[6781camaro]

You don't even have to put the car in the booth if you don't have one. Just blow it very well and crank the heat in the shop.

True.. and if your shop doesn't have any heat, you can use the sun. and if it's the rainy season and there's no sun,... expect rust. Just kidding...

 

[68camaroz28]

This has been written about before but thought it might be helpful to see the differences from the repro brake clips to the original. The original is on the left.

This was interesting as I thought it would be no problem. The left side rear axle had a broken wheel stud. No problem right, wrong! The Dorman was 1.5" long whereas the orig. was only 1.25" long. OK, call our local Chevrolet dealer and get a couple I thought. They tell me the part # has been dis-continued but the system shows other dealers have them. And of course they offered to get some for me but the rascals are $11 a piece. What the heck..... So we check a couple 12 bolts laying around but they are longer than the 1.25" Ended up getting a few studs out of a 67 12 bolt that utilzed the same 1.25" length.

 

[Sauron67MM]

Chick, Aren't those GM clips still available? I just sold a bagful of GM ones not too long ago. I thought they were still able to be purchased.

 

[RickD]

When I bought my brake lines from Inline Tube last year they came with the GM clips.

 

[68camaroz28]

Chick, Aren't those GM clips still available? I just sold a bagful of GM ones not too long ago. I thought they were still able to be purchased.

Scott, went to my local Chevrolet dealership as I had a few things to pick up anyway and they found the clip # but they are currently only available via what dealers might have on hand so it would appear this will be soon become a true NOS part. They are having some forwarded to them for our car. Never thought of checking and was going to try to restore the old ones.
Thanks for the tip :thumbsup:

When I bought my brake lines from Inline Tube last year they came with the GM clips.

Rick, I purchased new steel brake and fuel lines from Fine Lines but the flexible lines we already had. They are still in the bags from the late 70's. That sentence got me thinking if that is a good idea?.!?.! 30 plus year brake lines, umm! The repro clips I have came out of a chassis kit. With what I learned today I wonder how long the correct ones will be available or until someone starts to duplicate the originals?
How'd your Inline Tube brake lines fit up? I had read and been told that Fine Lines had some of the best fitting lines available but we will find out. Good information and thanks.

 

[68camaroz28]

Well there is still much to do but a lot of work has been completed. The 12 bolt is re-built and I will start the process of preparing for final paint. Here is a picture of the old bearings, seals, crush sleeve, etc. that were in the rear. No surprises and that is always good news.

Checked the NOS rear leaf spring eyes we have and noticed the embossed part # that you would not see when installed but each of the four had a tit or remnant of one that was from the mfg. process. Not sure if other non GM replacements have that.

Yesterday we received back our remaining disc brake components. Power Brake Exchange completed the restoration.

 

[68camaroz28]

Yesterday, Jan.19, 2011, the main part of the car was painted. The doors and other components off the car are going through the final block sanding in preparation for their painting. Man it feels good to see the car with paint on again. And everything went extremely well! No problem:thumbsup:

And our Z is now beside another one that just got buffed out. In the one picture you can see our's in the door reflection. I really like that cortez silver and then with the black stripes in the near future it will really look neat. Pretty cool car with radio/heater delete, crossram, etc... Wow!

 

[Garfields Maro]

:hurray: Congrats Chick, BEAUTIFUL !!:thumbsup:

 

[6781camaro]

Definitely a Z/28 to be boldly proud of. That body is impeccable! Sweet job! Enjoy it....

 

[myty]

Hey Chick, Ive been following and I love the work your doing. I noticed the 69 has headers. I am also keeping my headers and was wondering what your doing for the rest of the exhaust. I want to use an original type setup with crossflow muff,from the headers back and was concerned about the transition.
My progress is is about as far along as your 68. Thanks, Gary

 

[68camaroz28]

Thanks Gar and Todd:thumbsup:

Hey Chick, Ive been following and I love the work your doing. I noticed the 69 has headers. I am also keeping my headers and was wondering what your doing for the rest of the exhaust. I want to use an original type setup with crossflow muff,from the headers back and was concerned about the transition.
My progress is is about as far along as your 68. Thanks, Gary

Gary, did not mean to mis-lead anyone but the 69 is another customers car at East Coast Muscle Cars (ECMC) like mine. We just happen to be sitting in the large room they use for placing cars after paint and wet sanding and buff. I'll check it out for you and report back via a PM if that will work. Believe it or not the biggest pain in the groin so far is getting the hardware correct. Thanks for the compliment and yea I'm working hard but Lonny and the entire ECMC team are top shelf.

 

[anickel-67cpe]

Thanks Chick! For those of you following Chicks build I had the pleasure of meeting him today. Best description I can give you is "stand-up guy". Chick has a great love for the hobby and with todays technology (the internet) has not only found important information about his car, but has also been able to document and share things with us.
We met for breakfast at a dinner in Wrightsville, Pa. Here I also got to meet his son and the three of us exchanged stories about old cars and the past. Seems to me that Chick has been a Chevy man all his life, just like me.
After breakfast we went for a short drive to the shop that is doing the work on his '68 Z, East Coast Muscle Cars (ECMC) ecmusclecars.com. Here I got to meet Lonny the owner of ECMC, got to see Chicks car first hand (I like it), and got a personal tour of ECMC.
This has got to be the cleanest and most organized shop I've ever been in. First I got to see the body shop, this is where they do the actual body work (not metal work), and it was spotless! Then we went to the showroom where Lonny has some customer cars, here was a very nice pro street 67 Camaro as well as the flat black Nova that's been on several magazine covers, SWEET! It was in the showroom where I believe was the only non GM car in the whole place and that was the '40 all steel Willys. Then it was onto the room where they color sand and buff, thats where Chicks car was, and let me tell you the pics don't do it justice. Now onto the fab room where they do all the metal work, and yet another 1st gen Camaro. Out of the 15 or so projects they had going on I think 9 of them were 1st gen Camaros.
Lonny runs a very nice facility and after talking to him I think he may be the only person I ever met who loves his job! He has a great passion for what he does, and does it very well.
Thanks again Chick!

 

[68camaroz28]

Andy, thanks for the kind words as it was a pleasure and glad you could meet Lonny and you hit the nail on the head commenting about Lonny's passion for what he does.:thumbsup: By the way, you be a pretty cool Chevy guy yourself Was a great morning even with the bitter single digit temps.

Gary (myty), checked on the 69 exhaust question you had but its not on yet so not sure what they are doing. Within the next few weeks they will be starting on that and will keep an eye out on how it goes.

 

[69z28freak]

Hey Chick I love the car in Paint. One thing for sure is your car is really going to stand out, as I don't think there are very many Butternut Yellow cars on earth. By the way thanks for posting the pic of the '69 Cortez Silver Z 28. Just curious if you can find out what paint was used and if it is a stock Cortez Silver. Still trying to wrap my head around my paint job.

Can't wait to see your car finished.

PS what weather strip did you go with?

 

[68camaroz28]

Been busy working on preparing parts for the front end as I'm eager to start putting parts back on instead of tearing off:yes: and from looking at others sub-frame after assembly that is a piece of art in itself. I've noted before that the hardware seems to be sometimes one of the hardest things to nail down, not that there is not information if you find out where to look but it still gets confusing. Here is a perfect example, a simple stabilizer link:noway:
I had three sets! One was a NOS #464167 from back in the 80's, a Muskegon Brake link purchased in a front suspension kit in 1984, and the links that came in the current (best on the market) chassis kit. Guess what, all three are different. First off the NOS link had flat washers instead of the orig. type and the bolt/nut was phoshpate. The center sleeve has a yellow type of substance on it and not shiny (no big deal) but the sleeve is shorter than the other two. The NOS bolt and chassis kit link bolt are both 11/32" but the Muskegon bolt is 3/8. The Muskegon 3/8 bolt is approximately the same length as the NOS link bolt, but the chassis kit bolt is shorter. Next up the rubber pieces ...... The NOS and Muskegon are very similar in design but there are some slight differences but the chassis kit rubbers are shorter and smaller in diameter. I grabbed my vernier calibers and crawled under our 69 SS350 Camaro which has not been molested. The 69 stab. link rubbers are the same configuration and diameter as the NOS ones and the center sleeve is the same length as the NOS one. Looking at this one has to come to a conclusion that what you get now is not really correct. Here are some pictures to help show the differences.
Top-NOS piece, middle piece Muskegon Brake, bottom piece Chassis kit piece

Check out the rubber differences. Large one is a NOS piece.

left one NOS, middle one Muskegon, right one chassis kit piece

Guess its time to mix and match

 

[68camaroz28]

I have saved just about everything. And it pays off as you can compare against current parts, real NOS parts that changed over the years or maybe a repro thats good but not exact. When I was cleaning the back half I pulled the rubber flapper plugs that are at the back part of the rockers/qtr. panel area and saved. There are in great shape and going back on at some time. They have part # 4615576 and some code "D-3-26" & "D-2-52".

Body pan oval plugs I had read were stamped and looked at a few pictures of stampings over at the CRG site. I checked the four that were in the cabin and even after cleaning I cannot find any type of stamping. Can anyone shed some light on that? I asked this question over at CRG.

 

[68camaroz28]

Hey Chick I love the car in Paint. One thing for sure is your car is really going to stand out, as I don't think there are very many Butternut Yellow cars on earth. By the way thanks for posting the pic of the '69 Cortez Silver Z 28. Just curious if you can find out what paint was used and if it is a stock Cortez Silver. Still trying to wrap my head around my paint job.

Can't wait to see your car finished.

PS what weather strip did you go with?

Hi Mike, I'm confident from prior discussions that it is factory spec cortez silver and since they prefer Dupont (that's on our's) I would safely guess Dupont. I really like that color and when it has the black stripes on it, wow..... As far as "can't wait to see your car finished", me too!
I'm lucky sort of as I have NOS door weatherstripping from back in the 80's but not so lucky as I also thought I had a pair of NOS roofrail and do not. The door w/s is key for closing the door as many have found out. I will have to post a pic or two when its done. You will like it:thumbsup:

 

[69z28freak]

Hi Mike, I'm confident from prior discussions that it is factory spec cortez silver and since they prefer Dupont (that's on our's) I would safely guess Dupont. I really like that color and when it has the black stripes on it, wow..... As far as "can't wait to see your car finished", me too!
I'm lucky sort of as I have NOS door weatherstripping from back in the 80's but not so lucky as I also thought I had a pair of NOS roofrail and do not. The door w/s is key for closing the door as many have found out. I will have to post a pic or two when its done. You will like it:thumbsup:

Thanks Chick

 

[Sauron67MM]

Is that crud on the floor pan plugs? I have stamped spares and the shallow stampings could be easily concealed by it.

 

[68camaroz28]

Is that crud on the floor pan plugs? I have stamped spares and the shallow stampings could be easily concealed by it.

I cleaned them more today (pictures were taken yesterday) and cannot find a thing. Even cleaned the other side on one thinking maybe it was stamped there. Currently no crud on them rascals now. You have a close up pic of this stamping Scott that you could post?