Gifted a 1979 "Z28"

[Connella08]

hello everyone,

thank you for the comments and welcoming me to the forum.

just wanted to provide an update on my project. i currently have the block at the machine shop. so far the block has been baked, blasted, and bored .040 over since .030 didnt clean up the rust. i have already ordered a 385 stroker kit from Summit as well as ARP head and main studs. i am waiting for the main studs to arrive so i can take everything down to the machine shop to have the final hone done. they will also be align honing the mains, and setting the block to a zero deck height. i will be asking them if its possible to save the casting and serial numbers on the pad prior to going through with decking the block. i will post photos when i get it back from the machine shop.

 

[Connella08]

project update:

its been a while since i have posted here. i am slowly plugging away on the car. i recently acquired a BCOP TH400 for free on craigslist and the guy was literally 10 minutes down the road from me. tore the whole thing down and found it to be in pretty decent shape. it looked like it had been rebuilt in the recent past because the clutches still had the part numbers painted on the friction materials. it looked like maybe it was rebuilt then never used afterwards but the fluid was real dark, like almost brown. my friends and i started assembling the short block about 2 weeks ago and found that the rod bolts were hitting the block since its a stroker kit. we ended up grinding some notches to clearance the bolt heads on the rods, so it went back to the machine shop to get washed for the last time before re-assembly. we just assembled the short block last night. now im looking to put together an order for more parts. photos of the progress are soon to follow.

 

[Connella08]

this is the day i got the block back from the machine shop. baked, blasted, align honed the mains, drilled the main caps for the ARP stud kit i bought, .040 bore and hone and set the deck height to zero.

 

[Connella08]

new tranny from craigslist all torn down.

 

[Connella08]

needed to remove the old BCOP bellhousing so i could install a JW Performance Ultra-Bell. luckily, the transmission i ended up with is from 1970 and was an 8 bolt case.

 

[Connella08]

you may recall from my first post in this thread, i mentioned that the cars cowl tag is missing (hence the "z28" in the title), and that i do not know for certain if the car is a genuine z28. in the spirit of trying to find out what the car really is, i went digging around online. there was some information that i came across that mentioned many of the cars built in the Van Noys plant had build sheets hidden in them. deciphering the VIN, i was able to determine the car was built in Van Noys. the information i found said that the build sheets were most commonly hidden over the gas tank, behind the rear seat, and under the driver seat. i was a little worried though because the previous owner told me the carpet was replaced, which meant the rear seat came out once already. i was afraid that maybe they found the build sheet, looked at it with a "what's this?", and threw it away because they didnt know what it was or because it wasnt useful to them. well, I FOUND IT! i was overjoyed to see that "Z" typed out in the bottom made from z's, 2's, and 8's and in the RPO codes, the Z28 Special Performance Package! out of curiosity, i also poked my head under the front seat and could see there is another build sheet, but its pretty much ruined from the years of people sitting on it. its as if someone put a piece of paper through a play-do fun factory because the metal wires supporting the cushion have just shredded the paper. here is a picture of the build sheet from behind the rear seat.

 

[wnmech]

Great find on the build sheet. The holy grail of proof of authenticity

 

[COPO]

Welcome aboard. If you take your block to a machine shop and they know what their doing and have the latest and greatest machines, then they will not destroy your numbers. If they say they can’t, then they don’t know what they’re doing, so go elsewhere.

 

[Connella08]

Welcome aboard. If you take your block to a machine shop and they know what their doing and have the latest and greatest machines, then they will not destroy your numbers. If they say they can’t, then they don’t know what they’re doing, so go elsewhere.

the shop i went to said they could save them for me, but the added labor for setup to do so would cost me about an extra $175. it wasnt worth it to me and i figured if it bothered me that much, i could just re-stamp them into the pad by the head myself.

 

[Francesco]

We have the same model! Cool! Cant wait to see your finish. Do you have stock heads? Will you change them? Did you check out if the t tops leak? If they do, dont worry, with an ultimate set of tools you can fix it. Great project!