It’s been a while since I posted anything about the Colbert Z-11.
Many discussions with Dave to continue building the history.
An interesting story how Dave outran the Ramchargers, more on that another time.
Anyway, before Covid I received a call from Russ Campbell who had talked with Mark Johnson about a 57 Corvette that was for sale with what looked like a 409/427 Z-11 or maybe a top half.
I gathered the info, reached out and made a flight to look at it. That took about a year.
Upon arrival I discovered an old 57 vette race car complete with a push bar, Fiberglas in a mess, split, torn etc. Working my way to the car, it was obvious it had sat outside for 30-35 years. The engine was missing the intake with cylinder heads full of debris and the dipstick end was all rust.
It was a Z-11 set of heads and valley cover.
Now for the best news.
The pad on the front of the block was stamped QM!
Not only that, but it had the serial number stamped from the Colbert Z-11!!!!
Now, after 2 more years of negotiating I purchased the car and engine with the transmission. Got it home and began dismantling it. Rods, std, mains std, 0- crank, big white balancer(was white paint gone), all pistons std and perfect except 1 hole that rusted from water setting. Needs a sleeve. Has the Eonic cam.
Lots more to the story and I’ll post more photos. Will take a while for completion.
Many discussions with Dave to continue building the history.
An interesting story how Dave outran the Ramchargers, more on that another time.
Anyway, before Covid I received a call from Russ Campbell who had talked with Mark Johnson about a 57 Corvette that was for sale with what looked like a 409/427 Z-11 or maybe a top half.
I gathered the info, reached out and made a flight to look at it. That took about a year.
Upon arrival I discovered an old 57 vette race car complete with a push bar, Fiberglas in a mess, split, torn etc. Working my way to the car, it was obvious it had sat outside for 30-35 years. The engine was missing the intake with cylinder heads full of debris and the dipstick end was all rust.
It was a Z-11 set of heads and valley cover.
Now for the best news.
The pad on the front of the block was stamped QM!
Not only that, but it had the serial number stamped from the Colbert Z-11!!!!
Now, after 2 more years of negotiating I purchased the car and engine with the transmission. Got it home and began dismantling it. Rods, std, mains std, 0- crank, big white balancer(was white paint gone), all pistons std and perfect except 1 hole that rusted from water setting. Needs a sleeve. Has the Eonic cam.
Lots more to the story and I’ll post more photos. Will take a while for completion.
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