By the color, I assume you are talking about a 68. Does it come with any documentation verifying it's a Z?

Brian,

Since '68's are easy to represent as a Z from the cowl tag standpoint, if this great sounding car lacks good documentation, be extremely careful with opening the wallet (goes without saying !). Like a lot of enthusiasts, I've come to realize the misrepresentations are everywhere, and people will tell you anything to sell a vehicle. There are a good many legitimate sellers out there, but an over abundance of fakery exists in this hobby. Don't let your enthusiasm overwhelm your better judgement -

Speaking of restoring 9K cars, a good friend of mine bought a '68 SS with less than 8K on it a few years ago, original everything except the rear end, documented; proceeded to do everything from touch up the original paint to rechrome perfect bumpers, replace small parts and trim, and change one of the best survivors I have ever seen to a restored car. Something about original paint cars makes you sick to see one messed with. Bad thing about it was I helped him do it.

Post pics if you can - Bullitt65 is right about pic junkies. I'll bet you'll get opinions out the kazoo -

Regards,
Steve

[guess]

Precisely - thanks, DW -

If the creeping thing was a 12B or C, I wouldn't have to go through the guesswork of whether it's an X66 or an X22. Gotta be one or the other, but with no original paperwork, how can I tell ?

I don't think it is a Style Trim car (not an RS, anyway due to the rear valance), standard interior, no console, and the quarters are not drilled for gills. My guess is that it's an X66 -

Regards,
Steve

It was the color that I noticed first (I don't recall the striping - sign of advanced maturity) - I do believe it was the first time I had ever seen that color on a '69. It really is an atractive color, regardless of interior color IMO. I'm still partial to Le Mans, though - ask Sport what his favorite color is (I'm sure he'll answer Le Mans !).

Regards,
Steve

I do remember something about the wheels - did it not have a set of caps on it rather than ralleys ?

My 69 was the same setup.  Bought it from a 90 yr old woman in 1989.           

Would you believe I saw her driving the car sometime in the mid-late 80's around the square ? I tied to catch up with her, but she was out-of-sight in a blink. I mentioned it to your dad many years ago that I had seen an elderly lady driving a green coupe around town - that's when I found out it was yours.

Small town, small world -

Regards,
Steve

My query was just over the part number, as I have never before seen a genuine GM 7-digit part number with a dash in it.

None of the four of my small block shrouds have a dash in the part number string. I don't have a re-pop on hand, so I can't determine if that is the case, or maybe a later production original GM. Anyone else have an example ?

Regards,
Steve

The NOS ones that I have have the 4 dimples. Probably for installation purposes-

Regards,
Steve

It was a dealer service bulletin, but I wonder how many left the dealer floor with them added before the sale (after the service notice ?).

My '69 X77's was still on it when I bought it in '73 -
[/quote]

I reckon that solves that - previous owner must have responded to the recall. I still intend on putting mine back on - just the way I drove it in '73.

Thanks Ed -

Regards,
Steve

Maybe I should have included open element Z28 cars as well.. 

Hey Darrell,

01C X77 - assume it was original since it was on the car in '73 when I bought it, as early as '72 when I first saw it -

Regards,
Steve

Thanks..
Just curious why you see it on some cars and not other ones. Was it due to the breaking of the driver side motor mount. They look kind of cool on the cars I've seen them on..
TMS
Eddie

It believe it was intended to do just that - restrain engine movement in the case of mount separation/failure, plus it would limit rotation (supposedly) to prevent that failure. It was a dealer service bulletin, but I wonder how many left the dealer floor with them added before the sale (after the service notice ?).

My '69 X77's was still on it when I bought it in '73 - I have no way of knowing when it was installed, though. I removed it when I installed headers in '74. I kept my original manifolds to reinstall, plus I have an NOS kit to reinstall the cable when it gets to restoration sometime in 2025 -

Regards,
Steve

Try the stripper that's good for fiberglass - it shouldn't bother the ABS parts. Test it on a small area first, just to be sure. I have stripped fiberglass and urethane using the aircraft-type stripper, both worked very well and did not damage the base materials at all. If you scrape vintage plastic, it's gonna show when it's clean.

Last swap meet shroud (69 SB) that I found, really grungy, cleaned up to the point it looks NOS by using a soft brush, dish washing detergent, followed by a liberal coat of Detailer's Advantage - after the part dried off, it looks better than the NOS one I have in inventory. $5.00 shroud, by the way -

Regards,
Steve

Well, got the bad news this morning that he had to go out to 0.060 anyway. I know this is not good, but can somebody share some wisdom as to what I should do at this point? This is not a trailer queen, I drive her on weekends to local shows and cruise-ins. I want to enjoy my car without ruining it for good. I don't want to put a crate engine in it. I'd rather drive a 'real' Z/28. On the other hand, If that means ruining what's left of a numbers matching '69 Z/28, I'd rather sell her to someone who will make a trailer queen. (A good home, so-to-speak.)

Pretty bummed out.

Doomer -

If it's the original, build it and drive it. Or, build a driver 302 motor and enjoy it anyway. Hot trick when I was growing up was to build a poor man's 301 using a 283 block bored .125 over - they usually ran really hot, but if the cores weren't shifted, they would last decently under pretty severe duty (rods and bearings were the limiting factors). Later model blocks didn't seem to suffer the earlier block's tendencies for core shifts - I've known a lot of .060 engines that ran, and continue to run, very well.

Strictly my own opinion,
Steve
 

Not according to JohnZ. All the added tin and nickel was dropped because it didn't improve the blocks.

" the "010-020" raised numbers that indicate the 0.1% and 0.2% tin and nickel content in some blocks; that was an extended tryout where the added tin was to improve machinability and the added nickel was to improve bore wear. It was discontinued when the promised warranty improvements failed to appear, and the added cost was no longer justified."

[/quote]

Mine must have been one of the trials - less than .0002 (read as 2/10,000's, not .002) taper in the bore after 50K plus miles - machine shop remarked it was extremely straight, considering the wear on the pistons. BTW - a lot of 010 blocks are around with just that percentage cast on the block surface. Bores usually look pretty good compared to blocks like my 2 - 678's - heavy ring lands that took at least a .030 overbore.

Regards,
Steve

My DZ 302 is out and apart for the first time since I got it. The block is already at .030 and needs to go a little further.

    Not trying to be nosey, or reinvent the wheel, but what does the block measure out as ? When I rebuilt my '69 in '75, the original pistons were worn, but the block was great after 50K miles - the high tin/nickel content in the block casting did what GM bumped the percentages up for; kept wear to a minimum in the block, pistons become the wear parts. Also, keep in mind forged pistons "grow" quite a bit when up to operating cylinder temps - the reason why wall clearances are different between cast (which run closer tolerances on the walls), and forged pistons, "sloppier". Depending on the wear, you could always knurl the pistons to tighten up the skirt to wall clearance -
    Stupid me put Manley 12.5:1's in the '69 engine; fortunately I kept a set of stockers, plus I bought a set of NOS GM .030's when they went obsolete. GM .030's ('67-early '68 narrow rings) in the '68 Z. Glad I don't have to buy 'em nowadays -

Regards,
Steve

Likely the case. Your switch looks correct, except for the external tang. I can't see the number clearly on the switch, but it appears to be a GM part number, or at least from the same subcontractor that supplied them to GM (unless they were supplied as a pure AC Delco construction).
Heartbeat's switch is advertised as an original (used) switch, and appears similar to my black-cased one. They are still out there - keep looking and one will pop up if you need to replace yours.

Regards,
Steve

Knobs -

Regards,
Steve