cbolt

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.

who knows a guy.....

Mine came with factory 3:73's. I purchased it new in May of 1986

I would think you could research what stock gears backed up the 200r4 on the mid '80s cars and figure that out. I know the IROC Z's and SS's from that time period had 3:73's, but not sure what an ordinary Camaro or Monte Carlo ran for gears. I would reason that whatever a stock vehicle with the 200r4 had for gears would be about as low as you could get away with.

I started with a non-lockup and didn't like it, so I changed to a lockup converter. The TV cable is completely different but I dont recall what the bracket differences are. Might as well just get the bracket as they are inexpensive. (My bracket may have come with the trans. I don't remember because it has been years) Some of the issues I ran into with the lockup converter are all centered around the shift point where it goes into lockup mode. I tried a vacuum only module to control the lockup point but when running the AC it would "hunt" for the lockup instead of smoothly transitioning to lockup. From there I tried a mechanical lockup device that went strictly by vehicle speed to determine the lockup point which was difficult to set properly and had other issues from the start. I finally settled on a unit that is adjustable and senses both vehicle speed (at the speedo cable) and vacuum for automatic operation and also has a button for manual lockup engagement. The whole ordeal was a pain and took a long time to sort out. Truth be told it still isn't just the way I want it but works okay enough to drive and enjoy. Maybe someone has had different experiences but since I switched my non-lockup trans to a lockup converter I may have created my own problems. Don't take this post as a complaint... I love my 200r4 trans. I just wanted to share my experiences with my particular trans. I feel that had I ordered the lockup trans the whole thing would have been painless.

I have a 200r4 in my '72 married to a 10 bolt 3.73 locker. I love it as well but in hindsight I would have gone with 3.31's or 3.55's

When I popped mine out it was fine, just discolored. It could have been a replacement hose with a spring for all I know, but there it was. Inspecting the spring before re-installation would be common sense.

I am one of those guys who got his stereo rebuilt at R&B and couldnt recommend it more. First off, because you are using the original radio there is no question about it being "stock". Secondly the sound and features are comparable to any of the aftermarket which, lets face it, don't look exactly correct. I am sure Randy can build you an 8 track unit, or may even have one in stock, that will work properly since you said you dont plan on playing any 8 track tapes in it. Not recommended anyway as the tape would likely be eaten quickly due to its age. Pricey, yes, but you get what you pay for. I had a unit in my other car and when the push buttons stopped working I sent it back to R&B who repaired it for the cost of the shipping.

my stock 350 ran perfectly smooth. Nice idle, no noise, etc. and when I broke it down I found a cracked head and a hole in the #1 piston. Moral of the story is you never know what is inside until you take the top off of it... (think Forrest Gump)

Pro tip: just re-use the existing hose. It should clean up fairly well. It doesn't restrict flow and an ounce of prevention........

Man I love the pic of the white SS from my coffee mug! Thanks for posting Sammy