🔧 BUILD Gav's 1998 Purple Z28

General Information

[MENTION=3307]IceCreamAssassin[/MENTION] mentioned in my GoPro thread that he didn't know much about my car.
[MENTION=5]Mook[/MENTION] also mentioned it's one of the longest owned cars on the site.

Why not make a thread.

I bought the car on September 13th 2002 ( it was a Friday :s00ls: )
37,642 miles when it was driven away from Grossinger Chevy in Palatine.

I had originally called on a red 99 SS but the dealer sold it before I could get there. The salesman mentioned they took a Z28 in on trade. I asked what color and he said " It's weird, never seen this color before, It's Purple."

I requested they park the car in the back and not to let anyone see it until I got there :rofl:

I drove it a couple days later, and bought it the following week.

I have alot of pictures saved on a flash drive from my old laptop, but here's what it looked like in all of it's STOCK Z28 glory:

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Menzerna1012.jpg


Sub frame connectors and a strut tower brace were the first couple mods.
Followed by a lid, SSRA and smooth bellow.

Long Tube headers and a cut out went in the summer of 2004

To make a long story short, a few friends had SS's and kind of swapped wheels around, so I detailed a friends car and was paid with a set of painted SS 10 spokes ( again more pics on the flash drive ):

HPIM0766.jpg


HPIM0762.jpg


HPIM0761.jpg


Yank SS3200 stall + B&M cooler followed shortly after in 2005.

another friend had a WS-6, I told him if he ever sold the wheels, I wanted 1st dibs... and those are the ones the car currently rides on:

HPIM0910.jpg


with new brakes:
HPIM1093-1.jpg


Cam + pushrods + valve springs etc went in summer of 2008.

Changed the turn signal lenses:

HPIM1091.jpg


Z28-208.jpg


Z28-308.jpg


The rear end was rebuilt in 2011, new axles 3.73 gears and diff cover.
I installed a new TA girdle this past spring.

I just ordered a bunch of suspension parts to freshen up the 20 year old "bones and joints"

:bigthumb:

with a fresh coat of WG Uber Ceramic Coating:

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Gav'sPurpleZ

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I am going to see where I am at by the end of the season.... I may start collection parts over the winter.

I am continuing to browse single family homes with more garage space to park the truck.
If I stay in the townhouse, then it will free up the extra dough to strongly consider the swap.
:bigthumb:
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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Looking great! That is a great color on that car. I'm curious to hear your comments in the suspension refresh.

thanks !

I have all of the parts, just need to get them installed.
the front suspension will be all new.

I want to see how the torque arm improves the "planting" of the power. :bigthumb:
 
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Gav'sPurpleZ

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wound up taking the bracket off the diff and muscling it back on WITH the rod ends loosely bolted to the bracket.

I just got off the phone with UMI, need to adjust the pinion angle.
It's currently @ 2* positive while sitting on the ground, so just need to adjust it the other way.

parts like this should come with some form of instructions :rofl:
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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NEVER adjust to positive pinion angle!
you should be -2/3/4 degrees negative.

Correct, this is why I called and asked the question.
Kind of hard to see which way the diff is moving when on the ground.

he said with the angle finder on the t/a bracket, looking at it from the driver side, the needle should be on the right side of the zero.
this adjustment will be made tonight. no test driving has been done yet.

Bmr has a decent pinion angle video I used when I put in the 9". Are those umi sways? I've got the Strano hollow sways.

....maybe it wasn't bmr as the video I found isn't what I remember

The BMR video is okay, somewhat confusing with adding the d/s angle to the t/a angle etc.
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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pinion angle adjusted tonight and went for a ride.
feels good, no vibrations ( other than 20 year old cam'd rattle box ).

I did notice that the rear appears to be off to the driver side, so will need to tweak the panhard bar.

still have the rest of the parts to go ( [MENTION=148]HILROD[/MENTION] ) :io:
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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What else is going on?

strano springs
Bilstein shocks / struts
strano front sway + bushings + links.

AC Delco replacements:
front upper control arm bushings
front lower control arm bushings
upper and lower ball joints
tie rods

almost 20 years old, 73k miles and everything is original...so i figured if it's going to be apart, then why not refresh everything.

all of the $ i put into the 77, and thought Barney just sat there.
the 77 rode solid ( all new parts :rofl: ) so i figured this year Barney gets some love.
 

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