Well laying in the much of floor dry and dex cool. Sounds cooler than antifreeze doesnt it!!
Car has had a pretty hefty front oil drip since I bought it, right behind the drip from the level sensor. Figured by looking it at it had to be the water pump seal or the distributor. What do you know pulled both and one at least is missing the o-rings....wonder where that happened in its pampered life.
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Tried my hand at some dent repair today since I am waiting on seals to come in. Didnt turn out too bad, at this point paintless..
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After
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Not too shabby. BTW, I see your drag wheels in that first photo. I mounted 26"x 10" slicks on S-10 Blazer rims. Your GMC rims will do the same thing. 
While the front accessories on the motor are off installed a A/C delete pulley and decided to do something about the noisy alternator bearings.
Found a great youtube video since I had never had one apart before. Only thing is I took the casing off before realizing that it can rotate due to the bolt pattern. Will have to spend some time figuring out the right orientation, but oh well.
http://youtu.be/LdFA6WF8lVg
Hope that link works
After smashing one thumb, hitting my other hand for a blood blister and breaking off the optispark vent connection on my last step of bolting on the crank pulley (slipped out of my hand and dropped on me afterward) the car is back together and running.
No more a/c compressor or condensor
Throttle body bypass completed.
I plugged the whole on the opti. Anyone want to make a wager on how long it will last? Challenge or BUST@!!!
just don't let the water pump leak on it and you will be fine.
Have been working on the drivers side window again and am hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. Is the rear plastic guide that goes in the rail supposed to be square or round. The one in the car that doesnt seem to work right is square and looking online it looks like it is for a Ford.
Looking at the manuals I dont see a good picture to tell what it should be.
Thanks, Dan
Any idea on where to get a replacement for the black roller shown in this photo?
Looking for some group help on the NHRA rule book portion. Have never been to a drag strip.
Using the chart referenced in the Challenge rules and a PDF of the rule book online it looks like I might need the following:
Other than the loop is there anything else that I would need on a basically stock engine car with stock gearing? My best guess based on online crapola is it will turn a 14-15 sec run at 95 or so MPH...
Thanks, Dan
C clip eliminators(axle retention) don't come into play till you're going pretty fast.
Well spent another hour on the drivers side window. Replaced one end track roller with one from the junk yard. What do you know it seals!! Still could use another roller replaced on the regulator but I cant bring myself to drill out rivets in the door on a Cheap A.. Car.
After my water pump and opti seal job it doesnt want to stay running at start up. Wonder if I missed plugging something back in, rev it up a little and good to go, any ideas.
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hanks for the drag racing feedback had problems deciphering the chart.
Talk about rust!! Ended up cutting the shock shaft to get it apart. Who needs fancy shock sockets!!
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When did servicable parts go the way of the doo doo bird?? Do people even know what grease zerks are anymore??
Well control arm is out after eating a lot of rust and sand!! The car has to be lighter with all the dirt on my and on the garage floor. Time to find some bushings.
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Rock Auto has moog bushings for cheap. I got all bushings for the car with ball joints for around 200.
Before you pull the other caster bushing (front lower control arm, rear bushing) out measure the depth they are installed, if you press them in til they bottom out the control arm hits the subframe, (or cant be installed, I dont remember but something bad happens)
Also the moog rear control arm bushings are solid (like the 1LE bushings) and on high mileage cars can make a big difference in the way the car drives.
Replacing all the bushings was the best thing I ever did to my Z28.
I have some used KYB AGXs Id give to you real cheap if you are local, Im in DFW.
What are your plans for the suspension?
Thanks for the information will have to look at passengers side or see if I can see the rust line.
Good on shocks, picked up some Koni Yellows off of a fellow autocrosser here in New England Region. Going to pair those with a SS front bar and Eibach lowering springs off of the same car. On the rear I plan on fabbing up some lower control arm relocation brackets and some sort of adjustable panhard bar.
Any idea of how far I can grind out the slots before I will have an issue with the material ripping out?
Dan
What slots?
In the subframe? no idea. I was able to get over 5* of caster with the stock slots so I didnt care.
Cheapest spray paint I could find, must be from the makers of BEER.
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This took too long in coming. Cross threaded and stripped inserts in the upper shock mount were a XXitch to get out.
At least I could get to them to grind off the heads. As someone else said dont drive in the bushings all the way to the flange, they need to be almost centered make sure you look at the old ones.
The rotors are the cheapest I could find, closeout on RockAuto, is that wave pattern a performance benefit, I think being cheap should negate that out!
Still have to get the RH side back together, another day.
dankimber wrote: This took too long in coming. Cross threaded and stripped inserts in the upper shock mount were a XXitch to get out.
Whoever spec'd a Torx head for the bolt under the master cylinder is an SOB. Assuming the MC on the LT1 cars is the same as on the LS1 cars, there is NO room to get to that thing. I replaced mine with a standard hex head in hopes of getting a crow's foot wrench or similar on there.
Removing the master cylinder to change the shock top hat is not cool.
SAP roll out at work has consumed a bunch of time.
Finally got both sides of the front end back together, new brakes, new rear bushings, eibach springs, and single adjustable koni yellows.
Ground out the lower mounting flanges and had to replace a couple of ball joints and one upper shock mount. If you use the Ebay upper shock mounts they work but be prepared to open up a bunch of holes.
Funny what all that will do to an alignment.
Bled the brakes, even new they still suck. Pulled my daughter in for support again.
Next up the rear suspension.
Oh did I mention even the kids love TORQUE!
My attempt at a cool photo shot.
Dont feel bad the moog and monroe upper mounts also require opening up holes. The first time I did it I tried to get it to fit and cross thread and seized up one bolt on each side. When I redid the suspension I probably spent two hours opening up the holes in the shock tower and the upper control arm mount thingie. It was a HUGE PITA, but pretty much a requirement when changing them out.
Opti, how far did you tighten down the shock nuts? Books says about 35 ft. pounds, doesn't seem like much.
Truthfully I didn't look up torque specs. I check torque specs on engine components and some other things, but most suspension components get hit with an impact and then checked with a wrench.
The first time I did shocks I didn't get the nuts tight enough and it cause a knocking sound, so the second time they got hit with an impact. Then i just made sure it was at least up to torque spec.
Well never know what you will find with a car like this. Someone must have cut one of 2 springs at some point...wonder why...
Also squashed lower control arm is off and what do you know bushing fell right out!!
Looking for 2 cent opinions, not he high priced nickel ones....is it worth fabbing up some lower control arm relocation brackets??
Oh yeah and what bump stops!!
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