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A week ago last night I had the pleasure of speaking with Tim Pestinger, owner of the Dick Harrell prepped '70 SS with a transplanted LS6, 1000 cfm Thermo Quad and 4.10 gears. My first cousin and his family are personal friends with Tim and his family there in Salina, Kansas as two each of their respective children were high school classmates. My cousin arranged the three-way phone call and we visited for just over a half hour, mostly about the Dick Harrell and Tim's rare Monte. Tim and his brother Tom house a personal collection of rare and classic cars there in Salina - one that I hope to see some day. Tim confirmed everything I had already read about his rare car in prior threads on this site. I won't bother to repeat what has already been shared on this site but point anyone who is interested to this LINK for the transcript of an excellent interview conducted by Peter McLearen on 12/10/2001. Little has changed since then, although the car has been meticulously cared for and occasionally driven by Tim since that interview. Yes, it was shown at a National Corvette Show in Chicago a couple of years ago and Tim sent me some confirming photos like some we have already seen posted on this site. I'll comment briefly on a couple of things that stood out to me from our phone visit. The original owner, James Stewart, ordered a 1970 SS454 (LS5) from Don Hatten Chevrolet in Wichita, KS but had it immediately transferred to the Dick Harrell Performance Center in Kansas City, MO where the LS5 was replaced with a new LS6 from GM. A 4.10 rear gear, a 1000 cfm Thermo Quad, an oil pressure gauge and Dick Harrell badges were also installed. As others have long asserted, this lone Monte Carlo is not evidence that GM ever shipped an LS6-equipped Monte Carlo from one of their assembly plants. It is a unique, one-off, post-assembly, drag racer-modified vehicle - not even technically a GM COPO car. I guess I was most surprised to learn that the original owner only kept it for 6 months before it ended up on a Cadillac dealer's used car lot! Of course, it is still a very rare and very cool car and I hope to see it in person some day. Although I did mention FGMCC to Tim and asked him if he would entertain questions or contacts from any of our members who might be interested in learning more about his car (he is agreeable to that, BTW), I did not mention anything about our annual meets or the 50th Anniversary celebration since I was unsure of their status. If the Eastern Meet is actually going to happen (and I hope it can), Tim might be approached to see if he would bring his Dick Harrell Monte to the show. If someone wants to pursue that, just let me know and I can establish the contact with him.

Got the kids to help pull the tint off our pro street Firebird rear window today. After a long safety class on how to use a razor blade safely I let them go to it. I would never fit back there !!!

Well its ALIVE lol. I'm going to try and attach a video but Ive never done that so sorry if it doesn't work. Yes there is still work to be done but todays task was to prime and time the crate.Its been a long road and thanks to everyone who offered their knowledge, guidance and opinions, it is very much appreciated! My very 1st engine swap and ive bled, fought, struggled and cussed a bunch though it but what a learning experience it was. IMG_2269.m4v

I think we've discussed heat issues with the brake valve here earlier. Today I tried to address it to some degree, ..hopefully. First, I noticed the original cast distribution valve is pretty old so I'm replacing it with a new, brass one. Added benefit is the replacements are a bit thinner. I also made a small heat shield out of some aluminum and some 'thermaflect' tape. Supposed to be reflective at 1100 deg F, & 2000deg intermittent. Taped both sides, added a washer for a bit of air gap between the shield and valve and test fitted it. Looks like it'll fit fine with no clearance issues. It'll be a pain to get to the fittings, but I'll just have to make sure they're tight before installing the headers for good.

Buy the way , your helpers did a great job!!!!!

Yea Kevin, you have better give them something. LOL If you don't and they refuse to do the next job. We are all in trouble, none of us can get back there!!!! LOL

Lol. Doesn't NY have child labor laws??? Lololol Serious though, nice job they did and I hear ya about not fitting back there.

I put one in our stairwell. Also have one in out living room end table.

Hey Dave, I was hoping someone would respond since I don't know what a kickoff pan is. I have a Moroso 20411 with no clearance issues

You may need a compartment lock for the console door. I do not think the kits come with them. You can just cut the nub off the column and fill it in and re paint the column. No column swap is needed.

You really want to get a 4 piece bracket kit of floor brackets to mount the seats to. Using the style you have shown, will mount your seats crooked. Then the side panels on the buckets will rub on the seat belt retractors. That 2 piece kit is a bunch of junk. Cars came with the 4 bracket set up from GM.