Project Gen II
03-26-2009, 04:49 PM
#1
Project Gen II Bought a 79z28 to do a gentle restoration on and keep as a rainy day car.
First thing to do was address the leaky air-shocks and sagging leaf springs. The previous owner had ambitions of doing a restore and did a few things to get it on the road as I bought it as a driver but the ride home told me all I needed to know about the car. IT NEEDED A LOT OF WORK!!!
SO I've swapped out the entire worn out rusted and decrepit old suspension with OEM suspension parts. This is my second car and I'm not looking to customize it, just bring it back respectable.
HD leafs, Complete Energy Suspension bushing and HD shackle kit was the start. Front coils as well were swapped as well as the shocks.
Went with HD leafs and Moog coils and Edelbrock shocks. The rear rides a little stiff as would be expected with new leafs but over all the car rides very well now.
Then I had to address the exhaust system, it was driving me nuts. Dual exhaust dumped before the axles
Quick purchase from Summit here of their $200 system and that issue has been resolved. Car does not have cats and I might install them to quiet it down a bit further but it does sound nice, little to loud at WOT though and not enough HP. This is an era correct 350 in it making 180fwhp when it was new.
Next thing to address was the front steering rack and sway bar. Car would not hold a line and had a loose feeling to the front end and steering. SO new complete steering linkage from Moog again. Inner/outer tie rods, center drag link, idler arm. Complete replacement.
The sway bars were next!! This is where I splurged a little bit and went with a Hotchkis complete sway bar kit. Great decision as far as I'm concerned. The dog-bone system for the rear bar is a huge improvement over stock. These bars mean business and the car corners like my 99 just about. Set it on a line and it holds it there. I was shocked at the difference and very very pleased.
Last thing to do was address the tire rub on the wheel wells. Again previous owner did what he could but he was not a mechanic at all or even a car guy from what I can tell of the common household hardware found all over the car.
SO of course the wrong offset rims were on the car. It had 40 series tires on it when I bought it, decrepit rubber and I knew I would be buying new tires. SO I went with the original 70 series 15's and low and behold I now have tire rub!!! Of course someone put the wrong offset wheel on it and the way they corrected that was to run a smaller series tire to avoid the rub. Only problem was the speedo was now way off and it rode like crap and handled even worse. SO after many many weeks searching I finally got the correct factory wheel for it ( without losing and arm and leg). Low and behold no tire rub now.
Just needs an alignment and it's good to go to the track to get some baseline time slips.
I'll get and post some pictures up, it's a black primed looking beast right now but the most important parts are taken care of and the car is safe to drag race and let my wife drive.
Plans are for a head, cam and intake, I also have a complete set of new fuel lines for it and 700r4 to go in.
I'll post some pics in a bit.
First thing to do was address the leaky air-shocks and sagging leaf springs. The previous owner had ambitions of doing a restore and did a few things to get it on the road as I bought it as a driver but the ride home told me all I needed to know about the car. IT NEEDED A LOT OF WORK!!!
SO I've swapped out the entire worn out rusted and decrepit old suspension with OEM suspension parts. This is my second car and I'm not looking to customize it, just bring it back respectable.
HD leafs, Complete Energy Suspension bushing and HD shackle kit was the start. Front coils as well were swapped as well as the shocks.
Went with HD leafs and Moog coils and Edelbrock shocks. The rear rides a little stiff as would be expected with new leafs but over all the car rides very well now.
Then I had to address the exhaust system, it was driving me nuts. Dual exhaust dumped before the axles
Quick purchase from Summit here of their $200 system and that issue has been resolved. Car does not have cats and I might install them to quiet it down a bit further but it does sound nice, little to loud at WOT though and not enough HP. This is an era correct 350 in it making 180fwhp when it was new.
Next thing to address was the front steering rack and sway bar. Car would not hold a line and had a loose feeling to the front end and steering. SO new complete steering linkage from Moog again. Inner/outer tie rods, center drag link, idler arm. Complete replacement.
The sway bars were next!! This is where I splurged a little bit and went with a Hotchkis complete sway bar kit. Great decision as far as I'm concerned. The dog-bone system for the rear bar is a huge improvement over stock. These bars mean business and the car corners like my 99 just about. Set it on a line and it holds it there. I was shocked at the difference and very very pleased.
Last thing to do was address the tire rub on the wheel wells. Again previous owner did what he could but he was not a mechanic at all or even a car guy from what I can tell of the common household hardware found all over the car.
SO of course the wrong offset rims were on the car. It had 40 series tires on it when I bought it, decrepit rubber and I knew I would be buying new tires. SO I went with the original 70 series 15's and low and behold I now have tire rub!!! Of course someone put the wrong offset wheel on it and the way they corrected that was to run a smaller series tire to avoid the rub. Only problem was the speedo was now way off and it rode like crap and handled even worse. SO after many many weeks searching I finally got the correct factory wheel for it ( without losing and arm and leg). Low and behold no tire rub now.
Just needs an alignment and it's good to go to the track to get some baseline time slips.
I'll get and post some pictures up, it's a black primed looking beast right now but the most important parts are taken care of and the car is safe to drag race and let my wife drive.
Plans are for a head, cam and intake, I also have a complete set of new fuel lines for it and 700r4 to go in.
I'll post some pics in a bit.
03-27-2009, 09:21 AM
#3
Nice work so far from the sounds of it. About 6-7 years ago there was a real clean 79-81 Z28 that was always at PIR for 1/4 mile drags. It was a chocolate brown 4sp with a big block and he would run consistant 12.30's. Had factory wheels with dr's and I always liked that car.
Mike
Mike