Brought Home The Dream: '69 RS Z/28

[cruiserofland]

My theory is that on original magnesium race wheels you could machine the back side of the dimpled areas to counteract and balance the weight difference made by the valve stem area. Or maybe it’s just a visual indicator to quickly locate the valve stems on a race car? Curious if anyone knows for sure…

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Matt, nice job on the stance. It's perfectly straight and even across.

[cruiserofland]

Finally made it out for the first time in a while to our local cars & coffee, Ronnie’s Morning Get Together (every 2nd Saturday for y’all in the San Jose area!). Great turnout and fun to meet folks and talk about the car. Also, gotta love a quiet cruise through town at 7am on a Saturday

[Steve Shauger]

Matt your car looks spectacular! All changes you've made are well done. I purchased my first orange RS/Z in late 70's which has black stripes and vinyl top. I've always loved that combination, but recently I purchased another orange RS/Z which has white stripes must say I really love that look as well.

Like you, stance is very important to me. I used the Moog 6308 front springs on my orange/ black Z and it sits perfect 24.75. I also have had 215-65-15 TA's fronts.

The orange/white Z front needs to be lowered. The rub is Moog 6308 springs are no longer available! I may contact Coil spring specialty and have a set made like yours.

Kudos for bringing your car to the next level and sharing your journey with our members!

[cruiserofland]

Thank you Steve!! Both your HO Zs looks great. What a fun pair.

Working with Kevin at Coil Spring Specialties was great. My first set came out at 25 3/8” to the bottom of the front fenders, with 215/65s and rallys. My second set I just did same specs but -1” ride height and they came out right at 24 3/8”. I bet if you just ask about the orders from Matt from California, they can dial it up or down for whatever you are going for.

Here’s a dash of Hugger Orange and chambered exhaust for everyone’s Sunday:

[dykstra]

Sounds great!!!!

[70LS6454]

I just came across this post. Love the stance and the upgrades you have made to an already Super car!

[cruiserofland]

Thank you! Had fun meeting folks at a few local shows this summer. Engine bay is getting better all the time, with just a few little things left to go. I’m working on the tune… more details in a future post.

[cruiserofland]

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I last posted. We had a baby boy, and the fuel pump died, and something about those two events conspired to pause things for a bit

I wanted to take the opportunity of replacing the pump to snowball the job into going through the whole fuel system… so pulled the tank, cleaned everything, replaced all of the hardware, cleaned and painted the straps satin black, and replaced the rubber fuel lines. Lloyd very generously gave me some spare fuel hoses he had stamped, and my goodness do they look great. I’ve got some square-tang original fuel clamps on the way so pay no mind to the repro round-ended ones on there now.

I have yet to find an original dated fuel pump so for now I’m running a Carter M4685 from Summit, rated for 7 psi. To keep the crank-driven pushrod up and ready for the pump arm to slide in, I used the technique of running one of the pump mount bolts into that nearby threaded hole that then lightly presses against the rod (too tight and it could bend the rod so went easy on it). Worked well (I tried just using grease and couldn’t get that to work at all). On the tank grounding strap, I used some spare fuel line and some tape to simulate the strap retention setup to protect the wire from the tank strap. I also removed the padding that the restoring owner had used between the tank straps and the tank, as originally there would have been no such padding. Looks sharp now.

All put back together, the car fired right up and is running great again. Tuning improvements from last year combined with a new pump have proved to be a great combo. Back to life! More photos to follow.

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Looks good Matt! When you get a chance, paint the back side of your spare wheel a satin black. The factory used a black primer on the Rally Wheels. Try and find some original green 3/8 fuel line clamps that have the flat crimp tips or grind down the rounded tips, so they look flat. They just can't repop stuff like the original for some reason.