Quote:
Originally Posted by gto406
My original statement " I don't think GM ever viewed the ZL1 to be a corner bender, it was to be an all-out street/strip car during the 'muscle-car wars'." should likely have read:
"I don't think GM ever viewed the original 1969 ZL1 to be a corner bender, it was to be an all-out street/strip car during the 'muscle-car wars' of the late 1960's and the early 1970's."
I would check around some of the muscle-car sites on the original ZL1. While the 1969 ZL1 had the F41 heavy-duty suspension, their intended purpose was for NHRA drag racing. Indeed, I would say that the 69 ZL1's that were built likely ended up in the hands of drag-racers (e.g. guys like Bill 'Grumpy' Jenkins).
It is possible some of them ended up in road-race applications, but likely would have required a rear-axle ratio change.
I would also note the 1969 Z-28 had the JL8 option which enabled someone to order a 1969 Z-28 with 4-wheel disc brakes. I am not certain how many ZL1's had this option (or whether you could even order it on the ZL1).
Cheers,
Brian.
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Careful with your history and interpretation of the '69 ZL1.
1) F41 was NOT standard on the COPOs, either number. As you suggest, the 1st 50 ordered by Gibb/Harrell were intended for drag racing. But the Sports Conversion Package, COPO 9737, was created initially for the Yenko Camaros (all of them were iron block 427s, COPO 9561s). It's availability on the ZL1 engine cars would, for all intents and purposes, have turned then into 430+ hp Z/28s as they shared a similar Curb Weight. Exactly TWO were ordered that way.
2) JL8 - 4WDB were NOT available on the COPOs, not because of the COPO's intended mission but because they physically wouldn't fit the Code "BE" HD 12-bolt rear diff. that both COPO 9560 and -61 came with.
3) The ZL1 427, with a 4.25" bore, all-aluminum engine shared almost nothing with the much larger 4.44" bore of the Can Am-based engines. In their smallest GM form, the Can Am engines displaced 430 cubic inches, while the Can Am cars of McLaren, Hall
et al typically displaced 494 cubic inches, courtesy of a stroker crank. Can Am engines were only available from GM in parts. There was no crate engine/pre-assembled program for that engine.
4) Grumpy's ZL1 SS/C racer, and the match race/Pro Stock car it evolved into, was in fact a converted smaller-engine SS and NOT a COPO car, although his sponsoring dealer Ammon R. Smith did sell two ZL1 COPO Camaros. da Grump, Booth-Arons, and Lance Hill of Toronto, were possibly the only Pro Stock racers to enjoy any success with the big bore aluminum Can Am blocks. The others used cast iron blocks, predominantly.