Mike Savoie 67 Z

[juliosz]

Originally Posted by markjohnson

What a great car & that’s the largest cowl plenum hole I’ve ever seen on ANY car but also trimmed open very nicely. If I was in the market for a ‘67 Z28, it wouldn’t bother me one bit having the “DZ” motor in there. In fact, I think it makes the car more interesting with that factory-authorized DZ swap and the only official 4-bolt main ‘67 Z28! Thank goodness those 50-plus year old documents have stayed with the car!

I always wanted a 67 Z and the first time Mean Dean showed me pics of this car + the engine swap docs from GM, I knew I had to have it. The original owner was a huge fan of Penske and Donohue so he ordered or finessed "out the door" many of the heavy duty parts that the race team used. As an example, he learned that the trans first gear was a weak link from the Penske team and also being assigned to first gear concerns on truck transmissions. He designed and validated a fix. Here's his email response when I asked about it:

"That design was my own personal design. I had the pieces made and it is a one off. The race cars had some first gear seizures to the mainshaft at extended high speed operation at places like Daytona. The Vince Piggens group designed a version that had a full width needle bearing and a special sleeve.
I know the Penske cars used it. I do not know if it was ever packaged a service parts. It was never for production.

I was working in Transmission Development at the time on another first gear seizure issue on the big top loader 4 speed truck transmission. I developed a lot of knowledge on first gear seizures.

The full width bearing closed off the oil feed slot in the gear. That design required grease packing the bearing. I did not like that. My analysis said that two narrow bearings would carry the load and not depend on grease or grease maintenance."

I am fortunate that the original owner is as excited about this restoration as I am. Going into this project I didn't realize there's a great amount of payback not specifically for the effort but for the support and enthusiasm from the original owner during this process. It's a great feeling.