Messages

61

Originality / Re: R and F firewall stamp

« on: September 14, 2022, 05:38:17 PM »

I bought the "Big Book of Camaro Data, 1967-1973" on May 2nd, 2001,  It was published April 2, 1995.  I may have seen one other book of his but do not remember the title.  It has been a few decades since I first looked at them.

Jerry MacNeish's books are great.  The AIM is a must have.  Colvin's "By The Numbers" books are great. Michael Lamm's (I have 5th printing, 1981) book is great too.

62

Originality / Re: R and F firewall stamp

« on: September 14, 2022, 12:12:24 PM »

David,
If you go thru that book you will see spare tires painted wrong, various wrong stickers added where none should be there,  body paint errors, etc.  It has been a few years since I had Hoopers book but it was very frustrating to have spent money for such a bad reference.  I am in no way exaggerating here. 

63

Originality / Re: R and F firewall stamp

« on: September 13, 2022, 09:29:30 PM »

Hoopers books are worthless.  They show MANY wrong restos.  Toss it in the trash.

64

General Discussion / Re: Looking for opinions on a survivor car

« on: September 12, 2022, 08:30:39 PM »

A few more.  He was at Cars and Coffee a few weeks ago.

65

General Discussion / Re: Looking for opinions on a survivor car

« on: September 12, 2022, 08:26:03 PM »

Here is a pretty one I saw yesterday. '67

66

General Discussion / Re: 396 L34 Cam

« on: September 09, 2022, 03:13:36 PM »

Crane is gone (again).  You might have better luck with Howards cams as they have a couple of the GM big block grinds. 

The Valvoline VR-1 Conventional Racing oil has lots of zinc and street use additives.  It is good for flat tappets.  I keep a few cases on the shelf.

Elgin still makes some of the small block GM SHP cams but I did not see the big block GM grinds when I checked.

67

General Discussion / Re: My 69z died and I can't figure it out

« on: September 09, 2022, 02:47:33 PM »

The points will not last long without the internal condenser.  It might run for a while without it, but the points will probably get trashed. 


Do not buy the unreliable points and condenser one-piece setup.  Get the separate condenser (and screw) and attach it inside the distributor.  Wire goes to the points connection.


.019" gap is for brand new points contacts.  You can actually get a small points file to flatten them out if they have minor pitting.  Otherwise they are cheap to replace.

68

General Discussion / Re: My 69z died and I can't figure it out

« on: September 08, 2022, 02:26:18 PM »

Set new point gap at .019".  I have no idea where you got .015"?

Do you have a condenser inside your distributor?  I cant see any wire for it?  Should be hooked up to the points, along with the coil negative wire attachment.

White/red cloth covered resistance wire from fuse block goes to coil + along with yellow wire from starter solenoid.

Condenser outside on coil bracket is actually there as a filter for AM radio interference.  It is not required for engine operation.  Leave it disconnected for now.

69

Decoding/Numbers / Re: 1969 Z "matching numbers"

« on: September 02, 2022, 02:18:00 PM »

I do not think the powertrain is original to the car as the numbers do not match.   It should be looked at as "driver quality".  Price is about where it should be IMHO.

70

Mild Modifications / Re: Factory Camshaft spec's for 1967 L48

« on: August 08, 2022, 03:44:28 PM »

Couldn't they just pull the lifter and place the dial indicator direct to the lobe?

If you look at a cam lobe closely you will see it has a taper going up front to back on the lift portion of the profile.  The taper is there to load the cam in the rearward direction so it does not move forward during engine operation and to facilitate lifter rotation during operation. Because of the taper, It isn't practical to try to take a measurement from a lobe directly.  It is taller in the rear of the lobe.

In addition, the "flat tappet" lifter is not actually "flat" either as it has a 1 degree radius crown on the bottom.  This rounded crown works along with the taper on the lobe to cause the lifter to rotate in it's bore as it is lifted up by the lobe.  In order to measure the NET cam lift with any accuracy you need an actual lifter on the lobe while you rotate the cam.  The hydraulic lifters would bleed down and compress under the force of a valve spring while you rotate the engine slowly.  That would give you an erroneous lift measurement.  You need a solid lifter in there that can not compress to get an accurate running NET lift measurement.

71

Mild Modifications / Re: Factory Camshaft spec's for 1967 L48

« on: August 07, 2022, 01:34:15 PM »

Those numbers seem

I raced in NHRA Stock Eliminator with an L48 motor in a '68 Camaro for about twenty years.  The teardown specs for lift on a stock cam called for a maximum .390" on the intake and .410" on the exhaust.  Just dug through my records looking for the duration specs but NHRA stopped checking spring pressure, duration, and overlap in Stock engines in about 1988 and those numbers have escaped my recollection plus they are not in my log books.  The lift was checked at zero lash with a solid lifter, a stamped steel rocker arm and stock pushrod length. 

Yes, this is the lift spec .390"/.410".  The duration is 296/310 at zero lash.  The whole part number is "3896929".  If these numbers seem strange it is because they are unlike any other aftermarket cam specs.  The Chevy Power Manual has even more info.  Elgin still sells it for about $66 today.

We had another thread on this subject about 12 years ago that you can check out below.


http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=7311.0

72

Mild Modifications / Re: Factory Camshaft spec's for 1967 L48

« on: August 06, 2022, 01:39:19 PM »

The factory cam would be the "929" cam.  Specs are published but why bother looking for them?  Anybody that wants the base engine stock "929" cam could care less about the specs. There is only 1 base engine cam used for every base 350 from Camaros to Corvettes, to Caprice Estate station wagons.  Used from '67 and up to at least the early '80's. 

73

General Discussion / Re: 67 Pacer on EBay

« on: August 06, 2022, 01:21:36 PM »

"[...] Starting with a trim tag correct 1967 Ermine White Camaro RS/SS Big Block convertible [...]" But, of course, photo not shown.  I'd bet $100 that the cowl tag has the typical drilled out looking rivets, showing that it has been removed at some point.

Plenty of trim tags have been observed without any sealer in the rivet holes on original cars.

74

General Discussion / Re: 1969 exhaust system

« on: July 14, 2022, 02:02:13 PM »

I have a D&R repro Chambered system with the chromed tips.  It sounds good for what it is and looks good.  We did have an issue discovered at assembly which D&R took care of so no big deal.  I already had some of the special hangars as my 10A '68 car was originally a chambered equipped car so I used some rubber parts from a few repro hangars to put the whole thing together.  Fit was fair but maybe a pro could fit it better than I did.  It needed to be all welded as the clamps were useless against the thick aluminized pipes.  On a later build car I would choose the deep tone setup for sure. 

My opinion - A "factory" chambered car should stay that way, but any other car should probably use the conventional deep tone system.  Deep tone is just better for HP and sound. 

75

General Discussion / Re: Kill Switch

« on: July 11, 2022, 03:22:43 PM »

I like the ignition short circuit route better here.  ANY extra resistance in the purple wire circuit can disable the starter solenoid when you DO want it to start.  That circuit is really just marginal before you start adding stuff to it.  You can get the dreaded "hot - no start" condition.  People have been adding relays to that circuit for decades to help with the issue.