NorCam (Graeme Browne's) Lemans Blue 1969 Z/28

[mike1971]

I agree Graeme Bill is top notch on the Smog world!.��

[DW31S]

Nice score Graeme!

[napa68]

Lovely.............just lovely!

I'm looking forward to see how "detail it"

Great find Graeme!

[NorCam]

Thanks Dave...

I'm enjoying this one while discovering things I never knew about late built cars.

Checked out the wheels, trim rings and derby covers yesterday. Everything appears to be factory issue with original 4 clip 3901708 trim rings and factory 3925805 dual flute derby caps. The wheels are original 15" x 7" rallies with K-1-9 9 9 YH dates from Kelsey Hayes. Hard to see behind the valve stem in this shot and will have to verify if there's another digit such as a 1 under the leading edge of the valve stem? To this point it looks like the 9th day of September unless there's another number at the leading edge of the hole? Insides of the wheels are a little crusty (survivor state) and have never been restored by the looks of things. All lug nuts have the 3 triangle markings on them as well. Once I mount some driver wheels, these will be stored away. The spare in the trunk matches the others and has an original Sports Car 200 spare tire on it. Jeff Boone added the wide tread F70 tires to the car before it was shipped. He had a set of these sitting around and while they are not the correct E70's, they will do since they are coming off to be stored anyways.

Thanks for adding these to the car Boonie.


Original factory issue trim rings and derby caps.


Might be a 1 hiding under that valve stem. Will check later.


Dual fluted derby cap as issued by factory.


Wheels have not been restored by looks of the inside.


Original spare tire intact.

[NorCam]

Not knowing a lot about the engine other than a report of it being checked out recently by a PA machine shop, I took a peek inside the covers to see what the dates were on the cylinder heads. They are in fact a late set of 186 heads with October 1st casting dates and have not being converted or altered with screw in studs or guide plates. I found the rockers to have M markings on them which was odd, and immediately saw that the covers also had drippers? The M markings are long slot rockers for big blocks are they not? The covers then had me wondering if this was a late change up due to it being a late car as these would be the same as 1970 covers. Anyone in the know what other late cars came with? In the coming week, I will try and learn more about the motor having been gone through to see if the bore is standard or if the rings / bearings were done while it was checked. At this point I am expecting the short block is purely stock with exception of the cam which was reportedly changed to a Comp 3849346 solid lifter replacement cam #12-107-3. Sounds a little docile to me but cam specs are pretty much spot on with the original 30/30. Runs out pretty good from the first few test miles put on the car this week. Not exactly the bottom of the page grinds that I am used to...but it will have to do as I struggle to keep with something stock. More on the engine as it's discovered.


The passenger side showing stock manifolds and spark plug shields. Manifold bolts appear incorrect. (bin bolts)


Correct 186 Camel bump heads dated J 1 9 (October 1st)


Long slot rockers with M markings? Thought this was odd...big block rockers?


Motor has 474207/474208 covers with drippers? They look original but...


Retains original wire separators with correct M marking bolts.

December 15th Addition: I have since learned that the above valve covers are in fact 80's dated replacements, however it has been interesting to learn that more than a few Nov built survivor cars have been found to have come with 70 style dripper covers. I may be changing these covers out to an earlier set of 3965543 & 3965544 covers at some point. I have also been in further contact with the engine builder who told me the rockers are Manley long slot rockers that were added when the engine was rebuilt a few years ago. They are claimed as being a suitable replacement and are marked with an M.

[big gear head]

Originally Posted by NorCam

I found the rockers to have M markings on them which was odd, and immediately saw that the covers also had drippers? The M markings are long slot rockers for big blocks are they not?

Big block long slot rockers were marked with a L or H.

[napa68]

I'm going to get a beer and be right back............. so I can watch this thread.

[ScottG]

Very nice car that will clean up nicely, they are still out there !

[NorCam]

Just got off the phone with the engine builder who went through the motor about 5 years ago. I learned an interesting story about Wayne Harmon's former girlfriend in that call today. Apparently she decided to run a bunch sugar though his cars and this engine got the same treatment. Wayne pulled the motor out of the car to protect the DZ block and installed an LT-1 into the car to serve as his driver. He had the 302 on a run stand in his shop and would run it from time to time. I guess she nailed his cars, his truck and this engine which was run not knowing she had hit the stands fuel tank with sugar as well. It was brought to the machine shop as a complete running long block that needed to be gone through because of the sugar that was run through it (very nasty woman).

You can see from the pictures that the sugar had gummed up and solidified in the lifter valley as well as around the heads. The machinist took it all apart to hot wash and clean the block and heads thoroughly before measuring everything out on the rotating assembly. It had all original internals and I am told that once it was cleaned, it received new rings, bearings, a camshaft and a timing chain before going back together as standard bore motor. He also recalled doing valve seals on the heads and has sent me some pictures of it as it was coming apart.

Looks like it had O rocker arms when it came to him but they were changed at some point after that? He thinks he might be able to dig out the invoice for the work he performed on the motor and may be sending that to me when he has time. Today, I also grabbed a couple pictures of the DZ carburetor that Jeff Boone sent out to be restored for the car prior to selling it to me. Carb is dated 2nd week of October 69 and is very nicely restored. Just need to find an original choke rod as that went missing at some point. Oh yeah, and a set of O rocker arms. lol

[Crush]

Really fun reading the story as it happens! Thanks for sharing and I admire your tenacity!