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Took some time to pull the rag joint this morning and this is what I found...about 80% of the splines are GONE.  The splines on the steering shaft appear to be undamaged.

Glad this didn't let go when I was driving...

Chris

Kurt -

Agreed.  Have one on order, but I did want to put it out everyone to see if there's something else that I should be looking at or be aware of.

Thanks.

Chris

Hello -

A few months ago, I was moving my '68 Z28 in my lot.  I was puttling it back into the garage, and I started turning the wheel, and it "let go" for a second, and spun about 90 degrees.  I turned it in the opposite direction, same thing.

I popped the hood and found that the half of the rag joint that clamps to the steering box shaft had slipped on the shaft.  I tried to tighten the bolt, just to get the wheels straight to get the car in the garage, but it snapped off, and I lost ALL steering.  I had to dolly the front wheels and get a few of my employees to help me muscle the car back into the garage, where I put it up on the lift.

Needless to say, it freaked me out a bit.  Thank GOD I wasn't driving the car or I may have ended up with a VERY expensive wreck.

Anyway, I'm aware that many of the vendors out there offer a complete rag joint setup and correct bolt, so it doesn't seem like getting a new rag joint setup should be a problem.

However, may main worry is that the splines on the shaft coming out of the steering box might be worn, and I'd run the risk of losing steering again.  They don't APPEAR to be worn, in that they're fairly sharp and well defined, but my experience with steering boxes is nil, other than removing and replacing a few over the years.

The car has manual steering (hate it, but it's original), and the car is an unrestored driver.  I'm wondering if I should pull the steering box and sent it out the have it checked out and rebuilt.  The car seemed to steer fine before I lost the rag joint, but I haven't driven it much since getting it 2 years ago, and as far as I know, it's the original box (It's a Saginaw, but I haven't looked into the exact ratio or looked at any of the casting dates, if there are any).

Any words of advice from someone who has been there, or has experience with this kind of thing?  Anything I MUST have checked, or look out for?

I want to get it back on the road and drive it this year before tearing it down for some much needed work on the quarters and paint.

Thank you.

Chris Kirk
Monroe, CT

Thanks to all for the replies.

Looks like a Comp Plus is the hands down favorite.

I really like the Tremec option as well, as a longer term solution, since it's pretty wearing driving the car on the highway turning 4500rpm at 70mph.

I have T5s stacked like cordwood in my garage.  They're non world class V8 boxes from mid-80s Camaros.  Has anyone used the T5?  Yes, I know that it's not up to the HP/torque that the 302 puts out, but that's only if you hammer the crap out of it.  I catch gears when I'm shifting (kinda hard not to, actually), but I don't plan on doing any long, smoky 8 grand clutch dumping posi hole shots in the future.

Thoughts on the T5, while of course keeping the numbers matching M20 and Muncie shifter on the shelf?

Chris

Hello!

After completely overhauling the brakes in the '68 Z28, I finally took it for a shakedown run yesterday.  I bought the car over a year ago from NC, but haven't put any miles on it.  It's a documented numbers matching unrestored survivor (except for a really crappy mid-80s enamel paint job), and I spent the time since purchasing it getting all of the little stuff working...clock, gauges, locks, etc.

Anyway, the car ran really well...BUT, it has the original Muncie shifter, which, IMHO is biggest POS shifter I've ever used.  I constantly miss gears, hit 3rd instead of 1st and vice versa, it's sticky, notchy, and just doesn't work very well.  Granted, it's probably worn out, so maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on it, but the long and the short of it is, I need a new shifter in order to comfortably drive the car.

Is there an option to get a new Hurst mechanism and use the  Muncie handle for originality?

If not, what have others used with success?  Can the original shifter be rebuilt?   If it can, can I expect decent performance from it?

What have others done?

Thanks...

Chris

Hello!

Since I have the inst. panel out for the tach rebuild, I decided to replace the dash pad.  The previous owner had at some point removed the pad, covered it with blue vinyl, and reinstalled it.  It looked like hell.

I got it off easy enough.  There were only the 4 studs that fasten the pad to the top of the dash.  There were no other screws to remove.

I reinstalled the chrome trim on the new pad and proceeded with the install.  Of course, the pad is not tight against the dash...there's a 1/2" or so gap where it overhangs the front of the dash, right below the chrome trim.

I looked at the original pad and at the metal dash and saw there had been some screws that fastened the edge of the dash pad to the dash board.  They were missing on the original when I pulled it out, so I never knew that they were there.

So...

Do those screws go in from the back of the dashboard into the pad, or do they go in through the outside of the dash pad into the metal dash, hopefully partially hidden by the chrome trim???

What size and type of screw did the General use?  Regular sheet metal?  Chrome plated, or ?

Was the purpose of the chrome trim to partially/totally hide those screws?

Also, the plastic fasteners that are supposed to hold down the side edges of the dash pad don't really stay secure in the factory hole.  Do most people end up using a spot of glue or ?.   

I looked in the factory assembly manual, but couldn't find anything about the dash pad.

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks...

Chris

It's a medium blue.  Don't know the code number for it.

Hello!

Since I have my '68 Z28 laid up for a brake system overhaul, I decided to pull the cluster to have the tach rebuilt (wildly inaccurate) and to fix the dash light.

The original housing is not in the best shape...the upper corners on both sides are broken off, there's a small piece broken off the bottom and missing, and the entire housing is stained and scratched.

I know that Camaro Central sells a repop housing, but only in black but with the correct chroming, so it has to be painted.

Has anyone ever painted a plastic dash part using the paint that CC sells?  I'd like to replace the housing, but only if the paint is a fairly decent match with texture that doesn't look completely out of place.  Also, I'll have to mask off the chroming, and I'm not sure what the result will look like after painting.

Anyone have any experience with painting plastic dash parts?

Thanks...

Chris

Hello -

Since I have my '68 Z28 off the road for a brake system rebuild, I thought I'd tackle the non-working dash lights as well.

Yes, I read the thread on Camaros.net on how to fix your dash lights.  Here's where I am at the moment -

I pulled the instrument panel, went through all the steps, and found that I have no power going to the panel from the socket.  I know that the lights work because I used lines w/alligator clips to run power to the panel, and it lit up like a Christmas tree.

Question -

Should I simply assume that the headlight switch is bad and replace it?  I know that if the rheostat on the switch goes bad, it won't feed the dash lights.

Are there any other tests I can run to test if the headlight switch is bad before I buy a new switch?

Thanks...

Chris

'68 -

My car was built in the 2nd week of April.

The nut has I think what's called a phosphate coating(?).  Kinda flat grey.  I wire wheeled it before I knew that it would hurt the original finish, but I ended up sand blasting the nut with coal slag, then rubbing it down with bearing grease to keep it from rusting, and the finish looks pretty darn close.

See my newer post.  The "quick brake check to make sure the car is safe to drive" has evolved into a "full brake system overhaul using 100% correct factory date coded parts".  As usual.

Chris

Hello -

As is typical, what started out as a "simple brake check to make sure the car is safe" turned into a "complete system overhaul with 100% factory correct date coded parts", or at least that's what I'm now shooting for.

Anyway, here's 2 pics of the rotors that came on my '68 Z28.  From what I understand, the 2 piece is the correct design.  Is that the case, or were both types used with different time frames, or ?.

The "hat" from the 1 piece is rubbing on the inside surface of the rotor, so my guess is that I should go with a 2 piece.

Any disadvantage to the 2 piece?

Thanks...

Chris

68CamaroZ28 -

I can see a few differences in yours vs. mine

1) the underside surface for the "out" line mounting area is much smaller on yours, looks to be about 1/8", whereas the underside on mine is about 1/4", which to me would indicate that your valve is fatter than mine

2)  the machined area around the nut, the step between the machined area and the rough casting, looks to be larger on yours then on mine, which would speak to a fatter valve

Since my car is a fairly good example of an original survivor, along with your pics of the fatter valve, I'm going to assume that mine is the origina, or at least correct, metering valve.

The proof will be when I receive the rebuild parts.

Thanks...

Chris

Hello -

Now that I have the brakes torn apart, I decided to rebuild everything, which also include the metering valve.

I recall reading somewhere that there was a slight difference between 67 - 68 valves and a '69 (I know that 70 is different).

Is there a difference?

I've included a picture of my metering valve.  I checked with the Musclecar Research Group when ordering the kit, and the owner said that he wasn't aware of any differences between 67-68 and '69.

Thanks...

Chris

Hello -

I'm starting the brake system redo on my '68 Z28.  I'm going with new lines, hoses, wheels cylinders, rear shoes and hardware, and a correctly date coded booster and correct master cylinder.

The correct MC has bleeders on the body.  I realize that these bleeders are there to help eliminate any air trapped in the MC due to the upward angle of the booster mount.

My question is this - on every brake system overhaul I've ever done, I've always bench bled the MC...filled it up with fluid, and either blocked off the line ports or routed lines back into the reservoir, then pumped the MC piston until there were no more air bubbles in the lines or coming out of the ports in the reservoir.

Wouldn't bench bleeding before installation eliminate the need to use the bleeder ports on the MC?  If not, how would air get into the MC after the bench bleed, assuming I keep the reservoir full enough to cover the ports during installation?

If I can avoid spilling paint-eating DOT 3 fluid all over my newly semi-gloss painted MC, I'd like to do so.

Thanks in advance...

Chris

Hello -

Whilst at Carlisle, I got to talking with a guy while digging through some alternators.  I mentioned to him what I was looking for, an 1100814 alternator for my '68 Z28, and he said that he had one at home.  Of course, he knew exactly what he had, so the price was not cheap...$1000 to be exact.

He just sent me some pics of the alternator that I've attached.  Obviously, if I'm going to drop a huge pile of money on what is normally a $60 part, I want to make sure that it's EXACTLY what I need to make my car completely original.

The date code is 7H2, which is a late '67 alternator for use on an early '68 car.  My car was built in the 2nd week of April.

Will this alternator be out of place on my car?  I have no sense for the lag time between an alternator's production and when it was actually installed on a car.

Also, anyone think it could be a restamp?

Thanks...

Chris