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Pro-Touring '72


quarterbooty

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  • 3 months later...

The Lee steering box is great; it's one of the best upgrades I've made to the car. It really changes the car's personality. The steering is tight, quick, and responsive.

 

I've also made quite a few changes to the car since my last post. First, the rear sway bar would interfere with the seam on the front of the fuel tank under suspension compression. I ordered a custom tank from Rick's that slopes the front of the tank to provide additional clearance. The corners are also notched for exhaust clearance, although I don't need it yet.

 

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Even though my car is currently carbureted, I went with a tank designed for fuel injected setups to set me up for changes down the road. There's an internal sump that keeps fuel around the pump pickup and Hector added all of the necessary vent connections. The only thing I had to do was bend up some new tubing for the vapor lines.

 

Nick

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Wow!! That is one slick setup! Very nice! How close are you getting the car back on the road?

 

David

 

Thanks. I actually finished up the tank in May and have been driving it all summer. Congrats on mid 11s.

 

Originally Posted By: 502ci
Nice...looks expensive though... grin

 

Yeah...I quit adding up receipts a long time ago.

 

Nick

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Originally Posted By: dbreese
Wow!! That is one slick setup! Very nice! How close are you getting the car back on the road?

 

David

 

Thanks. I actually finished up the tank in May and have been driving it all summer. Congrats on mid 11s.

 

Originally Posted By: 502ci
Nice...looks expensive though... grin

 

Yeah...I quit adding up receipts a long time ago.

 

Nick

 

DUHHUUUU! Guess I should have kept up a little better on this thread. I would love to see some pic's of your ride!

 

David

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Really like all the upgrades you have done to your car. Love the look. I am looking to restore mine in a similar direction but not doing the coilovers. I too went with the SPC arms, Pro-Lite uppers with tall Howe ball joint kit. I already had purchased Hotchkis coils, trailing arms and sway bars bars early on in resto and working around those. Due to a long conversation with Marcus I decided to go with the SPC arms for their add'l geometry benefits (upper & lower) over other arms on the market. For simplicity, stock look (identical other than a rag joint swap) and cost I swapped my steering box for one out of a 87 Monte SS which is progressive.

 

I am going to continue to watch you project since it is ultimately what I am after. Looking to keep a nostalgic look, have a fun cruiser with A/C but with modern upgrades.

 

BTW: Did you notice any difference in the new rear sway bar from trailing arm mounted to the frame mounted ends? I would think it would be something that would not only benefit handling but also ride quality.

 

Thanks. I love your project!!

 

Dan

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I`m drooling.

 

Love going fast in a straight line but want to set mine up to excel on the road (course). Real world\daily driver.

As has been said, handle like it`s on rails comes to mind.

 

Great info and sources. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

VERY sweet ride.

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BTW: Did you notice any difference in the new rear sway bar from trailing arm mounted to the frame mounted ends? I would think it would be something that would not only benefit handling but also ride quality.

 

Thanks. I love your project!!

 

Dan

I haven't really had the opportunity to run the new rear components through any hard driving sessions yet. I'll autocross it at Good Guys in a few weeks and will know more after that. It does seem a lot more compliant than the trailing arm-mounted bar.

 

Good luck with your project. It sounds like you're off to a great start. Marcus is definitely the guy to take advice from when it comes to suspension.

 

Nick

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I made a few other changes this spring to clean things up and hopefully to increase reliability. The stock alternator was probably struggling with fans, fuel pump, etc., so I replaced it with a 94A, 3-wire 12si (internally regulated, external voltage sensing). This allowed me to get rid of the voltage regulator, while retaining maximum voltage at the horn relay. I used an installation kit from MAD Electrical.

 

IMG_1138.JPG

 

At the same time, I cleaned up a bunch of the wiring in the engine bay. I figured if I was going to upgrade electrical pieces, now was the time to do it. I replaced my MSD 6AL with a Digital 6AL and installed a Painless F5 PWM dual fan controller to control existing dual 11" Spal fans. I also went ahead and swapped in a Be Cool radiator.

 

IMG_1134.JPG

 

Everything seems to work well. The F5 controller works like a charm. I can set the the start temperature for the fans, and they'll come on at 50% speed and ramp up to 100% speed at the upper temperature setpoint.

 

Nick

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Nick, I'm curious about the turning ratio of this new Delphi box. My stock box has an 83 deg pitman arm rotation. I discounted going to a 80s Monte SS box because of the reduced pitman arm rotation. What about this Delphi box?

 

Thanks

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Nick, I'm curious about the turning ratio of this new Delphi box. My stock box has an 83 deg pitman arm rotation. I discounted going to a 80s Monte SS box because of the reduced pitman arm rotation. What about this Delphi box?

 

Thanks

 

The turning radius of the car is unaffected. The internal stops inside the box are setup to match the steering arm stops against the lower control arms. The steering ratio, however, is reduced from the stock 16:1 to 12.7:1.

 

Nick

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The turning radius of the car is unaffected. The internal stops inside the box are setup to match the steering arm stops against the lower control arms. The steering ratio, however, is reduced from the stock 16:1 to 12.7:1.

 

Nick

 

Thanks for the reply, that is real interesting, I did not think a box could do both. I might just have to consider this down the road. The install is obviously a lot easier than trying to install a rack and pinion.

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Nick, I'm curious about the turning ratio of this new Delphi box. My stock box has an 83 deg pitman arm rotation. I discounted going to a 80s Monte SS box because of the reduced pitman arm rotation. What about this Delphi box?

 

Thanks

 

I seem to recall that the Monte SS box is fine, but if you would use a fast-ratio steering box from a F-Body, your turning radius will increase.

 

http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofstr.htm

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  • 1 month later...
Really like all the upgrades you have done to your car. Love the look. I am looking to restore mine in a similar direction but not doing the coilovers. I too went with the SPC arms, Pro-Lite uppers with tall Howe ball joint kit. I already had purchased Hotchkis coils, trailing arms and sway bars bars early on in resto and working around those. Due to a long conversation with Marcus I decided to go with the SPC arms for their add'l geometry benefits (upper & lower) over other arms on the market. For simplicity, stock look (identical other than a rag joint swap) and cost I swapped my steering box for one out of a 87 Monte SS which is progressive.

 

I am going to continue to watch you project since it is ultimately what I am after. Looking to keep a nostalgic look, have a fun cruiser with A/C but with modern upgrades.

 

BTW: Did you notice any difference in the new rear sway bar from trailing arm mounted to the frame mounted ends? I would think it would be something that would not only benefit handling but also ride quality.

 

Thanks. I love your project!!

 

Dan

 

 

OK as all projects change til completion .....

I sold my U/L trailing arms based on what Marcus (SC&C) recommended and purchased the Currie U/L trailing arms for the johnny joints at frame side. I noticed you swapped yours for swivel type also. I will then order the new Hellwig bars which mount to the crossmember of frame as you did.

 

Still waiting to hear if the rear bar provided significant benefit now that you have road tested it often. Car looked to handle real well in the GoodGuys video. No lean - no nothin' Cool

 

Love the project. I am learning from your on road trials.

 

Dan

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Freaking amazing upgrades. A beautiful car to say the least.. an inspiration for us all. Yet the feeling of smoking just about every car on the road must be priceless. Specially when done in a sleeper. My only question is?, is it still flying "incognito". wink NICE! cool

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OK as all projects change til completion .....

I sold my U/L trailing arms based on what Marcus (SC&C) recommended and purchased the Currie U/L trailing arms for the johnny joints at frame side. I noticed you swapped yours for swivel type also. I will then order the new Hellwig bars which mount to the crossmember of frame as you did.

 

Still waiting to hear if the rear bar provided significant benefit now that you have road tested it often. Car looked to handle real well in the GoodGuys video. No lean - no nothin' Cool

 

Love the project. I am learning from your on road trials.

 

Dan

 

I'd say the DSE rear setup is a great match to their front components. I ran the Goodguys autocross at the Kansas event again this year. The car felt very balanced through the course. To be honest though, I was more focused on evaluating the new steering box. The course was quite a bit different than the "peanut" that they usually have. One section had a hard right followed by a hairpin left that was really difficult for my car due to the long wheelbase. The short wheelbase cars (e.g., Camaros) fared much better. The faster steering ratio definitely helped. I still consider the Lee box to be my favorite upgrade to the car.

 

Nick

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Freaking amazing upgrades. A beautiful car to say the least.. an inspiration for us all. Yet the feeling of smoking just about every car on the road must be priceless. Specially when done in a sleeper. My only question is?, is it still flying "incognito". wink NICE! cool

 

Thanks, Rod. I don't know how incognito it is anymore. I've tried to keep it stock appearing and retain as much of the original look as possible. Hopefully people will think it's just a big cruiser with shiny wheels.

 

Nick

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  • 6 months later...

It's been several months since my last update, but I've been bust making changes to the car. Just about everything I've been doing is intended to make the car more reliable or enjoyable. Probably the biggest change was swapping in a 200-4R trans. I bought the transmission off of a guy whose project stalled and changed gears (no pun intended) from an SBC/200-4R to an LS3/4L65E. He bought it from Brian Hofer (likely built by Mike Rightings) with the following setup:

 

  • CK Performance billet forward drum
  • CK Performance hardened input shaft
  • 550 & 400 boost valves
  • 694 GN servo
  • Roller bearings (everywhere factory thrust washers were)
  • Hardened sun shell
  • 10 vane pump with rev kit (hardened rings)
  • Wide red band Alto clutches (3 OD, 7 direct)

 

I had Andre from Edge Racing replicate my TH350 converter for the 200-4R including a lock-up clutch. I'm using a TV cable setup from Bowler, which works extremely well. The bracketry adapts the factory self-adjusting TV cable to my Holley, and it shifted right on the first drive.

 

I'm locking it up with the Bowler lock-up module. It uses a fourth gear pressure switch that triggers the module to lock up the converter 8 seconds later. It works as advertised, but with my cam, the engine isn't happy under 2400 RPM (equates to 75 MPH). For the time being, I wired the lock-up through a manual switch to prevent locking at lower speeds. B&M has a speed sensing lock-up mechanism that I may integrate into my configuration to make things seamless.

 

The conversion itself was relatively straight forward. My car originally came with a TH350. I still use the factory crossmember, which is now mounted through the existing TH400 mounting holes (no drilling was required). The TH350 factory dipstick still works, as does a stock length TH350 drive shaft. The only things I changed were my trans cooler and shifter. I installed the largest cooler I could find to keep the directs happy, and I had to change shifters because my old one wouldn't work with a 4 speed. Sadly, after all of that work (thanks, Scott), the only picture I have is of the new shifter (B&M Pro Ratchet Stealth).

 

DSC_0059.JPG

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I also made some updates under the hood. I ditched the factory accessories in favor of a Vintage Air Frontrunner. It's extremely well engineered, but doesn't look like it belongs on a street rod.

 

DSC_0046.JPG

 

I went with a Type II power steering pump without an integral reservoir. I'm using a PSC reservoir designed for hydroboost applications.

 

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The plumbing adds congestion, but I came up with the best arrangement that I could. I should have bought stock in Aeroquip.

 

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I swapped headers for a set of stainless steel Hooker Competition 2451s. They're the same as before, just different material. It sucks that a 1-7/8" primary header doesn't exist for Montes (at least with factory AC).

 

DSC_0058.JPG

 

In the end, I think things turned out a lot cleaner than they were before.

 

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Nick

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My final project this spring was to get the air conditioning functioning again. Everything worked, but it had been evacuated long enough that I'm sure components were corroded and not worth salvaging. The Frontrunner came with a Sanden SD7, which mounts on the passenger side. I bought Vintage Air's parallel flow condenser kit and the hardlines that adapt to a passenger-side compressor.

 

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I thought about going with one of the Vintage Air evaporators, but in the end, I couldn't justify the expense or the work involved. Plus, I like the ability to bring in fresh air, which you can't do with Vintage Air. I had Classic Auto Air rebuild my POA valve and calibrate it for R134a, and I also replaced the evaporator core and expansion valve.

 

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I made up all new hoses and decided to evacuate and charge the system myself. It's actually pretty easy if you've never tried it before.

 

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Vapor started condensing on the suction line after I had about 1.5 lbs in.

 

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I'm getting decent duct temperatures. My high side pressures are a little low, so I expect performance to improve if I charge it some more (I was being careful to not overcharge it). It's not the coldest AC I've ever seen, but it's cold enough to be comfortable going down the highway.

 

Nick

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