Hello everyone. My name is Shelby, and I'm a 17 year-old male. My father own's a neglected '69 Z/28, among other things. I'd like to fix it up a little, but not restore it. That might be a good project in the future, but now I'd just like to feel comfortable driving it around town.

I am enrolled in an advanced automotive class at school, so I have ample time to work, as well as a plethora of tools and knowledge.

Sadly, I don't know much about the car. I know that these muscle cars were available with just about any engine/transmission choice you could think of. I know that it's a four-speed manual, and it has a vinyl roof. The car is orange (Hugger Orange?) with black stripes. The paint is terribly faded, and the roof is rusted. I can only imagine how bad the body rust is. I think it is a numbers-matching car with thirty-some thousand original miles.

As far as I know, the car will start (with some help), and it's been driven at least twenty miles in one trip. I'd like to fix it up to be reliable enough for a daily driver (although that's not what it will be). Here's my basic plan of attack.

• The tires should probably be the first thing to be replaced. I imagine anything from Goodyear, Firestone, BFG, etc.... should all suffice. This car wont be raced, mind you, but I'm open to all suggestions.
• Engine oil, transmission fluid, and differential fluid will all need to be changed. Any brand/weight recommendations?
• Air cleaner will be replaced.
• Carburetor will need to be cleaned (at least), possibly rebuilt. I can probably do this with help from the experienced guys. Does this car use an inline fuel filter?
• Battery, battery cables (upon inspection), points, distributor cap/rotor, secondary wires, and spark plugs will all be replaced. Will probably do a compression test at this time. Again, any brands you would recommend?
• Coolant will be drained/flushed/filled, along with replacement of radiator hoses as necessary. I hope the radiator itself is still good. What kind of coolant would you run in an engine of this vintage? I'd normally use a G05 coolant, but I'm not sure in this application.
• Brakes will probably be overhauled. Pads/rotors will be replaced, and calipers may need rebuilding. Did they put drums on any of these Camaros? Any recommendations for brake fluid?
• I imagine the exhaust system will be rusted out (like the rest of the car). Would it do any good to replace this? What would be some good places to buy?
• I imagine the suspension is tired after nearly forty years, but I don't think this is a big issue, is it? It wont see any extreme cornering; just cruising.

Thanks for taking the time to read all that, and thanks for any responses to the numerous questions I've proposed.

 

First rule:

loosen the alternator and find the engine code on the block under it. It should read LMMDDDZ The first Letter will be where the Motor was built. The next MM will be the month the motor was buit. DD day the motor was built. DZ should be the 302 Z motor. Some thing like "T1014DZ"

There should be another number near it. It should read 1279XXXXX

The 1 is Chevrolet
2 is Camaro
7 is fixed its meaningless
9 is 69
XXXXX should match the last 6 digits on your vin in the dash.

If you look under the alternator and its not there dont panic. Check the alt vin location on the rough of the block sideways above the oil filter right in front of the bell housing. It was moved there around Sept 69. Once you ID this as true numbers match, whatever comes off WD40 Zip lock and store away if its not going back on the car.

Check the rear straps that hold up the gas tank and where they anchor to the body. They may need to be repaired. The seal under the decklid needs to be tight and the trunk sealed good against it. This is the achilles heel of these cars. If it isnt in a garage it needs to be...

Check to see if the rear leaf springs need replaced.

The Vent cowl in front of the windshield. If you remove it youll probably find rust that needs fixed.

Check the floor boards pretty good. My passenger side is pretty bad.

Wish I could help more but remember dont throw any carb or anything like that out! Oh yeah Buy something like Colvins "Chevrolet by numbers" to help you out... If it is 30k orig miles true numbers match Z28 you just may have a gold mine

 

my guess is that the 30000 miles your reading is actually 130000 since its that old and in bad shape. I thought i had a treasure too when i first got my 69 with 45000, then later i found out it had flipped over a time or two! O well having a numbers matching car with low mileage wasn't what i wanted in the first place. Would have felt guilty when i changed her.

 

If its a real Z/28, they only came with a 302cid small block and a 4spd. The 1967-69 Z/28s never had an optional engine.

You might also want to check out
http://www.camaros.net
and
http://www.camaros.org

The first website is TEAM CAMARO, which has the largest group of first gen Camaro enthusiasts on the internet. The second is The Camaro Research Group which houses an active and ongoing database of first gen Camaro research and restoration information.

To be quite honest, if it turns out that its a real Z/28, you probably aren't going to want to use it as a daily driver, no matter what condition its in.

 

If it's a real Z/28 with a 302 restore-restore-restore. A friend just sold his for 80 thousand

 

That's what I mean, even unrestored its worth big bucks.

 

Thanks guys! I'll try and figure out just what it is that I have here.

 

Good luck man.

 

Ill give you some very usefull advice gave me wheni was about 15 and started building my first musclecar. "The one thing you need to build a car is money, the man with the bigger checkbook will usually have the better car"
Also " There are two ways to do things The expencive way and the hard way"
Everytime i start a new project those words come to mind and have proved to be true time and time again..