🔧 BUILD "Barn Find" '71 Z28

General Information

I say barn find in quotes as my uncle bought this car in 1992 and we always knew about it, I had always mentioned buying it from him but at the time I wouldn't have been able to get it going anyway. Unfortunately, he passed in 2014, and when he did I made it my goal to get the Camaro up and going. We pulled it out and brought it to Texas where I was at the time in 2015 and I got it up and going for the Power Tour in 2016. Initially it was LS swapped, but I didn't do the suspension or brakes and it was lacking most of the interior.

Currently it is:
Engine: GM Remanufactured LQ4, Comp XR275HR Cam, Comp 918 Springs, LS6 intake manifold, Painless LS wiring harness
Mounts: Musclerods LS swap mount and header kit
Fuel System: Tanks INC. EFI fuel tank, Russel Fittings/Lines, Aeromotive Fuel Rails, 42 lb/hr. injectors
Transmission: Tremec TKO600 - American Powertrain Hydromax and swap parts.
Rear end: Strange 9-inch housing, 3.70 gears
Brakes: Baer 6P Calipers, 13-inch rotors, front and back
Wheels/Tires: US Mags PT4, 17x8 front, 17x9 rear, Nitto NT555 G2 tires
Interior: TMI Products Sport R seat foams and covers, Sport R door panels and center console, Vintage Air SureFit Air Conditioning, Dakota Digital Retrotech Gauges, Painless chassis wiring harness, Ididit steering column
Suspension: UMI Performance control arms, Viking double adjustable coilovers and rear shocks, Custom Works Performance rear lowering leaf springs

While the car came from LA area and hasn't seen salt, mice built nests that held moisture and caused some rust in the rockers. Next plan is fixing that stuff but I plan to just primer the fixes and keep it in patina for quite a while. It's nice being able to drive and not worry.
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Squeaky192

Regular
Oct 4, 2022
269
1,500
Fox River Grove
The hints of warmer weather coming have given me some motivation, at least to order stuff to bolt on the car. I ordered up a Holley mid-mount accessory drive today, they fit so nice and tight to the engine and I've been chasing getting my brackets aligned over and over, I decided to just pull the trigger and run their setup. I also went ahead and ordered their LS to SBC valve cover adapters that hide the coils under the valve cover - I'm not going to pretend it's a SBC and will keep my LS6 intake manifold, I just want to run the original finned LT1 valve covers as a homage to it's original matching number engine that will never go back in it.

I also have a new clutch pedal assembly on the way from American Powertrain that mounts the master cylinder to the pedal assembly which will be nice - I've fought getting the angle of the rod to the master on the firewall just right and this will solve that.
 

Squeaky192

Regular
Oct 4, 2022
269
1,500
Fox River Grove
Got my new Malwood clutch pedal assembly installed with their billet reservoir, thing fits great and works around the larger Painless fuse block, etc. No pics of it installed under the dash as I didn't want to crawl under there again, but here's the unit via their website.
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The OG SBC valve covers aren't going to clear the 11" brake booster, so I'm gonna put that on the back burner for now. I think I could do an 8" booster setup and clear, but at that point I might just want to go to a Baer 7/8" bore master and go manual brakes.
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Got the original front drive pulled off, going to spend some time cleaning stuff up then I'll get the new Holley mid-mount installed.
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Squeaky192

Regular
Oct 4, 2022
269
1,500
Fox River Grove
Front drive mostly installed, pretty much just need to redo my AC and P/S lines and my radiator hoses as the outlet differs on the new water pump and I'll be good to go. My radiator had a pinhole leak at the top of it, so I dropped it off to radiator shop this morning, hopefully they can seal it as it's a nice Afco 3-core and I don't really want to buy a new one lol.

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Squeaky192

Regular
Oct 4, 2022
269
1,500
Fox River Grove
The previous LS radiator I had had a pinhole leak that I had fixed previously, but it was starting to leak worse and worse. Ended up swapping in a Summit radiator and just adapting my fan shroud over, should be good to go for this season at least now before I dive into more stuff.

I am likely going to have one of our fab guys repair the rockers on it when he has time. Mouse nests held moisture and they're only getting worse, so that will be the next phase.


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