Jump to content

John Burns

Members
  • Posts

    198
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by John Burns

  1. I wasn't able to post with my phone- josephc7952. The decals are vinyl coated. He has all sorts of stock looking decals that can be customized. Here is the link: josephc7952 on eBay
  2. There is a guy on eBay making these- you can customize the numbers. These are really nice! Looks like they’ll hold up better than the normal repops.
  3. Those green interiors- the steering wheels and consoles were also green? How many different colors did they have?
  4. Now THAT is ambitious! The trick would be to make the whole interior look like it was born that way! Good luck!
  5. Nice! Love that detail- what is the material on the seat and seat back?
  6. Yup! The factory emblem is 2" wide. Your mod looks factory- so cool.
  7. As the owner of 1970 with a black interior, I always get blown away that they made other colors. Has anyone created a "Show us your non-black interior" thread? I could drool over the other colors for a long time! I especially geek on the all of the many little pieces they had to make in the the different color plastics.
  8. THAT is awesome! Now I'm wondering if I could use the factory insert emblem to do that. Gorgeous interior! (Love the factory non-AC heater controls! ;))
  9. I like that! I'll probably go that route to start.
  10. Do you mean the original wheel? It is a cracked disaster!
  11. When I got my Monte, it had a well worn steering wheel with the big horn pad with "Monte Carlo" off to one side. I'm assuming it was the factory wheel, but it was beat. I went back and forth about what to replace it with: Rosewood or the 2 horn button "standard" version. I ended up with the Rosewood (very nice repop), but I have never gotten over how it looks contrasted to the burl wood! I might put a leather cover over the Rosewood, which seems kinda dumb because that wheel is all about the Rosewood! Or I might get the "standard". Has anyone used the repop "standard" wheel? I have a factory insert with the Monte Carlo emblem. And I'm just curious: did any Montes come from the factory with the Rosewood wheel?
  12. If someone has a time machine, please pop back 20 years ago and tell me not to install that radio!
  13. Thanks- I'm actually recovering from a detached Achillies tendon... too hurt to work my day job, but I'm able to slowly pick away at the Monte with many long rests in between. Strange times but I'm rolling with it. I guess the Monte is therapy!
  14. One other note- I made my pass immediately after the Red Line Oils Funny Car made a test shot. Needless to say, I got the best prepped track there could be!
  15. Those caps fit on the rallys, so I have options if I want to change my look!
  16. Whew! Ok, I knew this wasn’t going to be simple, but I learned some things about AC vs. non-AC cars. And my AC controller no longer taunts me: it said “AIR CONDITIONING” … obviously I know I don’t have AC! 😉 And my leaky vacuum switches and hoses are no longer an issue. (Huge props to you folks that keep those vacuum hoses and switches functioning!) I want to start out by saying I wish I had functioning factory AC, but the system didn’t work and was missing too much to try to revive. I know removing the AC is common and I have seen many evaporator boxes removed and “AC delete plates” installed. I’m hardly encouraging that, but if it has been done, it seems to me that is only half of the job! I even purchased a non-AC heater control a few years ago, but then realized it was way more involved than just swapping controls! Fast forward to a few weeks ago… the idle went goofy. I tracked it down to a vacuum leak under the dash in the AC controls. That leak was the last straw, so I dove in. I popped the dash pad off and pulled the heater core box. I was expecting to buy and install a non-AC heater box, but then realized the firewall, ducting and cowl are completely different than a heater-only car. The heater core is in a different location and heater-only cars have fresh air ducts from the cowl to the vents in on either side of the dash. I changed my plan and decided to make the AC heater core box work. I pulled the box apart (mostly small screws and drilling out a few rivets). I unbolted the 2 vacuum actuators from the box and removed 2 additional actuators that are part of the system- one in the passenger side kick plate and one in the cowl. I also removed what I guess is a “mixing” door in the heater box. I’m not sure what it does… I couldn’t figure it out- so I removed it! 😊 But it did seem to rattle a lot, so I figured “one less rattle.” I haven’t missed the door! I used the existing actuator cable to operate the “COLD/HOT” door, and 2 cables from an old Camaro to operate the DEFROST and OFF/AIR doors. (Repop Monte / A-body cables are available.) I had to get a little creative to make the DEFROST and OFF/AIR doors swing fully open and closed with the full swing of the controls, but it works nicely. There are 2 ways to wire the blower switch. (The switches are different between AC vs non-AC and they don’t swap between the controls.) Either way gets to the same result- the blower switch operates OFF, LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH. And you don’t have to move the top control lever from the “OFF” position to turn the fan on. (I always thought that was a little weird with the AC controls.) 1. Use the existing AC wiring. Get a 4-pin connector and pin it as shown from wires in the AC blower switch connectors. (There are 2 connectors.) This method uses the AC heater resistor- I installed mine in the delete plate when I removed the evaporator housing. The high-speed fan relay on the fire wall is removed as well. (NOTE: the purple wire is “hot” when the blower is running and the other big wire runs to the horn relay- take care to make sure these can’t ground out). The blue wire is dead at this point. 2. Use the existing non-AC wiring. AC cars have the non-AC blower connector (black 4 wire plug) and heater resistor connector (white 3 wire plug) tucked up under the dash. There is also an orange 14g wire with a connector that plugs into the blower somewhere bundled into the harness in the engine compartment on the firewall. A heater resistor needs to be installed in the heater box- then plug in the heater resistor connector. Remove the purple wire from the blower and plug in the orange wire. At this point, the entire AC harness can be removed or tucked away. See my note above about the high-speed fan relay. I bolted the box and controls back in and installed the duct work. Oddly, the Defroster duct doesn’t attach to the heater box. There is a gap between them but it doesn’t impact the flow to the windshield. I did notice the duct swings and rattles, so I put a rubber pad between the duct and the firewall and the rattle was gone. I used the rest of the AC ductwork, but I removed the 2 (creaky) vents that come out at knee-level in front of the driver and passenger. And I used black gaf tape on the plastic vent connections under the dash. This cuts down on the plastic squeaks. (Use gaf tape- never duct tape!) I wanted to keep the “factory correct” heater hose valve but it is Normally-Open and it needs a vacuum signal to close. I hurt my brain trying to incorporate a switch and an electric solenoid to control the vacuum signal to the Normally-Open heater hose valve. (My logic: I didn’t want the vacuum solenoid activated or “on” in the COLD position- I consider this the “normal / off state.” The solenoid activates and opens the heater hose valve when I want some heat and can cut in some cold with the COLD/HOT lever… whew.) I found a factory-appearing Normally-Closed heater hose valve. I installed a micro switch to operate the vacuum solenoid. As soon as the COLD-HOT lever comes off of COLD, the switch energizes the vacuum solenoid, opens the heater hose valve, allowing coolant to flow through the heater core. To power the circuit, I used the brown “key hot” wire that was no longer needed for the AC system power. The repop kick plates fit well. My only complaint is that the knobs for the vent cables are kinda cheap looking. There isn’t much to the factory ac kick plates (mine had been butchered with a bad speaker install, so I won’t miss them). Because I do not have fresh air vents from the cowl, I removed the top cable from both kick plates and installed black rubber plugs into the holes. Installing the driver side kick plate is a bit of work twisting under the dash. The parking brake pedal assembly needs to be unbolted (you can leave the cable alone and swing the assembly out of the way). There is a plate that covers the vent hole that needs to be removed, and then the whole assembly needs to be finessed into place. I have driven the car quite a bit with the new set up. The controls work very well and there is a satisfying, more direct change when moving the levers around, rather than waiting for vacuum to build to open / close the various doors! The fresh air vents in the kick plates are nice too. My Camaro has them and it is nice to open them to get air flowing around your feet. There are also much fewer squeaks from under the dash (I’m a nut about getting rid of squeaks and rattles), and I get a kick looking at the heater controls! Success!
  17. The last time I took this car to the track was well over 10 years ago. Time flies and life happens... Back then it had a 454 bottom end, and nipped the 11s. In 2014, we bought a Shafiroff 540 bottom end, swapped on the ancient oval port heads, cam, etc. and have just been driving it. It felt fast and is a blast to drive, but getting to the track just didn't happen. I made the drive to Cecil last night and got a decent pass in. (Damn cars are fast now! Everyone running 9s like nothing.) It ran 11.22 @ 117.6. I guessed 11.3 and got close, but I thought it would be from a top end charge. Considering it has 3.31s , 2400 converter, stock rear suspension, and is, well, you know- heavy , I was shocked to see that 60'! (It is also extremely quiet- I had to look at the tach while next to some open-exhaust cars just to make sure the engine is running!) The car actually rolled over in 3rd- the stock fuel system isn't up to the job I guess. No, I'm not ready for FAST (those guys are amazing), but I love my big orange bullet and the hupcaps! There is more to that air cleaner than meets the eye, but I ran with that on too.
  18. Hi Rob! I started writing up what I've done and I figured out how to post pix again! (I know: it didn't happen if there aren't pix. :)) As I am writing it up, I realized I did a ton of little things that I want to include and I'm getting wordy... I love this stuff! (At the same time, I wonder is anyone still doing this sort of thing and does anyone care? Glad to see the interest from FGMCC!) Anyway, I hope to post something next week. Carlisle is on my radar, but I need to see how some family stuff goes before I can commit. Stay tuned.
  19. I got side tracked but I hope to finish this modification today or tomorrow! I got the blower working using the AC wiring harness and AC resistor. My wiring diagram show 2 types of AC systems called "Comfortron" and "Four-Season". I searched and only found 1 reference to "Four-Season" and none for "Comfortron". Did these Montes ever come with the "Comfortron"? I'll post pix of what I'm doing if anyone is interested.
  20. You are correct- the A/C version does NOT have fresh outside air for the 2 L&R vents in the dash, but behind the passenger side kick plate, there is a vacuum actuated fresh air duct. And I agree- trying to put factory air in a non-air car would be way too much work! The firewall rework alone would be brutal. And your second photo is the hen's tooth picture I have been looking for! Now I see that round duct isn't in the firewall- it is off to the side and it goes to the cowl (one one the driver side too). I'm on the fence about trying to add these- it would be a ton of work, but also nice to have a fresh air option other than the kickplate vents. Not sure if the climb is worth the view! Thanks!!
  21. Very cool- that heater box is what I was after. Do you have any photos of the fresh air vents - or the holes for those vents? From what I understand, they are supposed to be under the dash, at the top of the fire wall. One hole on each side that goes into the cowl. At this point, I don't think I'm going to get that ambitious to add them, but I would love to actually see them- I can't find any photos online. Thanks!
  22. I would love to see a whole factory "heater only" set up. I couldn't find any photos online. I can only find the assembly manual photos, but they are missing tons of detail.
×
×
  • Create New...