Archives for April 2012

Jack who is one of the former owner of my Z/28, had the original front windshield destroyed. I believe that his ex-wife might have done it intentionally, but I did not fully understand the explanation he gave me. A lamp or something went through the windshield.

I have been looking for an original front tinted windshield and met George through Camaros.net. I had some questions for him regarding windshield glass. George has been working on restoring his Daytona Yellow Z/28 and I really like the color on it. He emailed me some info and restoration pictures of his car:

“It is a Pilkington. I know they are a bit thinner than the original but if the installer is competent you’re okay. A local glass guy is also a GM car guy who owns a high point 70 Nova so he understands and cares.
I have owned my car since November 2010. It is a born with engine, trans and rear axle car. I have spent considerable time and money to make the car correct component wise as items had been replaced on the car such as alternator etc. with wrong components.
Aside from the battery, radiator, exhaust manifolds and coil the car is numbers and date code correct. The exhaust manifolds are for a 68 Camaro but have the outlets for the smog air. I have the smog pump but do not run it.
My choice was to make this car a driver for the most part. It is a strong 3 car but is a paint job away from a 2. It has never been apart other than now (see jpegs) such as you are doing. I have the ProtectoPlate and order sheet. The car was sold to Kentucky but then spent about 38 years in southern California which accounts for its rust free (almost) status. Had a little rust on the dash (see jpegs).”

“All the jpegs, except the one of the complete car were taken about a week ago.
The work we are doing now at the windshield and just cleaning things up will be finished in about a month. I have the engine on a stand at home ready to go back in. I freshened the engine with new rings, inserts,rpaint etc.”

Good luck with your restoration George!!!

Bob, who is a fellow Camaro enthusiast visited my site and sent me a note about his air cleaner lid.

He wrote that he has a 69 Z/28 made the middle of March and his silk-screen text is also straight. Here is a picture he sent me of the underside of his lid:

Cool. Another one, just like mine!

He also sent me some pictures of his Z/28. He has had it for about 10 years. It is a very beautiful car.

Bob’s Z/28 has a pretty cool history. Here is his brief history of the car that he uses at shows:

     This Z/28 was built at the Van Nuys assembly plant and lingered in the back lot of a Los Angeles dealership as a 1969 leftover. In 1970, a young man who frequented the infamous Mulholland Drive purchased the Z/28 for the specific use as a road racer.Utilizing the Chevrolet Special Equipment Manual, he added a “1st Design Off-Road” cam, modified exhaust and larger over the counter stabilizer bar. These changes made the car “very successful” in it’s intended usage, according to the original owner.

     After a few years, the Z/28 was sold. The new owner along with some friends (and after too many beers) disassembled the car in preparation for a paint job on a Saturday afternoon. The next day awakened with the fact he was in way over his head and ridicule from his wife, he covered the car with a tarp in the corner of his garage. In 2002, twenty-two years later, my wife and I knocked on his door concerning another car in his driveway. After talking cars for awhile, he lead us to the garage, lifted the tarp, and confessed his shame of so many years before. The next day I trailered the Z/28 home and went back for four pickup loads of it’s removed parts. Much to my surprise, his assurance that all the parts were there proved correct.

     The “restoration” consisted of a bare metal strip and high quality repaint in the original rare Olympic Gold color. The removal of the subframe assisted in the refresh of the mechanicals. The few parts needed were replaced with GM NOS only. The interior also remains all original, even the factory installed carpet.

     This Z/28 with its high winding 302 is a thrill to drive. It represents what most enthusiasts experienced in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I retained those modifications made according to the early Chevrolet Special Equipment Manual, so in a lot of ways, it is truly a time capsule.

One of the Z/28’s former owners is Jim. He sent me a link to pictures of one of his former Camaro’s.   He had a 1969 pro mod/street car that ran 9.20’s in the 1/4 mile.

Jim has had some really wild Camaro‘s and I have seen some cool hot rods he has had too.

A former owner, Jim, told me that the original AM radio never worked during the time he had the Z/28.  He said that’s why he put the 8-track player between the seats.  That means the radio didn’t work for at least 37 years. 

At Labrecque’s, Kevin and I took the radio out of the console. 

I brought the radio into work, plugged in the restored/reconed speakers, connected a power supply and nothing happened.  Nothing except the power supply immediately went from +12V to +3V.  It looked like something was shorting out big time.

Almost all radio restoration places start by replacing electrolytic capacitors.  I read somewhere, that 90% of the time the problems come from dried out electrolytics and they can cause shorts. 

The AM radio model is:

91APB1
9 = 1969 model year
1 = GM vehicle division: 1 = Chevrolet division. (2=Pontiac, 3=Oldsmobile)
A  = the vehicle is either a Camaro or a Chevelle
PB = AM pushbutton radio
1 = first design run.

Through Sams Photofacts, I was able to buy a schematic for model 91APB1 which identifies the electrolytics.  After loads of searches, I found a vendor that had original GM electrolytics.  This is nice because it keeps the radio with original type components.  Especially for the huge can type that has 3 different electrolytics in one can.  It was a pain to get the circuit board off but after a while it finally gave up fighting me and I was able to replace the capacitors.

 

 After replacing the caps, I soldered everything back together, hooked up the speaker, put power to it and then……..thundering classical music BLARED from the radio.  I didn’t realize the volume was at full blast.  It almost knocked me off my seat.  Engineers came down from the engineering offices asking me what was going on.  Once the volume was set low, it was so nice to listen to the AM radio with the 43 year old electronics working as they’re supposed to.   

 

 

I have been keeping in touch with Jim, who is one of the former owners. He is heavily into hot rods and Camaros. He has had 5 Camaros. The Z/28 that I have now, and also these that he wrote to me about ” one 67 ‘ pro street , 69 ‘ pro mod/street car (ran 9.20’s 1/4 mile) one red with black stripe real 69 ‘ Z/28 that had been through to many hands so I sold it to buy this one that I’m sending the pic’s of…… I found this car in 03 ‘ it was a true one owner car with 67k original miles on it…. super clean! never hit not one spec of rust! factory air, power windows, fold down rear seat, power steering and brakes, glacier blue “.

He ended up selling it in 2008.  He recently had the opportunity to buy it back and just got it back today!  It is a super clean looking car and I think he is going to be having a blast with it.

The original Jacking Instructions label for the 01B (2nd week of January) 1969 Z/28 looked like this:

The label was coming apart anyway so the crew at Labrecque removed it so that the trunk lid could be prepped.  It ended up being discarded. They took some pictures of it first though.

of the text is in different locations and the “7 1/2 inches” text is not on my original version.  The differences could be due to the dates not being the same and they might be different versions.   The original is dated “?-6-68” and the reproduction is dated “10-1-68”.

I believe part number 3949506 is correct though and the part number is in the 1969 Camaro AIM (Assembly Instruction Manual) under UPC 10, Sheet A2. The label is part #1 shown below:

It is interesting that the AIM shows revision number 4 on 7-1-1968 and revisions 4,5,6,7 and 8 on 9-10-1968. This would fit in with the theory that the original one I had on the car is previous to the version dated “10-1-68”.