cbolt

The first thing I noticed after installing the 160 stat was that when moving along down the road the engine will actually cool down below 180, which is the stat I replaced. Used to be the engine would get to 180 and never drop below that mark, regardless of ambient temp or operation conditions. I concluded that the 180 stat prevents the engine from cooling any further because it should begin to close at 180. My fairly modified engine never really ran hotter than about 205-210 before, even in the summer, but it was something that would keep my attention on long, hot trips..... worrying about the temp gauge. (especially in heavy traffic) Worry = extra stress. I figure the engine is going to run about like that anyway, but it gives me peace of mind to know the cooling process will start sooner rather than later. Summer is right around the corner and hey... I live in Florida.

Mark, I looked at the reviews and Q&A which confirmed the part would fit a sbc, which it did just fine.

https://a.co/d/gdyutil I used this water neck and a 160 degree thermostat. Works great so far and no leaks since I used the plumbers tape on both plugs. I love the 160 degree thermostat.

or he could wear it around his neck from a big old gold chain.

I love the F-14 Tomcat decal too!

Yeah, THAT'S why 🤣

My thermostat housing doesn't have a port, which is unfortunate because that would be too easy.

Im just going to use the passenger side head for the electric fan. It should only kick on when the a/c is on and the engine temp is 200 degrees as per the painless fan relay instructions. I really don't want the electric fan running when I am blasting down the interstate at 80 mph as I have a feeling the fan would disrupt the normal flow of air through the radiator. It seems to do that on my other car, which runs an electric fan constantly above 185 degrees. At speeds above 70 the engine temp keeps creeping up to well over 200 degrees, (upwards of 210+, which is as far as I dared push it) which it didn't do prior to the electric fan installation. The benefit of the passenger side head is that it is easily accessible compared to the drivers side, where the A/C compressor and brackets are in the way. I was just asking in hopes that folks who know would reassure me that I wasn't being stupid, putting a second temp sender in my engine. Sometimes I get what I think are good ideas that turn out to be anything but.

Has anyone used the cylinder head temp sending port on the passenger side head? I am looking to wire in an electric fan and instead of removing the existing sender, which operates the gauge, I was thinking of just using the temp sending port on the opposite cylinder head for the electric fan operation and was looking for thoughts from some engine gurus. I don't see why I cannot do it, but maybe someone has experience in this. For information, they are the sbc Edelbrock heads and manifold and there isn't room to mount the temp sender in the manifold due to the location of the upper radiator hose and alternator bracket.

That is actually fairly common, the starter wiring harness being a mess, due to its location and heat. If anyone worked on the starter or that general area and were not attentive to where the wires are supposed to be routed they will at best case become brittle, at worst case melt the insulation and short out. You should be able to get it sorted fairly easily, but know that there are several sources for a new harness if it comes to it.

Is anyone else going to this coming weekends spring Daytona turkey run at the speedway? If so, Ill be there all weekend and this can be a potential great venue for future FGMCC mini meets. I will use this thread to see if there is any interest and move forward from there. Ill be attending with the local car group, located at the turn 4 area, between the garage and tunnel. Come see me if you are at the show. We will be grilling and chilling most of the day.

I can only speak to the shocks and rear control arms/sway bar because those are the only components I have installed that deviate from stock. I was lucky enough to drive my car on the Bristol Motor Speedway about 10 years ago and immediately decided to switch to Bilstein shocks on all 4 corners and boxed rear control arms with a sway bar. Just those upgrades made a world of difference just in body roll alone. I think I went with PMI for the rear set up, which comes in a kit with poly bushings installed. I also swear by the BFG T/A radials (225/70-15) but folks will complain about them as the lettering tends to turn brown over time. Hey, from the drivers seat they look great, that's all I know. If you are driving next to me and can read the lettering then your head is spinning so fast that you likely have other problems beside my brown-ish lettering on my tires, right? Jokes aside, most folks here have switched to the Cooper Cobra's with no handling loss vs. the BFG's.

That car looks familiar. Way back when I bought some wheels from a club member in Chicago who had swapped his rally wheels for Cragar mags and sold me the original rally wheels for all of $200 for the set. (This was probably back in 2002 or 2003) I may be wrong, but that looks like the car for sure. Welcome to the forum Michael!

Did the transmission not come with instructions on how to set the TV cable initially? Mine had instructions for an initial setting to get me close enough to drive it to my local trans expert so he could set it correctly.

I have seen folks do the two under hood lights before at shows and whatnot. Pop a couple of LED's in there so you don't drain the battery and off you go!

I wondered when you were going to jump in here Rob.

Skynyrd is considered royalty around here. "The pride of Jacksonville" is how I have heard them described. There is a documentary, "If I leave here tomorrow" that I watched recently which really gives an insight into the band. I recommend any fans watch it.

Trust me when I tell you that you will wonder how you ever found time to work a full time job when you are retired. Personally, I have never been busier. Congratulations!

My 72 was equipped with buckets and no console from the factory. My guess is the ladies purse theory, but I will never know for sure.

Ashamed to admit that when I did my hood springs way back about 22 years ago, I couldn't manage it either and had to take the car to a shop to have them change the springs for me. You need a big old prybar and a few extra hands as I recall. Fast forward a few years and I wound up needing to do something with the hinges themselves because the pivot points had worn, elongated and the hinges were sloppy. Wound up sending them in to a place that rebuilt them with new springs and all new pins, plus powder coats them. In hindsight, I should have done that from the beginning.

I used M&H on my whole vehicle and their products are direct fit to our Montes.

They sure do and that is all I use.

One word, Timken

Beautiful car Sammy. My oldest son wrecked mine unfortunately but before that it looked just like yours but with the T-top option and had roughly 50K miles on it.

The stock one should work just fine on your swap to a 200r4. I reused mine when I made that same swap, and thousands of miles later it is still doing all that driveshaft stuff it is supposed to do. That is the beauty of the 200r4, no additional modifications required.