quarterbooty

The DSE coil over bracket ties into the existing shock mount; the mount is not modified. I believe many of the aftermarket coil over setups are similar. The coil spring perches don’t have to be removed unless you want to clean things up.

Thanks. No mini tub. This is probably as big of a tire that you can run without trimming/rolling the wheel opening lip or mini tubbing it.

Last fall I incorporated two C6 fan modules for PMW control. Fan speed is coolant temperature dependent and AC discharge pressure dependent. This spring I swapped the factory gauge cluster for a set of Dakota Digital RTX gauges. I wanted to keep a factory appearance and finally get rid of the column mounted tach setup. The gauges integrate nicely with the Holley ECU without any new sending units. I mounted the control modules under the dash pad on top of the glovebox. Test ride before putting everything back together:

Thanks for replying. It's been awhile since I've dropped in and even longer since I've made an update. The car has been through a number of significant changes to the car since the last update. I had a cracked sleeve in the factory LS7 block and ended up redoing most of the engine. The short block was replaced with an ERL dry-sleeved LS2 block with a Callies crank and rods and Wiseco pistons. Heads are PRC LS7 265s with titanium intake valves and solid stainless steel exhaust valves. The compression ratio increased to 11.5:1, and displacement remains 427 ci. The intake was changed to a FAST LSXr 102.

Thanks, Bruce.

I have the deluxe (exploding) seat belts made by Robbins in my 72. As the name implies, the plastic retainer in the buckle tends to break and the guts fall out. It's a complete junk design. I've replaced several buckles already, and now i have another one that has cracked. Is there a drop in replacement for these? At a minimum something that works with all the current mount points (the shoulder and lap belts are separate in the front). Ideally, I would like to keep the belt retractors. Any help is appreciated. Nick

It should clear 600HP with 570 ft-lbs at the crank. Cam is a Katech Torquer LS7. Specs are 220°/244° @ .050, .615/.648 lift on a 110 LSA. Here are their published dyno results.

Thanks! It'll never be completely done, but this should hold me over for awhile.

It's been a long time since my last update. As I mentioned earlier, I bought an LS7 and managed to sell the 383 and TH200-4R. I've spent the past several months making changes to the engine (wet sump conversion, cam swap, rocker upgrade, etc.), getting it installed, doing all the ancillary work (wiring, plumbing, painting), and converting the car to a manual (LGT700). It's been a long road, but I finally got it running last week. I'm controlling everything with a Holley Dominator ECU, which is an impressive piece of hardware. I'm waiting on a driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop to get it on the road. I'll post up more information and progress pics, but here are a couple of crappy cell phone pics in the meantime.

Last week I purchased an LS7 to swap into the Monte, so the 383 is for sale. See the sale listing for additional information. More details to follow on the LS swap...

Thanks. You can make a lot of improvements without breaking the bank. Start out with a good set of coil springs (Hotchkis, DSE) and monotube shocks (Bilstein, Koni). Next, I recommend addressing the front-end geometry with a tall spindle like the Speedtech ATS AFX or tall Howe ball joints from SC&C to get negative camber gain on bump. Sticky tires will add significant handling improvement as well. These are just a few suggestions to look into. There are tons of options out there, so do as much research and ask as many questions as you can before buying anything. As for my rear wheel and tire combo, it's an 19x10 wheel with 5.5" of backspace. The tire is a 285/35/19. I narrowed my rear end to reduce the backspace, which increases wheel lip. The rear end can't be narrowed much more without affecting the lower control arm mounting brackets. There are two hoop styles that you can go with that will affect appearance. A flat or smooth lip (also called reverse outer lip by some manufacturers) will tend to make the depth to the wheel center appear greater. You can see this type on the Rushforth wheels that I used to have. A stepped lip design is the other design and is what my Formula 43 wheels are built around. The stepped lip is a more performance oriented look, but may not appear as deep upon quick glance. Just something to consider when shopping for wheels. Nick

Quote: in this pic why is there a poly ring around the inside of only one of the bushings on the rear end.. I got these with my bushings but didnt know if I was supposed to use them??? Sorry for not replying sooner. I haven't been here in a while and wasn't subscribed to my own thread either! As for the polyurethane ring, it was removed before installation. I'm not sure what the purpose of the rings is. In any case, I replaced the polyurethane bushings I had in the housing with rubber bushings provided by DSE.

The connections are easy. There is a pigtail with an H4 connector that plugs right into the factory harness. No cutting or splicing required. They also fit into the headlamp buckets with out modification either. Nick

Looking good, Warren. I like all the tire that you're getting under there. Nick

I made a few other minor changes while the car was out of commission. I replaced all of the body mount bushings with poly urethane from Energy Suspension. I got all new hardware including the proper sleeves from OPGI. I know they've received a bad rap in the past, but I've good experiences with them here recently. I swapped transmission pans from a cast aluminum Art Carr to a fabricated aluminum pan from PTS Xtreme. For those that aren't familiar with 200-4Rs, the fluid pickup is on the topside of the filter. The PTS design includes a revised pickup tube and filter that feeds from the bottom like TH350s and TH400s. A little piece of mind for hard acceleration. I didn't manage to take any photos of the install, but it turned out nice. The best part is it doesn't leak. Finally, I copied the headlights from Stielow's Mayhem Camaro. They're Truck-Lite 27270C LEDs. They weren't cheap, but I think it gives the front end a more aggressive look. I drove it at night for the first time yesterday, and they throw a lot of light. I still need to adjust them some more to get the pattern correct. Nick

Thanks for the compliments. Larry was great to work with. The craftsmanship was great and he had the housing ready when he said he would. It was cool seeing his Nova in person, too. He has a customer that just purchased a brand new ZL-1 and had it delivered to his shop for a drag conversion. It still had the protective plastic overlays on all the panels. I would have loved to have the LSA, but someone else had already claimed it. Nick

Larry, It's a DuPont brilliant red, paint code 850J. It only contains red tint and binders. It was the purest red they could make. Nick

Since I was having wheels custom made (again), I decided to rebuild the rear end (again). I had Larry Larson narrow it slightly (for more wheel lip) and install big bearing Ford ends from Mark Williams. I upgraded the axles to a set of 33 spline Masterlines from Mark Williams and installed a Detroit TrueTrac to match. Larry also machined down new billet Williams carrier caps and welded the axle tubes. You can see the new axle next to the stock original. Bearings are Timken SET20 tapered rollers. Finally, I changed to a 1350 style billet yoke. Nick

It's taken longer than it should have, but I finally got the car back on the road. I made a lot of changes this winter/spring/summer, but I'll just hit the highlights. First, the Rushforths are gone in favor of a set of Formula 43 RAD S5 wheels. It's a 3-piece wheel with Laguna Gray centers, polished outer rim halves with a step lip, and black powder coated inner rim halves. The fronts are 18x9 with 5.5" of backspace. The tire is a Bridgestone Potenza S04 (UTQG 280) 255/40/18. This is an inch wider wheel than I was running before. The rears are 19x10 with 5.5" of backspace. Tire size is 285/35/19, which is an inch larger in diameter than my previous setup. I increased the diameter for tire selection and aesthetic reasons. I was reluctant to go with the darker centers initially (I was leaning towards clear anodized), but all of my car buddies convinced me that gray was the way to go. I'm extremely pleased with the way it turned out. Nick

I looked through the folder where I typically keep all of my Monte-related paperwork, and I could not locate the hardline part number. If you call Vintage Air's tech support line, they can look it up for you; that's how I knew which one to order. Sorry I wasn't more helpful. Nick

I have some changes planned for the car this winter, so my wheels and tires (Rushforth Super Spokes and Nitto NT555s) are up for sale. You can find more information here in the classifieds. Nick

Thanks again for the positive feedback, everyone. The fronts are 18x10 with a 4.75 backspace. The rears are 18x10 with 5.75 and 6.25 of backspace for the passenger and driver sides, respectively (more info here). I highly recommend going with 18s instead of 17s. The tire selection is much better. Nick

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

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. I went with a Type II power steering pump without an integral reservoir. I'm using a PSC reservoir designed for hydroboost applications. The plumbing adds congestion, but I came up with the best arrangement that I could. I should have bought stock in Aeroquip. 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). In the end, I think things turned out a lot cleaner than they were before. Nick