The wood grain is a pain to remove. Every inch of it has adhesive. Took me about 4 hours with a real thin blade. I then sent the thing out to be metallized and then had to mask off the edges with petroleum jelly. Then spray black. Got about 20 hours in the thing. I did this on mine about 20 years ago and it is holding up well.

I am going to try this out on my bezel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZgAy6kRG0&t=60s

I've got one of those pens, just haven't gotten around to trying it on anything.

Here's the one I got:
https://www.amazon.com/Molotow-ONE4A...WG7T5S3R3RP2E5

Here's another vendor:
https://alsacorp.com/

And a video of what appears to be magic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY0iNcApC8s

I was going to try this stuff on the dash corner vents. 70's were one year only on the vents. Impossible to find NOS.

I was afraid I was going to rip the cover after it started to split at the sharp angle to go over the edge after working it so much.
I used a halogen lamp and a few pairs of sheetmetal pliers with the WIDE clamping area and pulled it over.
Part of it was really good... the part I did after fixing the backing.


I first tried to stretch the drivers side about 2 months ago, prior to straightening - then straightened it and then pulled it over on the pass side. It cover was a good inch short from

I am going to get another screwed up pad and try a few things...
If I had an oven large enough I would have heated the entire thing up to about 200 or so...

I was thinking that in a black bag in the southern sun for a few hours would make the entire thing pliable.
If I were going to do a couple I would weld up a jig to hold them in the correct position so they could be straightened and stretched.

Some photos of the relaminating the cluster circuit board

There was an entire corner and half of the screw hole which were missing... I taped up the wood grain and used 3M automix repair material to build up the area and worked it back down.
The lighter gray color is all replacement material

HA I just picked up one of those at Hobby Lobby over the weekend.
Mine has a finer point with a metal collar half way up the writing tip... probably a 1 mm tip

Nice work! I actually like the detail work better than the body work and engine stuff. It can be a challenge especially when you don't have many practice parts.
On the dash pad, did you flatten your or did you leave a bit of an arch? I didn't flatten mine completely as the dash on mine has some curve

Pick up the bigger Molotow refill and save yourself some money.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MR2KER3...a-360766397241
Air brush it on in light coats and see how incredible it mirrors chrome.
The amount of paint they put in those felt tip pens is ridiculously small.

Thanks I wondered if it would airbrush or not...
IMHO it looks JUST LIKE vacuum metalized. especially when you are only seeing a small amount, it would be perfect for a chevelle gauge cluster.

THE DASH PAD I realized after the first fitting about the bow on the edges - that I fixed.

The air vents I took apart so I could tighten up the vent blades and then made a hand rivet tool from a pair of hole punchers to rivet them back together.

If you are using the Moto PEN, make sure you have the tip "soaked" and make one pass if you can. if you go back over it to "touch it up" it could cloud up the shine. Experiment with it, doesn't take long to become an expert. This is great stuff

Watch this.

That should work great on Vent balls etc...

Had the radiator boiled out
Then I spent 5 hours and Straightened the fins using wooden sticks and tweezers.
Sprayed with Catalyzed Enamel color matched.
All the pulleys, motor mount cups, and power steering brackets.

Spatter Paint
 

Not too bad for a first shot... I thought the runs in the corner may have to be fixed, however after looking at a few low mile trunks I saw the same patterns.

Looking good.

Awesome attention to detail James, as ever.

The interior kick panels and rear inner side panels.
Also the roof rail weatherstrip retainers and the foam seal for the "gap" originally they have a similar seal installed at the factory... these eliminate the wind noise and sealing issues which plague many restorations.
First gens use a polyurethane saturated foam seal, not the wider black foam of the 2nd gens.

Picked up a nice low mile (12k) 1973 model Z28/L82 take off - intake - original carb, EGR 7040299, TCS vacuum solenoid, and idle stop solenoid.
The cover on the divorced choke spring has an AZ ink stamp and the Idle stop Solenoid has a
DP1997409 ink stamp.
This was one of the last LARGE items I was in search of...

Will this beauty be for sale when it's completed?

Where did you get the Z87 cowl seals? Mine are in basically good condition, just hae some wrinkles. Any suggestions on how to iron out the wrinkles.

1No... this one will in all likely hood never be sold.
The owner, my brother, has had this car since approx 1990 ~ AND IT WAS Purchased as a replacement for his first 73 LT Z28, which was totaled back in the late 80's while he was working at a local grocery store... He was meticulous and parked the car between a telephone pole and the GUY wire for the pole so no one could door ding or get near it... WELL Until the Senior Citizen hit the accelerator instead of the BRAKE and T boned it... buckling the roof and putting the pass door to the console.

Those are the original Z87 seals, I just cleaned them using Kaboom Foaming cleaner and a scrub brush.
I laid them out in the hot sun to flatten them out.


IF anyone knows of a 1972 Z28 4 spd or a 72 LT1 Vette I am looking for the right car.... must have paper and born with drive train... No Greens or Reds.

Considering a 72 LT1 A/C vette BECAUSE 72 Z28's are like HENS TEETH.

With the level of detail you are achieving on this car, I really doubted that it would be for sale, but you never know unless you ask....:wink:

You're right, 72 Z28's are a rare bird.....IIRC, the 2nd lowest number built with something like only 2575 :dunno:

IMHO - The best compliment anyone could have on a restored car is to have it mistaken for a survivor.


I enjoy the process of determining the exact way something was done... like angles of approach, how did that overspray reach that crevice or why is the mist this way... like rockers... gun were on reciprocating rails... watch the videos of the cars being painted in Fisher Body plants. They traveled side ways across the top of the car Left to right as the car moved beneath and on the side there were no tilted guns shooting the bottoms of the rockers.
I spend hundreds of hours inspecting every photo of every survivor car I can find... make model and year are of little consequence... 1922 Oldsmobile Super Sport V8 with 2500 miles to a 1990 Triple Black L98 Vette Roadster with 10k miles...

NOW HOWEVER I DO prefer anything ZORA had a hand in creating... 57 Airbox vettes to 1972 ZR1 vettes. Solid Lifter Chevrolet's - specifically

Bill Yes 72's are hard to find... I looked for a long time in the 1980's as my father wanted to get my brother and me Z28's for the year we were born...
The first 73 LT Z28 (Blue totalled one) I found was built the week my brother was born and sold new at Stott Chevrolet 40 miles from the hospital. (as a side note Quain Stott and I have become pretty good friends due to some other racing and cars) however we never were able to find a 72... we scoured Hemmings for years between when I was 13-16. Then after I bought a 69 vette and then went to college we really just gave up on it.

Working away, installed the kick panels, the rest of the vent assemblies and defroster ducting.

Placed a large order for carpet and under-layment, the plug wires, battery cables, rad rubber insulators, tons of misc little parts valve cover rubber elbow, etc...

I am looking for someone to plate the front and rear bumpers using only Nickel Chrome like the originals... Anyone know of anyone?

ALSO if anyone has or HAD a 73 Z... what are your wheel dates?

I have almost 3 sets of wheels and none are 1973 MY wheels.

4 are dated Jan for 1971 model year... K-1-1
4 are dated Sept 1971 Model Year K-1-1 9 30
2 are dated Nov 1971 Model year. K-1-1 11 22 & 11 24
1 is dated Feb of 1972 model year K-1-2 2 11

I would love to trade for 1973 Model year wheels manufactured in late 72.

Tipped off to a starter by a guy on the Nasty Z site (McCune) 418 starter dated 2M14 PERFECT!

----Why do you say the bumpers are nickel plated? Im pretty certain they are chrome plated. They may have had a nickel underlayer,,,,Maybe?...….Bill S

Factory plating was nickel over bare steel followed by the chrome layer. It resulted in not as good of a luster finish. Most chrome shops add an initial layer of copper that is then polished. This tends to fill the microscopic pits better and the subsequent nickle-chrome is much brighter and smoother. This then falls into the category of "over-restored". I would say that any competent chrome shop can skip the copper layer.

On your dashpad, is the area around the gauges black or te brown of the dashpad? I always thought that on the original pads the area around the gauges was supposed to be black.

I have never seen a colored dash pad with the area painted black.
I have some more photos of other low mile cars I will check them as well...
This is the original brown dash pad, it is dated 11/30,

My 71 RS with neutral interior had the same dash color configuration. no black recess.


Does anyone know how to determine whether the CAMARO script on the dash was silver or not?
LT includes Deluxe interior which has argent trim.

Well.... I’ve been trying to keep up the assembly pace on my personal 73 with your project but you are working just too darn hard and fast… Here’s a few comments / questions:

Wheels: My car is a 02A build date. The wheels are K-1-3 2 “valve stem” 1 AU, except one is a K-1-3 1 “valve stem” 22 AU. The odd thing is all my wheels are painted black inside as well as on the back side (original paint), except the one wheel with the earlier date code is painted gray on the inside and back side. Maybe this happened to be a transition date for changing from gray to black at the wheel factory?

Chrome: Just got my parts back from the chrome shop (ouch – you don’t want to know the $$$ on that) and they look incredible! They don’t have the over shiny chrome effect of reproduction chrome parts. Not sure what layers they used but I am very pleased. Even the inside of the bumpers are lovely. The inside of the back bumper had numbers stamped in it repeated over and over. Looked pretty neat once the plating was done… P.S. Chrome is difficult to take pictures of...

Roof rail moldings: Your recent picture shows the vertical roof rail weatherstrip retainers, but it doesn’t look like it has the second trim piece on the car that wraps over the edge of the body (see my pics)? Do you not have those items or am I just not seeing this correctly?

Keep up the great work and posting of all your progress! Your efforts are really motivating me to get mine done in the near future!

Charlie

It's difficult to get the kick panels in with the dash in...
I ended up taking the dash back out in order to put them in without scratching anything.

Your wheels are 1973 MY and 1/22 and 2/1

This car has RS but NOT EXTERIOR STYLE TRIM,(so no body color door handle stripes, no hood edge trim roof rail, tail light inner rings, or rear trim) they were separate options in 1973.

Here is what I was referring to for the dash color:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...9673f6&theater

That is Scott Kiehne's 70 L78 car.

also can be seen in Franks Arone's 70 Z28 with Green Dash:

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mu...e1533613472352

See what I mean? Maybe a 70 only thing?

Cu Ni Cr
Copper Nickel Chrome... Copper plate to fill in surface irregularities then polished, then nickel plated, then chromium - the chrome is the thinnest layer and the Nickel is what is polished and then chromed in order to produce the luster.

Wow that is NEWS to me... I have never seen that, it may be unique to the 70 model, I have never owned or worked on a 1970 Camaro at any time.

Posted this question over at NastyZ28 and come to find out it is yet another 1970 Camaro oddity.

Dave - Classic has the Z87 Cowl seals, I am not sure if they are exactly the same as originals however they were in the cat.

Replated the tail light sockets and replaced the lower steering shaft boot and lower steering column bearing... (same as a Jeep Grand Cherokee)

started putting the tar and jute underlayment in and carpet as well...

Absolutely not!! My wife has instructions to pour my ashes through the carburetor when I’m gone..

I just want to thank my brother for restoring my car. James’s attention detail is insane!! Thank you brother!!

Progress... headway... or ?
Ha ha...
Coming along nicely, I plated more parts... the insert sleeve for the back drive bell crank - stamped with SPI.