[Cam]

Were these options one and the same? Or was the Yenko suspension just the F41 suspension with higher spring rate?

 

[Chevy454]

All '69 COPO Chevelles (came with these mandatory options:

* 427 engine assembly (coded MQ for 4-speed, MP for automatic)
* F41 suspension
* front disc brake assembly w/ J50 power brakes
* power steering
* special HD posi assembly, 4.10 ratio (coded KQ)
* HD 4-core radiator, as used on L78 & A/C cars
* HD 400th trans (coded CX) or a 4-speed manual

When the 9737 COPO (often referred to the Sports Car Conversion/Yenko option) was added, it consisted of the following (on Chevelles):

* adds 3 different transmission & extension assemblies
* rally wheel assembly (15x7 coded JJ)
* wheel trim ring assembly
* speedometer driven gear adapter assembly
* speedometer driven gear sleeve and seal assembly
* speedometer driven gear

So, to answer your question, the Yenko suspension and the F41 suspension were one in the same. The F41 option basically added a rear sway bar, a larger front sway bar, and beefier springs and shocks.

------------------
Rob Clary
'70 LS-6 Chevelle
Team Chevelle Gold Member #85
Interested in COPOs, Yenkos or other dealer built muscle cars then go here: www.yenko.net

[This message has been edited by Chevy454 (edited 10-09-99).]

 

[70L34]

I purchased a 69 COPO Chevelle a few years back, complete with build sheet. It doesn't have the F41 option -- just the F40.

 

[Cam]

Hmmm... Very interesting. Thanks for the input guys. Every '69 COPO Chevelle I've ever seen had manual steering (can you say 'man's car?') Also, I've never seen an actual FACTORY '69 Chevelle with a rear anti-sway bar. I even have a friend that owned a genuine Canadian COPO Chevelle from '79 - '84 (Lemans Blue); seen that Daytona Yellow COPO that's been featured in Musclecar Review (used to be owned by Jay Hughes, who lived where I stored my '67); a Fathom Green COPO from Brantford, Ontario sold out of Central Chev-Olds in London (car is now crushed!!); Mr. Keith Tedford has owned his since new. All of them had manual steering and no rear stabilizer. Hey Keith Tedford, are you there?

 

[joe58]

Hello Rob According to my info the COPO'S didn't all have F40 or the F41. There were 8 COPO 9562 combinations available for the 13637 Chevelle hardtop each with their own two-letter suffix and two additional COPO 9566 combo's.
Some of the 8 different COPO's had the F62 front springs and the G32 rear springs but not the rear sway bar or the boxed control arms. The Yenko COPO 9737 added the springs and heavier front sway bar and the 15x7 JJ rally wheels to the 9562 COPO combo. Yes it gets confusing but I don't have any info that lists a rear sway bar.
I have info on 17 TH400 auto trans Yenko Chevelles and they all have PS and rear mount antennas. Four of the 17 have vinyl tops. I can supply more info if anyone is interested.

 

[Chevy454]

Joe:

Oops! Thanks for the additional info! I happened to look at Ed Cunneen's book (COPO Connection Source Book), and noticed my mistake: the Camaros required the F41 suspension, not the Chevelles! Sorry if I confused anyone. I couldn't find anything about the rear sway bar in there, though. I did look through our database/files and noticed that all the COPO Chevelles registered with us have power steering. Then, I decided to go over to our shop, just to refresh my memory. In our shop is a 36,000 mile '69 L-78 Chevelle survivor and a '70 LS-6 Chevelle (among other things). Both have build sheets, both have the original suspension & underpinnings, and both have the F41 suspension with the rear anti-sway bar. So, if anyone else has any other info, let us know!

------------------
Rob Clary
'70 LS-6 Chevelle
Team Chevelle Gold Member #85
Interested in COPOs, Yenkos or other dealer built muscle cars then go here: www.yenko.net



[This message has been edited by Chevy454 (edited 10-08-99).]

 

[Larry]

Hey Cam, about that factory Daytona Yellow COPO 69...was that a Canadian car?? If so, I may have seen the same vehicle several years ago at a NCOA meet in Pennysylvania. Couldn't have been too many Daytona Yellow COPO Chevelles in '69, wasn't that a special order? Whatever... it was very nice.

One other thing...you've never seen a factory '69 with a rear sway bar? Come to think of it, I really can't say I have either. (Mine has one now, but it's from a 442.) But I thought that was part of the F41 suspension for that year. I would've thought a few would've come through with it.

One other thing, I can't tell for sure looking at the above posts...how many in total COPO 427 Chevelles were there in "69?

 

[SKOTEEEEE]

According to one Chevelle history book (Mike Mueller)"there was a total of 373 L72(427) engines built in 1969. Of these 373, 277 were installed with a manual transmission.It is estimated that as many as 323 COPO Chevelles were built. At least 99 of those were sold to Yenko."

 

[joe58]

There is a drawing in the 1969 Chevy Assembly Instructions manual for the F41 suspension. It shows the rear sway bar and bolts with shims to install inside the lower control arms. The F41 option was listed but for some reason it was not a listed option on the COPO's or the Yenko's. Maybe Chevy did this to lower the cost or because the cars were intended for drag racing.
Rob- does the L78 F41 original car have boxed control arms or shims inside so the sway bar bolts don't crush the unboxed control arms?

 

[Chevy454]

Both of my Chevelles have boxed control arms, and look exactly the same. I didn't notice any shims, though, but I just glanced under the rear quickly. I'll try and see if I can get a good picture with our digital camera, and "get up close and personal" with all the details and nuances of the rear sway bar. Check back here, as I'll try and get the pictures up as soon as possible. So I guess we have decided that the rear sway bar came with the F41 suspension? Oh yeah... Brian Henderson says the wheels should be coded YH, not JJ. I didn't change my post above, but that's the info I was given.

------------------
Rob Clary
'70 LS-6 Chevelle
Team Chevelle Gold Member #85
Interested in COPOs, Yenkos or other dealer built muscle cars then go here: www.yenko.net

 

[Mike Sadoian]

According to my 1969 Chevrolet sales alblum F40 is the only suspension option listed.It includes special front and rear springs and shock absorbers. It does not say anything about F41 or rear sway bar.

 

[joe58]

Well I guess we still don't know if any 69's came with the F41 (rear sway bar). It may have come out late in the production year. One book says the 69 F41 had 1 1/8 front bar and a 7/8 rear bar. The F40 used the 15/16 front sway bar only.
Rob -if you're under your L78 Chevelle measure the sway bar diameters. I don't think it should have boxed control arms in the rear because the 69 assembly manual just shows shims inside the arm but not a "boxed" arm.

 

[elcamino]

Here's how Chevy defines the F40 and F41 options.

RPO=Description
F40=Heavy Duty Front and Rear Suspension
F41=Special Performace - Front and Rear Suspension

The F41 became standart equipment on all SS package's starting in 1970, prior it was an option the customer had to select.

So chevy454 explantion is correct.

Note-Springs were dependent on the car and its options. So its possible Yenko's (or any car for that matter) could have different springs if the car had more or less options.

 

[Keith Tedford]

Super Stock and Drag Illustrated did an article on a Yenko Chevelle in their August 1969 issue. That car doesn't appear to have the rear anti-sway bar. The Yelow COPO spoken of earlier had no rear bar. Our COPO car came with the standard suspension, not F40 or F41. We added the rear sway bar. It has a 3 core rad, standard steering and power disc brakes. We paid $33.85 for the D96 side stripe. A friends COPO came without. All of the cars that we have information on were built under COPO 9566AA. The F-41 lower control arms are boxed and there are shims available to fit between the sway bar and the arms if there is excess clearance. Come to think of it I haven't seen a documented '69 with the F41 suspension either, but then again not too many muscle car people were into handling back then. Our '69 SS396 has the F40 suspension from the factory with the rear bar added later. Handling definitely improves. The Daytona Yellow and Hugger Orange, or what ever they called it, were SS and COPO available.
The 9737 was probably just the F40 with the 15" rally wheels, tires, and some speedo correction parts.

[This message has been edited by Keith Tedford (edited 10-10-99).]

 

[joe58]

Keith- are the COPO Chevelles you have info on all 4-sp cars? All the TH400 auto trans COPO'S Chevelles I have info on have power steering and the 4sp COPO'S all have manual steering. I am woundering if they made any 4sp cars with P.S. or made any TH400 cars without P.S..
On the color - the Hugger orange was called Monaco orange for the Chevelle and Corvette in 1969. They all used the #72 color code.

 

[Chevy454]

Here is the picture of the F41 suspension from my 1970 Chevelle assembly manual. I'm not sure if this picture is the same as the one in the '69 manual, but it is probably close. Look closely on the bottom of the control arm and you will see a lip. This is the piece of metal that "boxes in" the control arm. Also, note the shims.

http://www.yenko.net/lca3.jpg

Now, here is a picture of the control arm and sway bar. Note the lip, the same as in the diagram above, and the shim between the sway bar and the control arm. I don't believe these were necessarilly mandatory, but used as needed.

http://www.yenko.net/lca2.jpg

Here is a shot from below the control arm, showing the piece that boxes in the control arm. I know the parts are dirty, and the pictures not very clear, but this should help everyone visualize what we are talking about.

http://www.yenko.net/lca1.jpg

------------------
Rob Clary
'70 LS-6 Chevelle
Team Chevelle Gold Member #85
Interested in COPOs, Yenkos or other dealer built muscle cars then go here: www.yenko.net


[This message has been edited by Chevy454 (edited 10-10-99).]

 

[Cam]

Wow, we're getting some great responses to this question. In several magazines (super Chevy, Musclecar Review etc) I have seen a Frost Green COPO currently in Illinois but sold new in British Columbia. It is a TH400 car with a bench; and it also has manual steering. I can account for 7 COPOs sold new in Canada (including Keith's and 2 others I heard about through him). Supposedly 20 came into Canada in 1969, and 323 is the nearest educated guess by none other than Fran Preve (he ran the Tonawanda engine plant back then).
The rear stabilizer is generally thought to be of interest to those who are interested in handling, but they are also great at helping to reduce body twist when you dump and nail it with slicks off the line. It's too bad there weren't more produced, but it is such an easy upgrade that I'm not about to cry in my Kokanee.

 

[Len]

The TOTAL for 1969 CHEVELLE RPO F41 -"SPECIAL PERF FRT AND REAR SUSPENSION" from the Chervolet Production Totals = 722.

Those reports show that that RPO was available on ANY 1969 Chevelle.. the COMPLETE model line!!

Yes, even a station wagon. At least that's what the availability "CODE" shows, ALL 503,352 vehicles COULD have had it.. 722 did.

SOME RPO's were limited to CERTAIN models and the "MODELS" (a column on the report totals) reflects that.

Example... a RPO A33 - "ELECTRIC TAILGATE WINDOW" was only available to "CODE" 4 (which equates to only SOME wagon models (ONLY 38,269), 17,542 had the RPO A33.

There were 45,892 TOTAL 1969 Chevelle wagons built 6 & 8 cyl.

Thanks.

------------------
our Website: sites.netscape.net/thebowtiegang/homepage

 

[Keith Tedford]

It's not much wonder we don't see many original F41 equipped '69s if only 722 were built. In Rob's 3rd photo you can see how the reinforcement piece is welded to the control arm and loops up inside the arm and over the bolt holes. I understand someone is making these pieces to add to standard control arms. The shims are on an as required basis. Some think that the rear bar will stop wheel hop. It doesn't. We've had it on three cars and the problem persisted unless the rear end was real low. The suspension on our COPO car was standard SS396, not F40. The car sat quite low but there was no wheel hop. The rear suspension would bottom out on hard acceleration and the rear springs were replaced under warranty with something heavier.

 

[elcamino]

The main goal for the COPO option to be a race car, drag strip or street. Anything the added weight to the cars was a detriment to the cars performance. Every one I ever seen were bare bones cars. If you wanted a handling car and options then you ordered a SS.

COPO? Central Office Production Order? or Central Office Production Option? I know the common belief it's the first choice. Has anybody ever seen any legit Chevy literture the says so? BTW - Are not all the orders Central Office Orders? The dealer sent in the order and the Central Office assigned the plant to produce it, still do today. If the dealer ordered from the assembly plant then why was my car built in KC when Flint was just down the road.

I am looking at copy of a body broadcast (have also seen a chassis broadcast sheet) sheet, Form CHEV. 100 B2 REV. 8/68 for '69 model and one section refers to tires. Here the caption in the box.

"HIGHWAY (OR COPO FRONT) TIRES"
5 F7014 42 BT

The rear tire box just has ........ thru it and no COPO in it. From this it appears they are referring to options, they list all 2 digit codes, I would surmize it means Central Office Production Option" as opposed to Regular Production Option.



[This message has been edited by elcamino (edited 10-12-99).]