69 smog pump

[Ric N.]

I have a 69 427/400 air car that was Corp. Zone ordered in Honalulu Hawaii.The drive train is original however no smog pump, the manifolds also have no holes for the hoses. The Tank Sticker has a stamp on it that says ZT1. The car has had a frame off resto and there was no pump prior to that as well. I'm going to have the car judged and hate to loose the points for no smog pump if there never was one. I am told all 69's had the pump except for exported cars, is this considered exported ??? There are several NCRS members trying to search this out but so far no one seems to know. I would appreciate any help.

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 smog pump

Ric-----

First of all, Hawaii is part of the United States and was so in 1969. So, any requirement that was in effect for the other 49 states was in effect for Hawaii. Beginning with the 1968 model year, exhaust emission controls were required nation-wide. I can see no reason why cars deliverd to Hawaii could have been delivered or ordered without exhaust emissions control.

Second, for 1969, I don't think that ANY Corvettes were originally delivered without AIR, INCLUDING those for export(i.e. to foreign countries). No one's shown me anything yet to prove that "smog-delete" is anything more than an "Elvis is alive" sort of thing.

Something that you could do is to check the casting dates on the exhaust manifolds to see if they "square" with the engine build date. These are hard to see if the manifolds are on the car, but easy to see if the manifolds are off. That might provide some interesting information. It won't prove if the manifolds are original to the car, but it could prove that they are NOT original to the car.

I don't have any information as to what "ZT1" may have denoted for the 1969 model year. I suspect that it could have been related to the rear end ratio installed in the car, but I'm not certain of that.

[Ric N.]

Re: 69 smog pump

Joe, thanks for your reply. The ZT1 is a small stamp upside down in the middle of the paper, nothing to do with any of the options. The manifolds are on the car, I'm going to try to read them but your right it's not easy.

[Dick W.]

Re: 69 smog pump

ALL had the pumps. Canadian, USA both had the smog systems. We think that even the export cars did, given the very low numbers of cars exported. It would have been expensive to change the engine at St. Louis and there is no machine code for export engines.