Looks good Matt!! Two things, your upper radiator hose is on backwards and your ground battery cable should go to the thermostat where the alternator bracket bolts too. All it needs next, is a complete smog system and you will be done. Nice job...

Terrific photos and nice details.

Turned out great!!

Thanks, all! Good point, Mark, on the upper radiator hose. I must admit I didn't notice that!


On the ground cable, I've got a battery with the positive terminal inboard and so away from the fender, which I like from a safety perspective, but it means I need to source a factory-looking but longer ground cable to reach that factory ground point on the thermostat.

Matt,
If you run your Neg. cable in front of your washer jug instead of the backside, it looks long enough to reach the thermostat housing stud. Give it a try!!

Doesn’t quite reach, but it turns out that Lectric Limited carries extra-long negative cables for just such an occasion so order placed :beers:

Today I finally installed an NOS temp sender that I’ve had on a shelf for a while, correct for the console gauges, and crimped a ring terminal onto the existing wire to replace the clip-on connector from the old stud-style sender. Swapped the upper radiator hose around while I had the water out - slowly knocking down projects. Gotta clean those plug heat shields!

Took a few photos with the new iPhone today… can’t imagine a more fun way to commute on a beautiful fall Friday :D

Man, that thing is beautiful, congrats.

I mounted our CamBox “helmet” camera to a hat to capture a bit of today’s beautiful Sunday drive. Totally addicted to that chambered exhaust. Happy fall y’all.

Beautiful car! Congrats! Have Gardner chambered exhaust on order for my big block pace car, can't wait to hear it..

Sounds great!!:headbang:

Great job dialing in all those little details around the car Matt. The engine bay looks so much better with all the little details having been addressed correctly. Booster and master look just killer now.

Very well done!

Thanks, all, for the kind words - it means a lot! :beers:

Finally fixed the stance!

My front ride height was at about 26” to the bottom of the center of the fender wells (rears are a lovely 24 3/8”). I worked with Kevin at Coil Spring Specialties on a custom set of front coil springs, and I first ordered in the spec recommended by Wayne D Guinn. This brought my fronts down to about 25 3/8”. Not quite happy with it but now having a proper baseline, I ordered a second adjusted set and now the front sits level front to rear, at about 24 3/8” �� Perfect!

Thanks very much to my friend Mark for prepping and painting “as-cast” then installing the second set :beers:

So far no rubbing anywhere, on 215/65 BFGs and factory YH rallys, and the spring rate of 507 lbs/in feels planted but not too stiff.

For reference, the front left actually sits about 1/4” higher than the front right, but I decided to keep the custom springs the same left to right. Not sure if others have observed this ride height different left to right but it’s ok w me :3gears:

My Z sits at 24.5" front and 25" at the rear. Both front and rear springs are original to the car with the correct Firestone Sport Car 200 tires. I would say, yours are close. I'm sure my springs sat a little higher when the car was new. Once those front springs settle, they will be at my level or a little lower.

You might be having the most fun of anyone on the SYC forum with your car. Kudos to you!

Matt,

I bounce around to different cars/topics on this site and your ‘69 thread is one of my periodic stops.

Besides the great story, your photos are incredible!

Thanks, Chris

FWIW if there is one thing I do remember of a brand new 69 Z from when I was a kid, its that they sat slightly up in the front. Not level

Thanks, all, for the kind words, and fair enough, Frank. I know there’s a range in the AIM and maybe they came out differently in the factory, but honestly I went for the stance that I like. The car just looks wider, and meaner, now. It is amazing to me in person what a difference the new ride height makes to the presence of the car :beers:

This weekend I finally finished a project I’ve been working on for over a year - a new set of wheels and tires for the Z.

The Minilites are from Trans Am Race Engineering in 15x7 with 4” backspacing and 15x8 4.5” bs. They come in a beautiful coat of painted silver but I decided to customize them, working with a local shop to polish the outer lips, media blast and leave raw the centers, then clearcoat.

Tires are BFG T/As in 215/65 and 255/60, modified by Diamond Back Tires to have smooth sidewalls. I then drew up a stencil based on the current Blue Streaks run by historic Trans Am. Thanks to my friend Jason for cutting the stencil with his Cricut. We used manila envelopes for the material. I then added some tape as spacers to keep the stencil slightly off the rubber surface for a clean release. Paint is white Plastidip in a rattle can, which has held up well so far on a test tire I painted a few months ago. One great aspect of Plastidip is it is easy to clean up if you make a mistake or have overspray. It took me several tries experimenting with technique before I was happy with it.

Really happy with the wheel and tire fitment. Thanks to John at TARE for the custom machining for the backspacing as well as the custom lug depths so I could use the factory 7/16” wheel studs. Those studs are approx. 0.800” in rear proud of the drums and 0.900” in front, so with John’s machining I’ve got a good 7 threads engagement for the lug nuts.

More photos to come :beers:

A couple glamour shots…

Looks like it’s ready for some road racing!!

Love the Minilites! Car looks great!

Looks awesome!

Nice!!! :3gears:

Here are a few shots of the process, including the Minilites with their beautiful painted finish as shipped and then after customization by the wheel shop. I thought it would be fun to leave the centers raw (under clear) to showcase the casting a bit. Turned out pretty good. I used Gyeon Rim ceramic coating on the wheels to minimize brake dust and make future cleaning of the clearcoat easy. One photo shows a printout of the Goodyear letters to check sizing and letter position before cutting the stencil.

Little tape spacers on the back of the stencil are to space the letters off of the rubber surface, after lots of trail and error to see low spots on each letter shape. Also included are a few shots of the inspiration behind the look, from Laguna Seca a few years ago :beers:

Very cool.

... Very neat looking !

... I have a similar set of wheels made by Western !

... :beers:

----Wheels came out great. Love 'em! I'm curious as to what the two studs across from each other on all 4 wheels are for. I see it on some of the racers, but not all.....Bill S

My theory is that on original magnesium race wheels you could machine the back side of the dimpled areas to counteract and balance the weight difference made by the valve stem area. Or maybe it’s just a visual indicator to quickly locate the valve stems on a race car? Curious if anyone knows for sure…

Matt, nice job on the stance. It's perfectly straight and even across.

Finally made it out for the first time in a while to our local cars & coffee, Ronnie’s Morning Get Together (every 2nd Saturday for y’all in the San Jose area!). Great turnout and fun to meet folks and talk about the car. Also, gotta love a quiet cruise through town at 7am on a Saturday :beers:

Matt your car looks spectacular! All changes you've made are well done. I purchased my first orange RS/Z in late 70's which has black stripes and vinyl top. I've always loved that combination, but recently I purchased another orange RS/Z which has white stripes must say I really love that look as well.

Like you, stance is very important to me. I used the Moog 6308 front springs on my orange/ black Z and it sits perfect 24.75. I also have had 215-65-15 TA's fronts.

The orange/white Z front needs to be lowered. The rub is Moog 6308 springs are no longer available! I may contact Coil spring specialty and have a set made like yours.

Kudos for bringing your car to the next level and sharing your journey with our members!

Thank you Steve!! :beers: Both your HO Zs looks great. What a fun pair.

Working with Kevin at Coil Spring Specialties was great. My first set came out at 25 3/8” to the bottom of the front fenders, with 215/65s and rallys. My second set I just did same specs but -1” ride height and they came out right at 24 3/8”. I bet if you just ask about the orders from Matt from California, they can dial it up or down for whatever you are going for.

Here’s a dash of Hugger Orange and chambered exhaust for everyone’s Sunday:

Sounds great!!!!

I just came across this post. Love the stance and the upgrades you have made to an already Super car!

Thank you! Had fun meeting folks at a few local shows this summer. Engine bay is getting better all the time, with just a few little things left to go. I’m working on the tune… more details in a future post.

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I last posted. We had a baby boy, and the fuel pump died, and something about those two events conspired to pause things for a bit :laugh:

I wanted to take the opportunity of replacing the pump to snowball the job into going through the whole fuel system… so pulled the tank, cleaned everything, replaced all of the hardware, cleaned and painted the straps satin black, and replaced the rubber fuel lines. Lloyd very generously gave me some spare fuel hoses he had stamped, and my goodness do they look great. I’ve got some square-tang original fuel clamps on the way so pay no mind to the repro round-ended ones on there now.

I have yet to find an original dated fuel pump so for now I’m running a Carter M4685 from Summit, rated for 7 psi. To keep the crank-driven pushrod up and ready for the pump arm to slide in, I used the technique of running one of the pump mount bolts into that nearby threaded hole that then lightly presses against the rod (too tight and it could bend the rod so went easy on it). Worked well (I tried just using grease and couldn’t get that to work at all). On the tank grounding strap, I used some spare fuel line and some tape to simulate the strap retention setup to protect the wire from the tank strap. I also removed the padding that the restoring owner had used between the tank straps and the tank, as originally there would have been no such padding. Looks sharp now.

All put back together, the car fired right up and is running great again. Tuning improvements from last year combined with a new pump have proved to be a great combo. Back to life! More photos to follow.

Looks good Matt! When you get a chance, paint the back side of your spare wheel a satin black. The factory used a black primer on the Rally Wheels. Try and find some original green 3/8 fuel line clamps that have the flat crimp tips or grind down the rounded tips, so they look flat. They just can't repop stuff like the original for some reason.