Introducing........RAT’S NEST

[R68GTO]

Originally Posted by clnovaparts

The floor drain plates look great. Is that finish actual spangle galvanize?

No. The cost to get the real spangle galv was prohibitive for such a part that is rarely seen once installed. My brother came up with a home-grown method to reproduce the look. Took a few trials but happy with the result.

[ZLP955]

Awesome! What paint system did you go with?

[Copo_Cartel]

Jim the other short block that I have is cast dated G 9 9 with T0911 on the front pad

[R68GTO]

So the racing partner of the guy that raced my car BITD had told me that the original engine was sold to a local guy who put it in his "pulling tractor". I was finally able to track the guy down (Tom P.), he now lives in Texas. Here's the engine story he relayed to me:
Doug had rebuilt the engine with an 1/8" overbore to sell to another guy. That guy never came through with the money so he bought the engine off Doug. It was a 427 with 4 bolt mains. He then put a tunnel ram and 2x4's on it and dropped it in his pulling tractor. Ran it for two seasons - it was a great running motor....Doug had a reputation as being a great engine builder, particularly Chevys. Tom then sold his pulling tractor with the engine in it to a guy who lived in Georgetown. The guy took the tractor to his first pull in Eaton, Ohio. Tom was their also and watched the guy make his first run with it. On the 1st run, the guy started in the wrong gear (he was a rookie). When he mashed the throttle the engine revved to 9,200 rpm and came apart throwing a couple of rods out the side of the block.
With that said, Tom told me that he wasn't positive that 427 was out of Doug's car. He knew he bought an engine out of Doug's car, but he thought it was a DZ 302 out of his Lemans Blue Z28. Doug's wife had a Z28, but it was Cortez silver, so who knows if this story is about my original motor or not, but thought I would share it here.
Tom also told me that Doug was a very good drag racer. He never used the clutch with that Rockcrusher, shifting under WOT the whole way.

[ZLP955]

That is awesome to be able to gather all the paint info direct from the original painter, and even more credit to him for having such a great memory!

[markinnaples]

Those metal flake paints are the same ones they used on my car, pretty cool to see the swatches, thanks.

[R68GTO]

cleaned up my original cage nuts that mount to the inner fenders. Interesting that 3 of the 12 were a slightly different style with a part number stamped on them. Went to work on my door latches - before/after pics that show original LB paint residue.

[Kurt S]

Interesting, those are not the J-clips that I normally expect. Most of the time, 69 NOR used square nuts, not hex nuts.

[R68GTO]

Originally Posted by Kurt S

Interesting, those are not the J-clips that I normally expect. Most of the time, 69 NOR used square nuts, not hex nuts.

I obviously can't guarantee they're original to the car.....I wonder if it's a late model year thing? Maybe some other owners of "last 3 month" cars will chime in.

[enio45]

by the way - a short stent in evaporust helps with the orig finish come thru beautifully