I have been reading some posts on here and got curious about my car. I have seen in some posts that all SS cars had front discs. My car is a SS 396 but has front drums. Could you get drums or did someone swap the discs out for some reason. The guy I got it from said that the car was raced since new with a 427. He has the engine but I decided not to buy it as I already have an LT1 and he wanted $500 for the 427. The vin is 124379n698151 the trim tag is st69 12437 nor142290bdy tr 711 71 71 pnt 10a x22d80. It also has the dual exhaust mounting plate on the driver side frame rail. Thanks for your help.

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69 X22 D80 w/95 LT1 Terrorizing the streets of N.E. Ohio....in a year or two.........mabey

I am very sure that factory SS big block cars in 69 all came with front disk brakes as standard equipment.

Are your front fenders original? How about your other body panels? Can you tell if the original paint matches the tag code?

Someone could have pieced the front end of your car together from a drum brake car (exactly why, who knows?). Another possibility (hopefully not)is that sombody "cloned" a standard car into a big block SS. Even more, this could be an example of Chevy making a mistake on the assembly line and putting drums on an SS car!

Anybody else?




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See my '68 RS/ZZ4 at http://www.100megsfree.com/choptop/camaro.html

No you couldn't get an SS, either big block or small block, without front disc brakes. Your trim tag does indicate it was originally a big block SS, and the VIN and Body numbers agree with an early October 1969 car, so I would guess someone swapped the front discs for drums. Racers used to swap the discs for drums as a weight savings, although I would think I would rather be able to stop. Did it have a cowl hood originally?

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Mark Canning
1969 Indy Pace Car
350/300HP RPO Z11

The X22 certainly decodes as a big block 69 car, however, the drums could have been swapped in to lighten the front end, for drag racing purposes. Not something you see too often, but definitely possible. Assuming it has all the other 396 SS clues, I'd think it would be safe to say it is a true SS car from the factory. SS hood, 28 coil hood springs, big block heater box, multi leaf rearend, 12 bolt, BB coil springs etc........

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John D. Smith
69' SS/396 CLONE!
http://www.geocities.com/kz1000ltd/
<A HREF="http://www.fototime.com/inv/65C66018BF43AB7/" TARGET=_blank>
http://www.fototime.com/inv/65C66018BF43AB7</A>

I don't know about 69,but 68 ss big block 375 hp,did have finned drums,I bought one new.

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67ssclone 327 4spd 410

carhodge, thats possible because in 68 only the Z/28 required front disk brakes. 69 was a different story as all SS cars got disk brakes along with the Z/28

I bought the car as a rolling shell. It had multi leaf rear suspension and a 12 bolt. The front clip is from another car as mine had a fiberglass front clip when it was raced. You can still see the original lemans blue in some places, and the tailpan is still black. The heater core was removed and the hole for it was covered. I dont know if this will help any, but thanks for the info.

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69 X22 D80 w/95 LT1 Terrorizing the streets of N.E. Ohio....in a year or two.........mabey

A lot of drag racers remove front disc brake set-ups in favor of drum brakes for weight reduction and also "zero drag". Check the size of your master cylinder for a clear indication of what came originally. A small one is for drum brakes and a big one for disc brakes...but then again...could have been changed down the road.

Frank.

Also, the brake hose brackets are different for disc, and drum. Can't remember the differences, exactly, but it is unlikely that someone would change the brackets if they changed spindles. Look in the assembly manual, for a sketch, or a resto catalog, for a picture.

Was the 427 complete, & does the guy still have it?

Having owned first gen cars that were drag raced since new it's possible anything could've been done over the years. I've seen clutch explode and take out large pieced of frame. It's possible your entire front sub frame was swapped out for one reason or another. sounds like you have nothing to worry about as it is definitely an origianl SS big block car.

It could very well be a different sub frame, it has metal bushings. Everything on the firewall is gone and so are the brake lines so not much help there. Oh well guess its nothing to worry about. The guy still has the 427 as far as I know it wasnt advertised so chances are he does. It was basicaly a short block plus heads. Needs oil pan, cam, valve covers, water pump, intake, carb, distributer, etc. It did recently get a complete refreshing at the machine shop and never got used, and its full of performance parts. I can try to dig up his number if you are interested. Oh yeah, he said it was out of a 68 Vette.

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69 X22 D80 w/95 LT1 Terrorizing the streets of N.E. Ohio....in a year or two.........mabey

I would be inerested .If you find the #,Please email it to me.And good luck with your SS, Thanks, Terry