Okay, a little history first. I bought this car out of Texas in November 2004 with the intent of it already being a good driver...then I could piddle and fix little things along the way as I felt like it. Well, it was a driver, but a real POS driver. The paint was 2 years old at the time and the jambs were not done nicely, so that was my starting point...let's fix the jambs...but as many of us know, once you start digging in, the hole just tends to get deeper. Pretty soon, I was pulling the engine and completely disassembling the car. I took the car down to the bare body shell, replaced the front fenders and rad support with Goodmark, stripped the shell and started building it up from there. It's been almost 3 years of very steady effort. The car does have the original COZ rear, but now has 3.42:1 gears, a non-original M-20 and a non-original 350, but that is OK, I wanted a driver, not a museum piece, but I wanted the look to be true to a stock 70 RS/Z-28. My goal is to have it complete and drive it 3 1/2 hours to the GM Nats at Carlisle in 2 weeks....lots of midnight oil being burned, but if all goes right, I will take it for it's first ride down the road this weekend.

You can check out the progress pics at http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/

She's Looking good there Steve Hope you have all new seals and screw/bolts or you'll hate yourself.

Steve...thanks for the comments....as for new bolts and screws...every fastener is either beadblasted and powdercoated or new..and powdercoated. There are a few interior fasteners tht I just painted, but every fastener exposed to the elements is powdered. Seals?....100% new...well, not quite, I did re-use original wiper motor-to-bracket and bracket-to-firewall seals...oh, I did re-use the old gasket where the heater core tubes enter/exit the firewall. 3 years of steady work had to go somewhere....:crazy:

Beautiful job! Looks like you paid a lot of attention to the details on her.
Good luck on the trip.:cool:

That is awesome!! I love the color.

Thanks for the comments...been a lot of work, cubic $ and a very understanding family. By the way, I am creating an album specifically for this car and am slowing moving photos over...so for a while, there will be pictures in both of the below links....this "photo bucket" thing is new to me...:confused:

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/1970RS-Z28/

looks great!! hope to see ya at the show:cool:

K5JMP....are you coming up from TX? I talked to a guy from Texas with a killer IROC/roadrace style 2nd gen...loved that car. Anyway, I will be there and am already registered with ACA #156!

WOW, just awesome!

Looks really nice. Good job.

Nice job!! Looks great!

New photos taken yesterday, (Sunday, 8-June)....first drive since 2004!!!! yee haa. Still have a lot of interior pieces and a few exterior trim pieces to install, but it motored down the road through all four gears....no unusual or alarming noises or vibrations and temps/pressures in the green. Time is getting short for Carlisle and I've still got quite a ways to go, but at least I can start putting a few miles on it in the evenings...

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/1970RS-Z28/

Good looking machine. Hard to beat the blue in my book. And the money shot, really nice detail work:

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/1970RS-Z28/70RSZ283-9-08G.jpg

Thanks Tom. Since I bought this car knowing it did not have the original engine/trans, I am going for the "looks original" end result. The engine is a clone built by A&R with the host dyno'd at 427 hp, but that was with specific tuning and open exhaust...not sure what mine is putting to the pavement, but based on my first jaunt Sunday...it's peppy. Replaced the original 3.73s with 3.42s, because I live in the country and EVERYTHING is 10-15 miles away. The engine is a clone engine by A&R machine with the original dyno'd at 427hp. '78 350 truck block, Edelcbrock Performer RPM heads and intake, 750 Holley and coated headers. Not sure if you'd call it a "resto-mod" or some other term...but my intent was to build a nice ride that I'm not afraid to drive...and I'm busting butt to get it done to drive it 3 1/2 hours to Carlisle this month.

Made it to Carlisle!....and back. With less than 10 miles on the car, my buddy from California and I hopped in Friday afternoon and started the 150 mile trek to Carlisle....lost 1st/2nd gear rod clip around York, PA, but with a borrowed a floor jack and some cotter pins, we were on our way again in approx. 1/2 hour. I think I averaged approx. 10 miles to the gallon, but the weather was great and the people even nicer. Got to meet Chuck Sharin, (thanks for stopping by), and a bunch of other great people...thanks for kind compliments. The trip back was uneventful and I have a list of little issues that need attention...but this will probably be the last entry in the "Project Progress" section. Below are a couple photos of the car at Carlisle and one photo of another 2nd gen with NC plates....this car was clean and very, very well done...super nice!

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/1970RS-Z28/?action=view&current=70RS-Z28Carlisle2008002.jpg (http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm62/l16pilot/1970RS-Z28/?action=view&current=70RS-Z28Carlisle2008002.jpg)

WOW man, VERY nice car.
I just bought my dad a 70 Z28, which i think was originally an RS car. Its the Classic Copper color with white stripes.
Its been sitting somewhere in a time capsule. Not the original long block, but its still got the original dizzy and fuel filter and all the really odd stuff in it.

Saw both those cars there and that orange one rocked didn’t it? I thought yours was pretty nice too; glad to hear you didn’t have any more problems on the way home.

Brian,

I usually lean toward original cars and am particularly fond of survivors...(they're only original once), but that orange car was super sweet and the whole execution was extremely well done. Oh, and there were a lot of super nice 2nd Gens at the show...don't want to slight anyone...but based on having each GM Nats over the past year, I think the quality volume and interest in 2nd Gens continues to grow.

Eliminator SS....good luck on the 70 Z project with your dad. I followed the threads on that deal...better than reality TV show I've seen recently. Just glad you got the car clean from the seller....I had issues with him a few years ago and got burned really bad...oh well, bygones.