Bluemalibu

Thanks Sam... I hit all the usual suspects and started thinking that they might not have been addressed yet.

Can anyone advise me of a source for the outer seal at the rear of the quarter windows? I've changed out the balance of the seals, but cannot seem to find these. Thanks, Doug

So...... today I grew that snowball a little bigger. As you can see by the photo in the sig, the '72 was already riding a bit high due to the performance springs. In anticipation of swapping the new 17" wheels and Michelins, which will increase the ride by an additional 1 3/4", I dropped the front suspension in order to install +.500" tall lower ball joints and BMR 2" drop springs. Thank goodness the Western Meet is still 90 days away.... I'll need every bit of it to put this project back together!

Scott, what worked best for me was to work top >>>> down. Put yourself in the driver's seat and let the natural fall of your arm be the placement for the shifter handle. That determines the shifter bracket mounting points; which then dictates the console placement and the floorboard holes for the shift cable... ensuring that there is no change in angle of the cable from the shift arm through the floor. Use sweeping curves for the cable... mine forms a full circle around the transmission pan to connect at the shifter shaft. I used 1 1/2" grade 8 fender washers under the floor-pan and sandwiched a .400" nylon board between the transmission tunnel and the shifter mounting feet, to stiffen the mount. It turned out rock-solid... no flex whatsoever, in any direction.

Great job 72R-t... I ended up doing something very similar; I cut out the full circumference of the vent in a puzzle-like pattern, making it a 2-piece.

Sno- The creature does exist that'll save the day for you.... what you need is Magnaflow 13269. It is offset/offset like your current set-up, 4" tall, 9" wide, and 24" long. ( Body is 18") I used dead soft aluminum gaskets. The Magnaflow came with the socket collector, but it had been damaged in shipping. The shop said that it was pretty much guaranteed to leak, so we grafted on a plate collector. Doug

Thanks so much, Robert... And 72R-T, that would be great ! What I was thinking of doing was to cut the vacuum bracket from off of the old vent, and cut the flap/chute off of the new panel. That way, the old butterfly flap would be mounted and sealed as original, and the new panel would lie right on top with a few new screws placed in-between the existing ones that mount the original piece. The new cable would then actuate the old vacuum flap. It makes me cringe to be slicing up two perfectly good pieces, but that's what car-crafting is all about. Doug

Perfect... thanks so much, Robert!

Thanks guys... yes indeed, each side of the cowl dumps over into the upright kick-panel ductwork. And now, a second question... my car is currently suspended on a lift, so I can't get access to the cowl from above, what purpose does the vacuum actuator serve that is just under the cowl grill on the passenger side? Is that for the dash fresh air source that you mentioned Robert? Doug

Thanks Doug. That's exactly what I was wondering... I knew there had to be a source to the Astro/V, so I felt up inside the kick panel sheet-metal enclosure as far as I could reach, and it seems to lead into the cowl area. My '67 has the manual vent in the kick-panel, and it really blasts the cabin if your doing over thirty. I wanted to add that feature to the Monte. I believe I'll wait until the spouse is asleep and appropriate her hair-dryer, to see if a blast of air from the vent will exit the cowl. --- On a side note, have you had any work done by JB's there in Portland? My grill was re-chromed before I purchased the car, but the egg-crate area inside the chromed surround is bubbling up badly due to the oxidation of the pot-metal. I just purchased another '72 grill off of flea-bay that is nearly blemish-free in the egg-crate portion, but the chrome on it is original... still nice, but it's lost a lot of the dazzle that it had forty years ago. Doug

I need some schooling here guys... The one down-side that the Classic Auto Air A/C units have, is that they have no fresh-air mixing... therefore, I purchased manual kick-panel vents that came on non-A/C Chevelles. After removing the sheet-metal block-off panel from the driver's side, the inside looks to be boxed in. Is there some fresh-air access from above, like through the cowl area, or do I need to punch a vent hole through the under-fender firewall? Thanks! Doug

I stand corrected, Sno- I purchased the complete assembly, but the individual muffler from the kit carries a part number of 14329.

Like Glen, I'm now running the polished Magnaflow 13239 that you asked about. My '72 came wearing a new, FLowmaster 3" system with 'H' crossover. It sounded horrible, like a steel drum being beat upon. I pulled the Flowmaster system and bolted up the stainless Magnaflow' 3" with its 'X' crossover... what an incredible difference! The exhaust was transformed into a warm, throaty rumble! I love it! And, as you posted, it's just 9" wide.

Daryl, we've actually chosen a lot of the same features for our builds. I'm running Strange axles into an Eaton, that's currently 4.11... but I have new 3.73's sitting here to help lower the cruising rpm's. And I pulled the Powerglide with its 3600 stall converter and replaced it with a reprogrammed 4L80E. The previous owner had stripped the A/C for weight savings, so I've replaced it with Classic Auto Air's box. I swapped the steering box to a Caprice 9C1 12.7:1 It looks like you've got a bit more rubber on the ground though... I'm running 275 Nitto's. Doug

Thanks Timothy and Daryl, and thanks M-70 for the brake info. I was pleasantly surprised with the Patriots; I try to stick with on-shore goods whenever it's possible, and the Patriots blend these lines like most automotive products today. Their cost is contained through the Chinese labor, but US parts are utilized in their assembly. American bronze guides, stainless 2.250/1.880 valves with a 5-angle valve job, .600 hydraulic roller springs, steel retainers, 7/16 studs, guide plates, and Viton seals. They have a 320 cc intake runner and 119 cc chamber. Chevy High Performance bolted these to a block and produced 675 hp . I really wasn't expecting a lot out of the heads, due to their low price-point, but I was actually really impressed with the smooth flow of the port's roof and floor. They really move some air through them. Chris Straub designed the hydraulic roller cam for me that is replacing the solid roller in the mill now. I am de-tuning the engine, transforming it from a strip toy to a low RPM street engine. Chris stated that with the 505 ci that I have in this block, that his cam will produce 640 lb ft of torque through the Patriots. Doug

Sorry, Daryl... I'm not going to be of much help to you, as I had no vacuum assist at all to start out with, so my comparison will be against that, and this hydraboost will have to be a 1000% improvement. And, unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you: caught up in Sam's darned snowball! It'll be over a month, at least, before she's on the road again. As you may have read, my simple, initial plan, was to relocate my battery to the trunk. But, I now have quickly gone from this: To this:

Thanks Mike. ...For those that have installed rear disks, if you can give me some advice on which units are the better to switch to, I'd be grateful. While I was picking up the Hydraboost from the parts yard, I pulled a couple of complete rear disk assemblies that will bolt onto our cars. The first was from a '93 Firebird: I liked the small footprint, light weight, and cooling fins on these PBRs; but the awkward E-brake spring and dampener with its face hanging out in the wind does little for me. The second set was from a 2000 S10/Blazer: I liked the E-brake design on these... its incorporated into the high-hat of the rotor like a mini-drum brake. The caliper was big and clunky compared to the F-body's, but I guess it does match the front 'Vett's profile pretty much. So... have any of you done much research on the pro's and con's of the different set-ups? Thanks so much, Doug

This weekend's project turned out so cheap and easy, that I can't believe that I hadn't done it years ago! Several weeks back, I swapped billet hubs, C5 disks, and calipers onto the front of the '72; (still need to change out the bearing cap): Even with the new 13" binders, due to inadequate vacuum, stopping was spooky. So, I hit the local parts yard and found a '97 Chevy 2500 with hydraboost to become an organ donor to the Monte. $17 out the door... I compared the length of the actuating rod in the vacuum booster to that in the hydrabooster, and cut and threaded the rod to mimic the first; then a quick rattle-can over-haul, and she was sparkling and mounted in her new home. 40 minutes in all! I'll swap on the rear disks in a few days, and replace the current master cylinder with the new 1.125 '68 Vette model when I do:

Gorgeous job!!!

Hey Scott, I was at the parts yard for you as they opened this morning, but someone had discovered the brakes over the weekend and grabbed them up. They left the backing plates on the car... so, I figured that after making the journey down to the facility that I would at least grab those; but when I pulled the differential cover, I saw that they will be there a while yet, as the pinion shaft retaining bolt was stripped. So, today we struck out completely. They do turn over a lot of cars here, so if you'd like, I'll keep my eye out for another set for you. And they do have a set of rear discs on a 2001 S10/Blazer right now. They too are a direct bolt-on for our cars. (They're what I mentioned that I had picked up for my '72.) What's nice about them, is that they use a 'high hat' style E brake inside the rotor like the Lincoln/Cadi's. Doug

Scott, I know that you understand that the rear doesn't handle much of the load in whoa power. And the last thing that you want is the back end swapping places with the front because they locked up first. I was going to do the 14" CTS-V swap but ended up putting new 13" C5 Vett' binders on the front of my '72, to be able to keep them inside my 17" wheels... and with the 13s up front, I just went with S-10 Blazer 10.5's on the rear. On Friday I saw a set of Camaro rear discs (probably 2004-2006?) at the local parts yard... I think that I paid about $75 for the entire set-up last time that I pulled a set, which included the backing plates. And the Camaro has the middle actuator that you were considering, as well. I could look today to see if they are still there if you'd like. I live about an hour north of Sac.

Sorry, I know that you made your inquiry four weeks ago, but I just came across it... if you haven't purchased a replacement yet, I found an incredible solution that throws a perfect road illumination pattern (way better than the much heralded Hella H4 eCode!). There was no 'One Stop' purchase to achieve the best available performance in our 7" headlights. But, piecing this together is certainly worth the effort with what you end up with in the end. The headlight reflector is Cibie 082440 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008DQV88Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The bulb is Flosser Head Light Fog bulb 9003/hb2/h4 . They are 145 watt high beam/100 watts low beam halogen bulbs. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FLOSSER-9003-HB2-H4-145-100W-B-TWO-BULBS-HEAD-LIGHT-RALLY-REPLACEMENT-H-L-BEAM-/161544116084?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item259cc79774&vxp=mtr These should be wired through a heavy relay, as our aging harnesses dim even the factory sealed beams. Doug

Well, it's been a week since I made the offer to donate the dual fans to your build... I'm guessing by the non-response that you've decided to go a different path. So, let's see if we can't find a new life for the fans through SecondChanceRaceParts. Doug

Thanks Doug... I was indeed pulling my hair out, up until finding that critter! LOL!! Larry, the quarter windows that you turned me onto matched my current window tinting perfectly. Thanks so much! I was impressed with your tool-building ingenuity in developing the threaded washer removal tool. For the rest of us, I found a pin spanner wrench that makes changing the rollers a breeze: $11 with free shipping on FleaBay.

Edelbrock's Super Victor is nearly an inch taller, and even it fits under our hood: