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The Z and Me

stevef1972z

Entry posted by stevef1972z

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I decided it would be nice to put something together to track the life of this car. I have had a lot of different cars over the years from MGs to Lifted 4x4s. I sold my 1979 Z28 T-top Camaro with 435hp 445lbt/ft after I got a little bored with going in a straight line. I started looking around and found my Z.

Its a 72 numbers matching car that I am 3rd owner from what I can tell so far. I should have found this site before I bought the car and I would have know more of what to look for.

4th of July weekend I picked the car up and took off with a toolbox, extra oil, water, tape, fuses and thought I had it covered. 17 miles later it started to overheat. Pulled over let it cool down and added about a half a gallon to the radiator. Its full of build up so I didnt think too much about it. After getting down to 150ish I thought I would try again. Made it 7 more miles before it blew the head gasket in a plume of white smoke. I limped it to the next exit let it cool for an hour and then limped it to a gas station to get a tow truck. Had it drug home.

I made the driver pull past my house and drop the Z at the top of the hill. Paid him went to the house, opened the garage door and jumped into the Z and coasted it in the door. It didnt get towed into the drive, a moral victory!

I dug through the car and the box of stuff that came with it and found a few manuals. The long weekend was over, my wife was at a conference for the week, so I came home every night, put in a couple hours on it each night. It was only a total of 6 hours worth of work but it took me about 4 nights.

Once I got it running and through several milkshake oil changes I took it out where it promptly stopped running only three blocks from home. Had to hook it to the Jeep and drag it back.

Tell you more later, it gets better!

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stevef1972z

So I get the head gasket fixed, do a tune up and I am fairly happy with myself. I take the car out for a run and it starts to heat up, no big deal I am close to home and figure it will make it back. It gets a little warmer, and more difficult to get off the line at a stop light and labors. Having never driven one of these cars before I am not totally sure how it should feel but I know its not right.

Get back home hot but not overheated completely. I shut it down, and forget to put it in gear and grab the e-brake. My drive has a bit of a grade to it. I go in for lunch after opening the hood to help her cool down. I come back out to find the car down at the end of the driveway. I jump in and pull it up and notice it rolls backward when I put in the clutch. If I drive it more than a few miles, then it will hold itself in the drive without rolling.

I figure that it is the rear brakes locking. The car had set a long time and I figured they were sticking. I get out the books take them apart, rebuild the cylinders, grease everything up and put it together and adjust.

Same problem, drive it a few miles and they rear brakes drag and then slowly lock up.

So I decide its contaminated brake fluid and the rebuild and bleeding didnt flush it all out. So I flush the entire system. No difference. Now I am confused, so I keep looking and adjusting. Brakes, E brake, brake pedal, everything I can think of.

Out of things to adjust it is time to replace or rebuild some stuff. I am worried it might be the pressure switch or the delay valve in the back that keeps the rears from coming on at the same time as the fronts. I start with the master. Come to find out that the rear brake section of the master pitted from the bad fluid. Got a replacement from Autozone bench bled it, installed and bled the system and presto! everything works and the car is a hoot to drive. I spent the next couple months taking it everywhere and dealing with all the small things that were popping up due to the car sitting for so long. Headlights that would not stay on, dash lights that were 50/50 a few rattles and squeaks.

Then I found this site and started learning about the cars and the standard problems with them. Started to follow up on what I learned and guess what. Rust!!! See the floorboard post for the details.

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