Ahhhhh, that sounds nice...

As I learn more about the history of the car, another question for y'all: anyone know of Foreign & Domestic Auto Body in Libertyville, Illinois?

This car was restored there from around 2000-2010 (or possibly earlier), I believe by the owner of the body shop, who then unexpectedly passed away not long after finishing the car. I understand that he bought it to restore from the original owner, and since the car was sold new at Ferris Bros Chevrolet in Harvard I'm guessing the car spent those first thirty years in Illinois, then about ten years around Tucson and the last two years here in California.

Better fix the Amp Gauge, needle is jumping around. Glad you are enjoying your Z...

Yeah, I need to check if it’s a gauge problem or a true reading of alternator output.

Turns out this car has the seemingly hard-to-find factory-style non-finned rear brake drums. I’m thinking to save these and run parts counter finned replacements since I plan to keep putting miles on the car. Just about every time I turn a wrench I learn something new about these cars!

Interestingly the drums are different left and right. Left side is p/n 3841177, which I think is the OE number but I don’t see a date code. Right side is p/n 3993560 which might be the early ‘70s replacement part? Note that the star adjuster windows haven’t been knocked out. Fun stuff.

Also pulled a wheel trim ring to see the date code. Looks like August 4th so not original to the 2D car but still fun to have YH wheels.

Happy New Year, all!

Your are right, the drivers side drum 3841177 is correct. The pass side is a later model drum.

Date code on the 560 drum looks like Feb.23 of 73??

Aha! Yeah, looks like maybe a leading 8 actually on the 560 drum. Maybe during the resto the restoring owner could only source one of each. I don’t see any other markings on the 3841177 drum - maybe a replacement drum didn’t have a date stamping?

Did some research on Newspapers.com to learn about the history of the original delivery dealer for this car, Ferros Bros Chevrolet & Buick in Harvard, Il. Figured it might be of interest if any others have a car from dealer code 164, zone 61 :beers:

Ferris Bros went out of business in the late '70s, and the only car that comes up in an internet search of them is a yellow '70 LT1 'Vette that sold at Mecum Indy in 2017 so not sure how many performance cars came out of there. Still, fun stuff. Pretty cool they would just put the sales manager's phone number in the paper!

Also curious that the NCRS report erroneously has the dealer in Wisconsin... and this 02D car was, like many, built in early March, this one on the 6th.

The archaeology aspect of the hobby is pretty fun too ;)

Anyone from the area recognize the dealer?

"Good deals are made on Ferris Wheels!"

I decided to honor the history of the car a little bit and make up a Ferris Bros license plate frame. Since they’re from the Midwest I would bet they did dealer emblems at the time but being a California kid (and the concept being a bolt-on) I went for a frame, with the style influenced by so many classic California dealers.

The title blocks are 3D-printed in ABS plastic, then I hand-painted the letters, bonded the blocks to an old frame I had, and then clearcoated the blocks. I decided to leave the black print texture as it both mimicks the texture often found behind vintage license frame letters and showcases how this one was made. And then up close it’s clear that this isn’t original but a modern riff on a classic look.

Pretty happy with the result :)

Great job!!

----Very cool!.....Bill S

I flew out and looked at a January built Daytona Yellow 1970 LT1 vette which was sold new at Ferris Brothers.
Original paint and still had the original decal in the center of the tail lamp panel.

Very cool! That is indeed the car I had seen before. Fun to see that decal up close. I would love to learn the story of the original owner of mine but who knows if I will be able to track down the story. The restoring owner supposedly bought from the original owner in the 90s. Would be fun to know what happened to the original DZ and Muncie... maybe blown up drag racing somewhere in Illinois... :3gears:

FWIW it is reflective material with over printed Black back ground - with the border and lettering knocked out.

Not too difficult to reproduce if one wanted to... attach it to a sheet magnet and then put it on your Camaro.

At least they didn't drill the tail panel...

Thank you for the details. I think I got pretty close, now gotta figure out where to print...

And agreed, never was crazy about sheet metal screws for dealer badges so good for them to run stickers, even if likely most all of them are long gone by now. All it took was one survivor and now the logo can live again!

In these crazy times, sometimes you just have to put down the wrench, stop tinkering, and drive the damned thing.

In this man’s humble opinion, hugger orange and chambered exhaust is as good as it gets...

I’ve been working on some little projects with the car, and just finished changing up the battery topper. I stripped the red R59 details and repainted them yellow to be the correct Y55, and I found an original Delco Eye to replace the fake one. Cut the sight plastic to be flush, repainted the top, and removed the threads so it could pop right in.

Seems like Delco Energizer was unpainted in ‘68 but I’ve seen the text both painted (in a photo from Hot Rod Mag) and unpainted. Decided to paint the letters as it looks pretty sharp.

One more engine bay detail improved :beers:

Nice work!

67 battery caps
 

What color should the battery caps be on a 67 model ?

Richard

That's because Delco Batteries installed into vehicles when on the assembly line,Did not have the words DELCO ENERGIZER highlight painted,just their vent caps & eye were.
But Over the parts counter & in store sold Batteries did.

Nice work.

Aha! Makes sense, thank you :)

Looks good. I like the yellow added. Gives it better contrast IMO.

Finally got the car up in the air today to take a look. Seems like the folks who restored this car well over a decade ago for the most part did really nice work. I also loosened and retorqued all the front control arm bushing bolts with the car on the ground just in case that was why the front sits a bit high, but nope seems they were tightened correctly the first time.

It sure is fun to crawl around, continually cross-referencing various books and sites, as I learn more about the little details of ‘69 Zs as well as what my car has correct and not yet correct (and the various not-factory-correct stuff I will leave alone).

Always learning and still just getting started...

BV stamp - date seems about right for a vehicle production date of March 6th?

Beautiful Z28 Matt, great thread.

Thank you very much, Sam, and congrats again on yours! You may have noticed, a '69 Z in Hugger Orange with Deluxe Houndstooth is my all-time fav combo :grin:

Decided to go for it and finally complete the deluxe interior transformation started around 20 years ago on this car and so install woodgrain and grab handle in the glovebox area. Classic Industries had a killer Valentine's Day sale, and I know I'm a lucky SOB when my wife is excited for me that I ordered a big ole box of Camaro parts on February 14...

So far I've ported over the ash tray and cigarette lighter (slight rebending of the OER tabs to get the ash tray to seat) and the glovebox lock (bent paperclip to depress each of the pins to release the lock).

While I have the glovebox out I decided to finally investigate the radio. Looks like the car is indeed wired for radio power (confirmed 12V when key is ON) and there is a new-looking Custom Autosound 140W speaker bolted to the underside of the dash, wired with a factory-type connector. The antenna cable is also already routed to the radio area.

I have in a box what I understand to be the original radio, model no. 91BFP1 so a 1969 AM/FM mono unit, RPO U69. Delightfully it has both connectors on it, which I may have to use since the car's new harness looks to have an aftermarket radio power connector.

I pulled the existing Motorola AM radio from the car - not sure why it's in there and not the Delco, except maybe the restoring owner found out the Delco doesn't work? The Motorola speaker wires were tucked away into the body of the radio as was its power wire, so looks like the restoring owner never got around to wiring it up for the car (or didn't plan to). I was tempted to leave in the Motorola since, randomly, this car was sold new in Harvard, Il, the hometown of Motorola's founder, but I'd have to change the connectors to match the factory-style harness and the AM/FM Delco with slider is too cool not to try to get working.

The first three photos below are of the Delco unit and the rest are the Motorola. The Motorola speaker wires have a black in-line connector then bare ends.

Today is the one year anniversary of me flying down to SoCal to check out the car, so I had to get it out over lunch. I realized I usually park in the shade or see the car in the garage so it's rare to stare at that Hugger Orange in full sun... not a bad view...

Always a good day when I can drive the Camaro to work...

Beautiful car

Thank you :beers:

Been busy with work and life but finally finished some Camaro interior projects. Cleaned up the Delco AM/FM radio, checked the harness, and installed, but with 12V and a new speaker and antenna it doesn't yet work. At least it looks good! Until I can have a pro figure out what it needs fixed internally.

Also finally finished the woodgrain install on the passenger side with new grab handle, ashtray, and glovebox, all made by OER. Still going to tweak fitment a bit but it's pretty close, and man it just transforms the interior along with the radio woodgrain. Glad to have finally finished the deluxe interior transformation that the restoring owner started over twenty years ago. This combo in my mind is one of the great American interior designs of all time :beers:

Looks great Matt. Some deluxe seatbelts would really 'finish' off the interior. Whenever my wife asks when the car will be finished, I tell her that it will never be finished.

:rolleyes2:

Thanks Rob! Only took me four months to respond :wink: Work and life keep me busy but this month marks one year with the car!

Since my last post I've had a steady stream of little projects. The car came without much documentation from its restoration (~2000-2010), so in part I've been "baselining" the car bumper to bumper and documenting everything, correcting little bits as I go (and with regular reading of this forum, CRG, and TC, I learn more every day about the nut-and-bolt details of how an 02D RS Z would have rolled off the assembly line).
:youguysrock:

I'm eventually hoping to document more or less every nut and bolt, with a list of what's correct, what's not, and whether what's not correct will be replaced or left alone. Two examples: I plan to keep it desmogged and I don't mind leaving the shiny valve covers with drippers since it's a CE block. Biggest ticket item to fix in the engine bay: swap the repro booster & MC with the originals that I've got in a box and need to send out for restoration.

First fun project from this summer was to pull the diff cover to check the gears. As I suspected after counting driveshaft revolutions with the wheels up, sure enough this is a 4.56:1 gearset inside the original BV (4.10) housing :burnout: Looks like "Zoom" gears from the stamping "41 x 9 PHT 3093" (which I believe is Perfection Hy-Test). This Z was originally bought in Harvard, Il, and later restored in Chicago, so I wonder if the owner went with Zoom gears since they were local (Harvey, Il, at the time) or just because they're awesome :headbang:

Attachment 205218

Attachment 205219

Attachment 205220

Looks like the original "4-series" gear carrier, the heaviest-duty from GM which would have carried the original 4:10 set. Assembly stamp is A 23 J so Jan 23rd '69 - seems right for 02D?

Attachment 205221

I also added a posi lube tag to the diff fill plug, adding the period after "diff" to make the repro look more correct (a slight touch from a center drill to deboss then a drop of white paint). While under there I went for 2 qts of fresh Lucas 80W-90 for the posi with a new Fel-Pro gasket and 1.5 qts of fresh Sta-Lube 85W90 GL-4 for the M20.

Attachment 205224

Attachment 205222

Attachment 205223

Great to see you enjoying the car and the process the way that you are:biggthumpup:

Beautiful car!
Tim

....

Lee, I spoke to the folks at Lucas when I could not find anything definitive online about whether additive was required with this oil. They suggested over the phone that additive was not necessary with this formulation for use with mechanical limited-slips, and I have not had any chattering so far. That said, I don't have experience in this area so happy to hear recommendations.

It has been too long since I posted so time for an update! Since October it’s been a combo of enjoying the car around town, meeting great folks at cars & coffees, and working on a whole lot of projects, mostly in the engine bay. I’ll post the latest project first - I had the original 9204 booster and 309 master cylinder in a box from when I bought the car, and so I finally sent it out to Mike Gibbons and Brake Boosters. I also had them restore my original metering valve and replate its bracket, plus I sourced some restored hardware from Rich Pasqualone. This is no surprise to folks who have worked with Mike but everything came out beautifully!

Installed everything and got the brakes bled this weekend, now taking a moment to enjoy the view. I’ve still got a few little projects left to go but this engine bay has come a long way in the last year and a half :beers:

----It's so nice to see a correctly done master cylinder. Yours may be a tad too nice, but I love it and the fact that you left the machined areas bare. So often guys just paint the whole master black and that just didn't happen!.....Bill S