pulled the front clip off the Z/28

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by irockidz28

Awesome! Love the pics. It's really cool you got the opportunity to meet with him like that

Thanks!

He lives down the street from my in-laws winter house in Florida. It's real cool because when we go to visit the in-laws I can hang out with Jack, have a few beers, and talk about the Z.

[DavidS]

Moved to the Z thread since I probably will have zero inspection marks on the COPO car.

Originally Posted by jeff68

David-
I've never seen any SPOT regarding correct inspection markings for 1st gen cars. (SPOT = single point of truth.) Your best bet is to clean each original part very carefully, then see what you find. The original markings may be very faint. You can also check out the pictures on the Lucas Restorations site for reference. I don't know if what they do is 'correct', but they are supposed to really know their stuff.
-Jeff

Yep. You are definitely right. There are hundreds of different opinions on inspection marks.

A guy with the username firstgenaddict on the CRG wrote: "ONCE AGAIN... I will say that if you had a time machine and traveled back and bought a brand new 69 Z brought it to the present and put it in a car show...IT WOULD NOT EVEN PLACE.

My opinion is that if you are going to over restore it... you might as well just chrome everything... both ways are incorrect!"

It seems like he is ranting a bit, but there is some truth to his rant.

------------------------------------------------------------
There was loads of surface rust and grime and I don't remember seeing any inspection marks on the Z, but I am going to take a very close look on Friday.

I talked a few times with both Jerry M and Ken Lucas at the Camaro Nationals. Next time I meet up with you at Mike's we can talk about the Nationals. Taking your suggestions, my current plan is to compare 3 sources. My Z, the Lucas Restoration site and an article written by Frank Serafine. It's an older article and many of the things written are not accepted in current judging like the color of the underbody being gray primer. It is partially true, but not accepted.

The article is from "Camaro Enthusiast May-June 1993". I scanned it today and cut out sections from the pages that were in color.

pg 33






pg 36






pg 37

[ILuvPizzaTimes10]

Damn look at all that info!!! Holy Crap!!! haha

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by ILuvPizzaTimes10

Damn look at all that info!!! Holy Crap!!! haha

Sorry Pizza.....I've been reading too much stuff and can't keep track. I'm trying my best to figure out how to make the Z right.

There are loads of little weird details and one huge problem is that no one took color pictures of these weird details about 40 years ago. There were 20,302 Z/28's and a total of 243,085 Camaros produced in 1969 and no one took detail pictures.

I can find a few things and the best stuff is magazine pictures from 1969.

Like this one from April 1969, Popular Hot Rodding. It's a picture of a Z/28 engine, a DZ 302 that was tested with headers.

[DAWG]

california car due to the smog pump check valves.

[jeff68]

Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen the smog system retained with headers.

DAWG- The smog system came on cars other than CA cars. My 68 was sold new here in CT and came with a smog system. My father removed it within the first few thousand miles and put all the parts in boxes. I still have them stashed away somewhere.

[frankzlt1]

That is a lot of really cool info.

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by jeff68

The smog system came on cars other than CA cars.

Correct. All 69 Z/28's came with smog. You could order them with headers that would come in the trunk and the dealer could install them.

edit: in 67 and 68, You could order them with dealer installed headers. Not in 69.

Originally Posted by frankzlt1

That is a lot of really cool info.

I'm glad I found the magazine, but the article was written 24 years ago so it may not be 100% accurate. If it was written 35 to 43 years ago, it would be PERFECT to base a restoration on it.

[jeff68]

Originally Posted by DavidS

You could order them with headers that would come in the trunk and the dealer could install them.

Right, but I thought that the Kustom headers did not have provisions for the smog tubes.

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by jeff68

Right, but I thought that the Kustom headers did not have provisions for the smog tubes.

The pic has them as Bill Thomas headers. Jerry's 67-68 book (sorry but I couldn't find any other info on headers with smog tubes) has "Two of the known suppliers were Bill Thomas Race Cars (apparently with help from Douglass Muffler Mfg.) in Anaheim, California, and Kustom Headers in Flint Michigan."

The next page, has

Part Numbers - 1967 (Thomas style)
3917425/3917426 and 3927161/3927162 appear to be updated Thomas headers for 1968 with AIR system fittings and three-bolt collector flanges.