to get the other U bolts in place, but brake lines are easier to replace than to fix a damaged axle tube. I can see marks on the axle tubes where this rear end has had the extra U bolts installed in the past.

[NorCam]

Thanks, Freddie.

What you are seeing here for mounting hardware is only temporary. The perches have additional welds on them now and the U-bolts and I-bolts will all be replaced when the car is loaded up with some weight and the Lakewood J-Bolts go onto the traction bars. Maybe when I route the hard lines over the new hardware, I can stretch them out far enough to get that brass block where it needs to be with the holding bracket. That may happen sooner than later. :-)

[NorCam]

OK, the J-bolts hardware is now installed and the rear brake lines have been massaged into a spot where I could get the brackets onto the cover. Not quite factory looking but works fine for the day 2 end of things. Some of you may remember me picking up some Air Lift traction bags back in the summer when they popped up in the classifieds. Well, I broke them out last night and after a little concern about how to get them mounted up, I pulled out the pieces and got it figured out. Let's just say the instructions were more than a little vague, but then again this was 50+ years ago when these were the ticket.

Here are a couple of pics as I got the first side figured out and installed the bag using the offset brackets. Once the bags are inflated, these things grow right into place and it's easy to see how they apply the right amount of preload to the rear springs. I'll follow up with a video in the coming days, but these are freakin cool now that I can see how they work.

https://i.ibb.co/CnwPjx5/IMG-4530.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kc11vTT/IMG-4529.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BgvcNq0/IMG-4528.jpg

[rszmjt]

Graeme, It looks like you Lakewood bars have the extra set of holes at the rear that are outside of the spring perch. If you want extra spring perch clamping it is possible to use 2 U bolts each side and put the J bolt in the outer hole ( if memory serves me correctly )

[NorCam]

I tried that again today Mike. Those outer holes are aligned right on the edge of the spring perch and put the J-Bolt out of vertical alignment. When I did try them again today, I put the legs into the outer holes and the fronts into the stirrups but as you tighten the nuts the upper hoop becomes cocked at a slight angle over the diff and the angle of the fronts becomes more pronounced where it goes through the stirrup. It puts the nuts at the front into a slight bind although it's tough to see if the pictures below.

I tried this on the Nova a couple of years ago and had the same issue, so I relented to installing just the J-bolts as so many other people have done over the years. See the pictures of the driver's side below as I attempted it earlier today. Became another no-go and I figured those J-bolts had to be plenty strong enough for what this car will be putting out? Would they not?

https://i.ibb.co/bQYjZZ5/Nova.jpg
Here's the little day 2 Nova before I changed out the u-bolts due to poor angles.

https://i.ibb.co/r4TX1ct/IMG-4564.jpg
The holes are so close to the inside hoop that they align at an angle as they route up over the housing?

https://i.ibb.co/YbJc8wV/IMG-4562.jpg
You can see the angle more with this shot. Messes with my OCD (LOL)

https://i.ibb.co/cw4bfkV/front-bolts.jpg
Here you can see the angle of the nut. The more you tighten it the worse it gets. Even with a washer it goes to bind on one edge?

If I recall correctly, I tightened the Nova down to proper torque on the J-bolts and those front bolts started to bend beyond the stirrups. Anyone else had any level of success trying to run u-bolts and j-bolts on trac bars. I always end up seeing people use just the j-bolts?

[rszmjt]

Maybe you could re bend or over break the front stirrup at the bend area so it helps with the J bolt nut alignment? , and maybe elongate/tweak the outer hole too to keep the j bolt vertical?
Problem with using just the J bolts on the diff housing is the clamping force is not as great as U bolts because the front stirrup is a pivotable/movable part. I think the idea of the J bolts is to be able to preload 1 spring more if the car goes crooked on launch.

[NorCam]

That makes a lot of sense Mike. I have to go see Mel next week as he's cutting the rear shackles for me on his water table. He'd be able to overbend the tops of the stirrups and correct the angle to match the J-bolts, and that might help the alignment over the diff as well. I looked at the holes earlier today and there's a bit of room for the holes to move outwards a smidge.

Those ideas would help the J-bolts fit better :worship:

Thanks for the suggestions, Mike.

[NorCam]

Here's a little video of yesterday's installation and some historic Air Lift photos. I forgot how long it takes to put these videos together as I haven't done it in a while. Enjoy!

iYTUs7JsGYs

[NorCam]

So cool to see that the Eliminator II car had a GMC M-5000 truck that must have been morphed into a panel wagon by GM as it looks 100% factory. It can be seen next to Schartman's funny car at the 4:20 mark of the video.

That's must have been a screaming tow vehicle with its V12 702ci gas-powered engine. My uncle had an M-7000 back on the farm that we used to run around in in the '70s. A 10-speed grain truck and that thing would whine out to no end.

https://www.pinterest.ca/williampmundt/1960-1966-gmc-b-model-trucks/

[SuperNovaSS]

Super cool! Thanks for taking the time to make the video and post as always.


Jason

[NorCam]

The headliner is now installed complete with pinch weld moldings, sun visors, rearview mirror, and new dome light. Next up will be the window channels and then the side glass can go into the car.

https://i.ibb.co/PY87q35/Headliner-1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GdYqzcv/Headliner-2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MNtGXHM/Headliner-4.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dpTwbKR/Headliner-5.jpg

[big gear head]

Me and my brother put the headliner in my dad's '65 Nova a few weeks ago. I don't want to do that again.

[NorCam]

lmao :haha:

I've always wanted to say I've done my own but have been a helper to (3) of them being installed and know when I should leave something to the pros (I resign to being the helper). I mean I can pull the fabric taught and all that, but it's the glue. Yeah the glue. I'd have that all over the cloth by the time I was finished because every time I work with the stuff, my hands are always covered with it when I'm done.

Nope...I always have an experienced guy come in to do the headliner. :laugh:

[NorCam]

Lot's to do here still, but the door panels finally arrived from Al Knoch. Now I can finish installing the stainless trim and get these ready to mount up for a later date. Also cleaned and painted the lower kick panels and also repainted the original wiper transmission.

https://i.ibb.co/PwSrVfg/IMG-4653.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gjs3GMT/IMG-4649.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GsH9F8f/IMG-4650.jpg

[whitetop]

I think your Lakewoods are Mopar A body applications.

I'm fairly certain they have the funky shock mount sticking up, unless you added that tab for some reason.
The Mopar A body looked similar to GM but had a narrower pad.

[NorCam]

I think your Lakewoods are Mopar A body applications.

I'm fairly certain they have the funky shock mount sticking up, unless you added that tab for some reason.
The Mopar A body looked similar to GM but had a narrower pad.

Nope...not Mopar. They are GM bars and pads with correct shock mount tabs for 69 Camaro. In fact, they were found on a Copo car where someone had added the extra tabs to reinforce the lower shock mounts. Those were cut off yesterday and today we're welding extension tabs onto the stock positions to raise the mount position on the lower shocks. Then I have to clean them up and repaint them before they go back on.

[GMC_Typhoon]

Nope...not Mopar. They are GM bars and pads with correct shock mount tabs for 69 Camaro. In fact, they were found on a Copo car where someone had added the extra tabs to reinforce the lower shock mounts. Those were cut off yesterday and today we're welding extension tabs onto the stock positions to raise the mount position on the lower shocks. Then I have to clean them up and repaint them before they go back on.
I love everything about this car. It is looking great.

[NorCam]

The bars are now welded up and ground down where the alterations have been made. They will now accommodate longer shock travel, extended shackles, airbags, and the required height of the N50s to be tucked under a freshly painted pair of NOS quarters. All is right now, and this afternoon I'll sand these down, paint them yellow and mount them back under the car. The other plates pictured below are a set of 4" and 5" high strength shackles that will fit the back of the car. I might have a gusset welded between them to stabilize them further after I choose which set to use. :headbang:

https://i.ibb.co/0M0vTLK/IMG-4659.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MMFZmRC/IMG-4660.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/8mPsQvY/IMG-4661.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f868tPK/IMG-4655.jpg

[1967Z28]

There were Al Knoch deluxe door panels on my '68 Z when I got it and they were made too long so they hung up when you tried to open and close the doors. I hope you got a better set. I went and found some good originals in 714 black but nice '69s in yellow would be a near impossible find.

[NorCam]

I didn't know you could restore deluxe original door boards until Joe told me that was an option with Al Knoch. I had already thrown out an old set by that point too. I tried to get original boards from them after the fact but they said they didn't have any cores to use. On a good note, I have bought from them before and had good luck with the panels fitting. If they don't, I have some good fitters around here who can always trim them where needed.

[NorCam]

OK, the painting is done but now they need to dry overnight. My buddy didn't have time to bend the stirrups right now so a second set will be done later. Hardware is ready to go and so are the rear shackles. Once I have my coffee in the AM that is.

https://i.ibb.co/hMF8y9q/IMG-4666.jpg

[whitetop]

Nope...not Mopar.

They also could have been Lakewood 55-57 Chevy which used a narrower base and look near identical to the camaro. Just because they came off a Camaro does not mean they were the right application to begin with.
I have sold probably sold 50 sets of Lakewoods Camaro and the j bolts were never squeezed in at an angle. The j bolt hole being a 1/8 from the edge is also another quandry which makes me believe these were 55-57 Chevy. The Camaro/Nova spring pads were very wide on the Lakewood bars see attached pic.

They also could have been the Street bars that did not come with j bolts and someone weled on the little triangles underneath.

Bars look nice though.

[NorCam]

Some clues that they are original Camaro bars. The inboard holes match my original stock multi-leaf lower shock mount plates to perfection. The outer holes are aligned just outside of the original multi-leaf hanger brackets, and they have shock mount tabs for staggered shock pattern. I'm also pretty sure Tri five-leaf spring pads are narrower than Camaro also. I've had several sets of these particular bars in the last few years on 3 different Camaro's and one original set on the 70 Nova and all were identical. And the lower angles do not appear to have been added???

If you mount the J bars into the outer holes outside of the hangers and then bring the front into the stirrups, you're bound to see an angle at the front of the J-bar bolts no matter what year they are from. It's impossible not to as it changes the angle when you use the outer holes and pull the fronts in by more than a 1/2".

In you want to assume they are tri-five bars that's ok with me. But I'd say nope. Notta. :wink:

[whitetop]

I also added they could be the Camaro street action bars that did not use J bolts and someone could have added the little triangle. Those used the narrower spring pad.

[rszmjt]

Interesting to note that Graeme’s bars have what appear to be factory slotted inner U bolt holes, 2 front to back & 2 side to side and the 1,s posted by whitetop do not? I’ve never seen the slotted holes before. Maybe a later issue from Lakewood?

Also whitetops have the rear spring small strap on the rear portion of bar behind housing.

Doesn’t really matter as long as you can make them work for you, they look nice.

[NorCam]

I did measure the distance from the inner holes for the u-bolts to the outer holes for the j-bolt and each of the j-bolt holes is 1.150" further outward. That's why there are such angles on the front legs of the j-bolts as they really turn in a lot to meet the eye holes on the front stirrups. I also tried mounting up an older set of original stirrups and they were tighter to fit and harder to align with the bolts than the NOS set I have here, so the NOS ones were used and they actually fit like a glove.

After welding extensions onto the Lakewood shock mount tabs, the new shock mounts move the eye upward by 2.5" and the shocks will now be well clear of the front legs of the j-bolt on the passenger side. When the car is positioned at the desired ride height for these tires, the rear shocks will be extended at 17" so there is plenty of room to extended or collapse within the shocks 13.14"-21.62" travel. As far as I am concerned, the bars are now finished and I am moving on to fit the rear brake lines as well as install the other Air Lift bag. It's gonna be sweet.

https://i.ibb.co/xsrfMgd/IMG-4670.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7JM4jx1/IMG-4672.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nnRSyzC/IMG-4688.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/9brmZnD/IMG-4690.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6NhkFY1/IMG-4687.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/48NnfLx/IMG-4689.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/9ZNNRJ1/IMG-4705.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NgR1p9w/IMG-4702.jpg

[R68GTO]

Thanks for posting these photos. I struggled to understand the J-bolt alignment thing and posted on the Day 2 page and got no responses. The inside holes on the TB line up much better with the stirrup, but then there's no place to mount the other u-bolt. I appreciate the detailed insight!

[chevyandpontiac]

Looks Fantastic.

[HawkX66]

I did measure the distance from the inner holes for the u-bolts to the outer holes for the j-bolt and each of the j-bolt holes is 1.150" further outward. That's why there are such angles on the front legs of the j-bolts as they really turn in a lot to meet the eye holes on the front stirrups. I also tried mounting up an older set of original stirrups and they were tighter to fit and harder to align with the bolts than the NOS set I have here, so the NOS ones were used and they actually fit like a glove.

https://i.ibb.co/nnRSyzC/IMG-4688.jpg


The bars came out pretty awesome. I've never seen them with the extra set of holes to add the J-bars in addition to both the u-bolts. Nice to be able to run both for strength. Is that just a different part number/style from Lakewood?
These are Grady's and what I normally have seen.

[rszmjt]

I’m pretty sure the 2nd generation of Lakewood bars which were rectangular tubing had the extra holes for the J bolts, it makes way more sense if you think about it, because if you ever broke a j bolt it could lead to disaster.
Grady’s bars are the original square tube design.

FWIW, I bought my first set of Lakewood bars about 72/73 and they were rectangle style, with the J bolt option.

The U bolts as well as the J bolts give you way superior clamping on the housing spring perches.

Glad it worked out for Graeme.

[NorCam]

Hello Dave,

Grady's are the earlier square tube bars (Traction Action - Competition Bars) that came out in the 1968/1969 period and are quite hard to come by...not to mention costly. Although wider in tube design, they were also shorter in overall length. They could also be found with the wider (tapered) base plate and the outer J-bolt holes but were often altered with a narrowed base for both tire clearance and the shedding of excess weight by serious drag racers. The pair I had (shown below) were shaved on one side. This design was also available with or without the rear tails in the late 60s.

https://i.ibb.co/ryyNFsZ/IMG-3597.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/w4yT0x1/IMG-3596.jpg

The style I have on this car is the second generation (Traction Action - Competition Bars) that started appearing in 1970 and beyond. They have rectangular tubes and are a bit longer than their predecessors measuring 33" overall from back to front. They also include the tapered 6" x 6" base plate with additional holes for the outer J-bolts. Most that I have seen from this period had the 6" tails and these were available with or without the rear straps to control the rebound. I think I have had 3 identical sets of these now and love this design although they are quite heavy.

https://i.ibb.co/pdxxPk4/IMG-3588.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/W5Sp4xp/IMG-3589.jpg

I have restored both versions of the Lakewood Traction Action bars but prefer the longer rectangular design myself. In saying what I have come to learn about these bars, there are many people here who know a lot more about this stuff than I do since I was born in the mid-60s and was still wiping my nose when many people were racing while using these bars. That being said, I have studied this stuff well and I'm still learning about period-correct hardware whenever or wherever I can. As I understand it, there were many variations of the bars available over the years, and recall from using these in the early 80s that the later bars excluded the rear tail sections.

Also mentioned earlier in this thread, there was also the street master series which if I recall had a narrowed base plate and no provisions for the J-bar hardware. Most of the trac bar designs are very similar and many can be altered to fit different cars with the same direct purpose. Traction Action!

https://i.ibb.co/61bM8C5/IMG-3576.jpg

[NorCam]

Oh...and if I am off on any of this stuff, perhaps someone else can chime in and share some more knowledge as Mike has done above. I am no professor on this stuff. I simply enjoy it and the period looks that came from using it.

Mike, I looked at some old pictures of the black bars I got from you a few years ago and they were identical to the ones I am using on this car and restored above.

[HawkX66]

Very cool! I agree that it's a much better design for strength reasons. Makes a lot of sense. My 69 is unfinished day 2 that I drive alot. It's in primer still. I didn't come across any real Lakewood, so I cheated. I painted a set of CE2101 bars. They work and give the look at least...
Thanks for the explanation. I'm loving your build.

[NorCam]

Those look good and I'm sure they work just fine. One word of caution if I may. You may want to consider trimming the tips on the J-Bolts. Depending on the length hanging down, those forward-facing legs can easily hang up on anything that goes under the car including speed bumps or road debris. I'd trim the legs back a bit for sure. Not too short though.

Have a Merry Christmas Dave!

[HawkX66]

Those look good and I'm sure they work just fine. One word of caution if I may. You may want to consider trimming the tips on the J-Bolts. Depending on the length hanging down, those forward-facing legs can easily hang up on anything that goes under the car including speed bumps or road debris. I'd trim the legs back a bit for sure. Not too short though.

Have a Merry Christmas Dave!
Absolutely. That was when I had just put them on before I adjusted them. I do still need to trim the bolts, but they don't hang near as low.
I had ridiculous wheel hop before I installed them. It completely eliminated it.

Merry Christmas!

[NorCam]

During a few days off, I managed to pick up a new Nut-Sert tool and installed some 5/16" riv-nuts into the frame rails to better mount the Air Lift bags. Both sides are now installed and I can now move onto some other projects while awaiting the rear shocks to come in. Time to install some longer front wheel studs and finish up the front calipers.

https://i.ibb.co/zhsc82s/IMG-4757.jpg
This will be the ideal ride height for the back and should give me the look I am wanting.

https://i.ibb.co/GF4sC7L/IMG-4746.jpg
The new tool received for Christmas.

https://i.ibb.co/hgHykrJ/IMG-4750.jpg
Riv-nuts installed for additional strength. These are 5/16"

https://i.ibb.co/7X6Qt0F/IMG-4754.jpg
Top brackets are now secured to the frame rails on each side.

https://i.ibb.co/LJxDVjq/IMG-4753.jpg
The passenger side is finished up.

https://i.ibb.co/s1CzQhg/IMG-4756.jpg
And so is the driver's side. These look pretty cool under there.

https://i.ibb.co/VtQBqWz/IMG-4755.jpg
And here is the offset mounting kit which moves the air valve to the inside of the springs.

[DW31S]

Graeme, there were long square bars, too. The set that were on the rear that was included in the package I sold to Mike were the longer style and had NOS hardware and shims. Not sure what he did with everything, but it was a killer set-up. I've been wondering about those air bags....you mentioned you might need/use air shocks to fine tune the ride height? My guess is that the air shocks would "trump" the bags if the body separation is due to higher pressure in the shocks than the bags. I remember you fabbing some different length shackles, and while I've never been a fan of longer than stock shackles, I think they would be more compatible with the bags if you intend to use the bags for traction devices. The only other option I can think of, where the bags could/would be used for preload would be re-arching or changing the rear leaf springs. If the bags are only along for the "cool factor", or if you plan to use THEM to adjust ride height, then my comments and thoughts are out the window! IIRC, the original intended use of the bags was for stability in situations as trailering or carrying heavy loads, but not for high level inflation for everyday use. I used them in an A-Body drag car back in the day and they worked like a champ, but we never inflated them for ride height, only to tune the launch. I seem to remember to left side was 7lbs., and the right was 14.
BTW, the car looks fantastic!!!

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Graeme, there were long square bars, too. The set that were on the rear that was included in the package I sold to Mike were the longer style and had NOS hardware and shims. Not sure what he did with everything, but it was a killer set-up. I've been wondering about those air bags....you mentioned you might need/use air shocks to fine tune the ride height? My guess is that the air shocks would "trump" the bags if the body separation is due to higher pressure in the shocks than the bags. I remember you fabbing some different length shackles, and while I've never been a fan of longer than stock shackles, I think they would be more compatible with the bags if you intend to use the bags for traction devices. The only other option I can think of, where the bags could/would be used for preload would be re-arching or changing the rear leaf springs. If the bags are only along for the "cool factor", or if you plan to use THEM to adjust ride height, then my comments and thoughts are out the window! IIRC, the original intended use of the bags was for stability in situations as trailering or carrying heavy loads, but not for high level inflation for everyday use. I used them in an A-Body drag car back in the day and they worked like a champ, but we never inflated them for ride height, only to tune the launch. I seem to remember to left side was 7lbs., and the right was 14.
BTW, the car looks fantastic!!!

I plan to make use of those air bags in future.

Safe and awaiting for time. :-)

Ryan W31

[NorCam]

Graeme, there were long square bars, too. The set that were on the rear that was included in the package I sold to Mike were the longer style and had NOS hardware and shims. Not sure what he did with everything, but it was a killer set-up. I've been wondering about those air bags....you mentioned you might need/use air shocks to fine tune the ride height? My guess is that the air shocks would "trump" the bags if the body separation is due to higher pressure in the shocks than the bags. I remember you fabbing some different length shackles, and while I've never been a fan of longer than stock shackles, I think they would be more compatible with the bags if you intend to use the bags for traction devices. The only other option I can think of, where the bags could/would be used for preload would be re-arching or changing the rear leaf springs. If the bags are only along for the "cool factor", or if you plan to use THEM to adjust ride height, then my comments and thoughts are out the window! IIRC, the original intended use of the bags was for stability in situations as trailering or carrying heavy loads, but not for high level inflation for everyday use. I used them in an A-Body drag car back in the day and they worked like a champ, but we never inflated them for ride height, only to tune the launch. I seem to remember to left side was 7lbs., and the right was 14.
BTW, the car looks fantastic!!!

Hello Dave...

I've seen some longer versions of the square bars but I think they are still an inch or two shorter than these bars at 33" in overall length? IIRC the square bars always seemed to be an inch further back of the front spring perches? Be curious to know what those measured in at forward and overall length? I do think Mike ended up selling those ones he had.

As for the airbags, I bought them more as a day II accessory and a period-correct bolt-on. Since I'm building it as a streetcar, they would seldom be used as a traction device although I presently have them set at 7 pounds and 12 pounds. I figured if I left them in there they'd have low pressure just to keep them expanded correctly. I was hoping I could use them to support some rear height and run a set of drag shocks but unless I pump them up higher they just don't lift the car enough to support these tires.

Whether or not I add the shackle extensions to the rear is yet to be seen. In either case, I may need air shocks just to get the right height to run the 50's but still have to play with that combination. The airbags may end up being removed with added ride height since it also creates too much strain on the coils and the upper mounts due to extension. Either that or I may fab some taller mounting brackets for the top mounts (easy to do).

If they do end up coming off, I will keep them for a time where I decide to drop the rear and run a smaller set of tires c/w drag shocks. They would work much better in that scenario and that's a very real possibility if I ever decide to take this down to the supercar reunion to play around at the track. Whatever route I end up choosing...it will all work itself out. :burnout:

[whitetop]

15x 8.5's? Looks great with N50's.




https://i.ibb.co/zhsc82s/IMG-4757.jpg
This will be the ideal ride height for the back and should give me the look I am wanting.

[NorCam]

15x 8.5's? Looks great with N50's.

Yes sir! :headbang:

You're spot on at 8.5" and I love N50's on these cars given the right stance.

[whitetop]

Yes sir! :headbang:

You're spot on at 8.5" and I love N50's on these cars given the right stance.


N50's look perfect with 8.50 rim. The new Goodyear bias ply L60-15 are narrower than original and the sidewall bulges out with 8.50 rim.

[NorCam]

Finally moved onto the glass and got started with things yesterday. After sorting out all the hardware and soaking some parts in evapo-rust, today I got the quarter glass finished up and got all of the door hardware and right side glass installed. Still need to make a few adjustments to the door glass tonight and then I can move onto the driver's side.


https://i.ibb.co/RY1F3HT/IMG-4780.jpg
First I cleaned the old window channels and set them in place with a new sealant strip and latex weatherstrips.

https://i.ibb.co/1fR63rH/IMG-4811.jpg
Next, I stripped the old hardware from the glass and cleaned it all up to reinstall with the new side glass.

https://i.ibb.co/G3WSMpK/IMG-4816.jpg
All of the run channels and regulators were cleaned and detailed months ago. This set is ready to install.

https://i.ibb.co/X3jrGT1/IMG-4819.jpg
Quarter glass is now installed and adjusted nicely.

https://i.ibb.co/7pVnDHZ/IMG-4820.jpg
With the remaining hardware installed I was ready to set the right side door glass.

https://i.ibb.co/yN8nxPL/IMG-4823.jpg
Door glass installed as well as the locking hardware and handles. Still need to make some adjustments on this side.

[big gear head]

Looks great. I hate messing with window regulators.

[ZLP955]

Good progress. What brand is the new glass (looks like Pilkington)? Any issues with fit?

[NorCam]

It's the glass that Auto City Classics sells although I believe it's an offshore product. They have it in clear, green tint or grey tint and I've used it a couple of times now. Fit's nice and they can date code any way you require it. This order was all dated XV with LOF markings.

[JRC99]

N50's look perfect with 8.50 rim. The new Goodyear bias ply L60-15 are narrower than original and the sidewall bulges out with 8.50 rim.

Sorry to hijack, but I'd assume the new ones are more comparable to a 255 than a 275?

We really need more L60 choices. All we've got are the Pro-Tracs, which are labelled with a metric size, the Goodyears, and I think M&H has one.

Honestly, I wish they'd re-release the Racing Profile in L60. N50s are sweet, I love them, but I think an L60 would look better on my specific Camaro personally, as it wouldn't be a drastic change in size from the 255/60/15, but a nice little increase.

[NorCam]

Looks great. I hate messing with window regulators.

Thanks Freddie,

And that makes two of us who don't enjoy adjusting windows or regulators. In doing the green car a couple of years ago, I learned a few tricks of the trade and they came in handy today. I went back out and played with the door glass for a bit tonight and got it dialed right in. I then went back and tweaked the quarter window and got both of them to fit like a glove. Also dropped some NOS window felts into place but I need to find my screw packs so I can screw in the ends in the morning. Time for some sleep.


https://i.ibb.co/2jPwrJg/IMG-4828.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5jLmsF6/IMG-4833.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Tv8j8DB/IMG-4834.jpg

[chevyandpontiac]

Everytime I see this car, I get excited!!!

[NorCam]

Everytime I see this car, I get excited!!!

LOL...me too actually. Adding something that helps change the look of the car really helps to keep me motivated. when major pieces like glass go in, it changes the whole look of the car and helps you see more light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm sure you're new build is going to be doing the same for you and I really like that new hood you just picked up. When is yours going into the body shop?

[chevyandpontiac]

LOL it is has been at the body shop since the day I bought it..... Now I just need Josh to get it inside of the body shop.

[NorCam]

Started on the driver's side yesterday but progress was a little slower due to a couple of small hiccups. Those were sorted last night and the quarter glass was finished up. This morning I'll drop the door glass in and this side will wrap up quickly. Once the glass is done we're going to pull the front clip as I think I can get it fitting slightly better.

That will also allow me more room to work with when dropping in the motor, transmission and those M/T styled headers. :worship:

https://i.ibb.co/fGM8LYs/IMG-4846.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/N94GDdS/IMG-4842.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/34L6vT6/IMG-4848.jpg

[TimG]

WOW, I really like that.

[Dave Rifkin]

This car is coming out amazing; is the previous owner following the build? Just curious if he likes seeing the car come back to life.

[NorCam]

This car is coming out amazing; is the previous owner following the build? Just curious if he likes seeing the car come back to life.

I believe Fred Lennert (previous owner to me) is following the build and looks in from time to time. I also sent a link to the original owner so he could follow along if he likes. I have been sending him the odd update and we have stayed in touch just as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps they will one day sign in here and add a few comments.

If they are viewing, they may perhaps like to know that I now have a line on a DZ 302 motor and M21 transmission for this car although it won't likely happen until sometime after Covid is behind us. That would allow me to put this car back to a factory 302 drive train at some point in the future.

More on that later as some time is required for this. :worship:

[whitetop]

Sorry to hijack, but I'd assume the new ones are more comparable to a 255 than a 275?



Yeah, the Goodyears and Coker Pro Tracs L60's are both smaller in diameter and not as wide as the originals. Pro Trac N50's are not as wide as the original either. I have an nos set and several used pairs with white letters. About an 1 1/4" wider than modern.

That being said the Goodyear L60's and N50's were also smaller than their contemporaries even back in the day.

[ZLP955]

Thanks for confirming glass supplier.
I’m adding a passenger side door mirror too (it’s a requirement down here for road use of LHD vehicles) and wondered if you located it further to the rear than the factory put the driver side, or same measurement?

[NorCam]

Sorry Tim, but I didn't install the right side mirror. It was on the car and showed up in pictures dating back to at least the '80s. Mirrors are both off right now so I just checked and it appears to be located 1" back from the left side with the leading hole drilled at 5-1/2" back from the front edge of the door,

[NorCam]

The glass installation went well on the driver's side today, and we then went ahead and blew apart the front end. This will allow me to better address the gaps on the doors and fenders and also allowed me to pull the heater box since I forgot to install the dreaded Y duct. We then tested the new blower fan, hooked up some restored heater controls and everything snapped right back into place before we packed it in on the day. I now have some business matters to deal with for year-end so we'll see you all again in 2021.

Happy new year folks!

https://i.ibb.co/MVL2m9P/IMG-4852.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dLcSjVZ/IMG-4895.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FX8wxfR/IMG-4900.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PgBfN4k/IMG-4912.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Wcx7LdN/IMG-4916.jpg

[ZLP955]

Happy New Year to you and all the regulars on this thread!

[NorCam]

I don't know what you folks did for new year's eve, but Covid made it one of the least active in years. Where we usually entertain, last night was chock-full of car movies which made for a laid back evening. Watched The California Kid, Aloha Bobby & Rose, and finished off with Dirty Mary Crazy Larry. Caught some Z's after that and did some snow clearing from my roof this morning as the Chinook winds are rolling in again and things are melting up here.

This afternoon is a continuation of some bench work as we got started with some clean-up of the instrumentation carrier, the gauges, and the pedals yesterday. Soon I'll be ready to install this re-coned speaker, the AM radio, and the rest of the hardware into the dash. I'll continue getting all of this ready today as it won't be long before it's being called for. Might also get the wiring harness into the car today. Happy new year's day everyone!

https://i.ibb.co/xXfRB9K/IMG-4931.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/61pN9Y7/IMG-4932.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wsRDrjC/IMG-4933.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VH2QxTn/IMG-4934.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/JdJ0XHJ/IMG-4936.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/x86rmH6/IMG-4935.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TbysRx1/IMG-4940.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VVG21FF/IMG-4937.jpg

[enio45]

excellent work - super nice fit and finish.....thanks for sharing the pics.....

[napa68]

Psssst.......Graeme!

What ya up to? 5 days and no posts. No bueno!

I know you're not on the Harley!

[NorCam]

Ahhh you know Tim. Just hanging out in my little shop...cleaning parts and drinking beer.

No seriously...been doing a lot of the boring stuff for under the dash. Like cleaning and detailing parts, rebuilt and installed the wiper system, restored a steering wheel, redid a tilt column, clear coated the pedal carriers, cleaned and painted the cowl frame, sorted out a bunch of wiring harnesses, installed the main dash harness, and got a spare non-tilt column painted and ready to pair together with a restored steering wheel that I want to sell, and also dry set the windshield so I could mark the lower tabs and redrill the holes for the stainless trim. Yup...been a little busy.

And so have you so I see? Setting up your new suspension while you wait for some snow? :no::no::no:

https://i.ibb.co/LRfC51R/IMG-4955.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQPnqtF/IMG-4944.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/svwf7QJ/IMG-4943.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wMfB1th/IMG-4969.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hCZhbVP/IMG-4974.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QcNtspm/IMG-4976.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vdTCFJw/IMG-4973.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FgJttKD/IMG-4971.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/84m7Mx1/IMG-4970.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MSDrnx3/IMG-4975.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/D75Y6bG/IMG-4978.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sgR1DqY/IMG-4967.jpg

[Xplantdad]

Wow Graeme! :biggthumpup:

[NorCam]

Trying to keep pace here Bruce and still hoping to have the car finished by March. I should finish off the wiring with the installation of the dash cluster, steering column, and pedals in the next week. From there I will bleed the brake lines and then I'll get the engine and transmission installed. It's all going pretty well here now.

And how are you guys doing Bruce. Everyone on the mend at your place?

[Xplantdad]

Hi Graeme,


yes thanks for asking-almost all better now.



The Camaro looks amazing! :worship: