🔧 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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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 ):

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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:

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with new brakes:
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Cam + pushrods + valve springs etc went in summer of 2008.

Changed the turn signal lenses:

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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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How do you like the catch can? And which MM one did you choose?

Well, zero run time with the can yet
But
The quality is awesome, I opted for the billet mount. It fits well, MM sends you everything you need for the install including the rubber hose for both connections. I purchased the LS1 Mild can which I believe is good for 450 or 500 HP.
 
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Gav'sPurpleZ

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Nice looks like it came out great!

I'm happy with the work. They left the badge off since they didn't wet sand the bumper. I will put it one after the cure time is over and the rest of the car gets polished and coated.
The shop has enough paint tinted and mixed for the rear bumper.
Hoping the bumper is on time on Wed and they can paint it right away.
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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GM bumper arrived on Wednesday.... found to be "brittle" like the existing one... aftermarket ordered.
No word yesterday but the phone call today resulted in the aftermarket bumper being damaged and refused.
2nd try today = in good shape and hopefully in the booth early next week.

I'm ready to have this project over and done with :angrys00ls:
 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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ICYMI:

 

Gav'sPurpleZ

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In a continuing effort to fix small issues, the door handle bezel on the driver side was cracked and the twist lock for the light was broken.
Here you can see the switch panel decided to come all the way out. A small epoxy repair to the spring clip guides was done as well.
The reproduction pieces are a lighter shade of gray than the originals but actually match the 4 different shades of gray on the door panel. I replaced the passenger side as well just to keep the interior consistent.


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Gav'sPurpleZ

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A couple years ago I upgraded some of the lighting, rear markers and red LEDs.
While wetsanding I noticed they were collecting water. Back to ebay and ordered replacements.
After the first wash with the new lenses, water.
I removed them and ran a bead of silicone around the two pieces that make up the lens and housing.
After that, no water but still had condensation.
So back to ebay but this time found a different LED option.
First time I have seen them. They look good and shouldn't leak due to their construction



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Gav'sPurpleZ

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Very nice. I'm old enough to remember a buddy having a BPM Z/28 A4 2.73 car locally.

interesting because I lived on the NW side of the city and the car was originally A4 with 2.73s.
3.73s were installed around 2010 and the manual swap was done a couple years ago.

I don't remember seeing another one back in the day
 

Pro Stock John

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I don't remember the guys name, but he used to attend some of our MFBA meets back in the 00-05 days. I remember he dynoed it at PTC when we had a group purchase. I remember the 2.73s, it hit some big mph on the dyno. Might be the same car, I haven't seen another other than yours. The old MFBA historian Jim S might have pics on his website.
 

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