LS65Speed

There it is, cold hard numbers. THANKS !

Can someone post a side picture of a stock 72 that will let me get an idea what the ride height is for a STOCK configuration First Gen. If someone has original wheels and original tire size along with original specification rear springs I would greatly appreciate your help. In the alternative or along with pics can anyone provide a measurement I can use to gauge where my ride height is compared to stock. I think the car is a little high in the rear and am considering lowering springs or replacing my current springs (specification unknown) with stock spec rear springs. The height I have leaves the rear slightly elevated, nothing outlandish but I would like it as close to level from front to rear as possible.

I am running a stock Chevy Corvette pan on my 454. No issues. They are out of production / discontinued now but if you can find a good one they are a alternative that provides an extra quart of oil and accommodates the stock GM windage tray..

You might look at a Dakota Digital fan controller for this project. Out of the box you can wire it to turn off at a certain temp....such as might be seen during highway driving. As the water temp goes down from increased air flow on the highway the controller will turn the fan(s) off at a temp you preset. The device also has an optional connection that will turn on the fan(s) whenever the A/C is turned on regardless of the water temp. I have not investigated how these two features function together but there might be an answer for you using the Controller. IMHO worth a look t least. I am not a fan of manual switches anywhere in the cooling system. It is IMHO just too easy to switch something of and forget to turn it back on when the need arises. You are asking for an overheat issue if you turn it off on the highway then reenter city driving and forget to flip the switch manually back to the "fan on" position.

Not sure where you are looking but hub centric wheel adapters are readily available from several suppliers. In point of fact may will make custom spacers to your specifications. I can get back to you with some names / links. Can you tell me what you have found for center hole sizes and what manufacturers offer what sizes? I am looking for a somewhat special combo of backspacing. Your info about larger than 2.78 size center holes might help me out. Back to you in a few minutes after I dig out some info for you. Back with some additional data.... https://www.uswheeladapters.com/shop/5-lug-custom-adv-so/ https://www.wheeladapter.com/ https://www.motorsport-tech.com/ These three are on the top of my list but there might be others. US Wheel adapter is one that, I believe offers nearly next day shipping. Not sure if they deliver on that promise but...... If you can get me those center bore dimensions you have gotten from other suppliers and the suppliers names that would be great. As I think about it, hub centric slip on spacers spacers may need the larger center holes you mention on aftermarket wheels of non GM origin. I want to go with hub centric slip on spacers and I currently have Gm 15x8 Rally wheels on the car. I am almost sure that to use a hub centric slip on spacer one needs a wheel with a larger center hole to accommodate the "shoulder" on the spacer. If you go with ANY brand spacer make sue your vendor is using quality grade aluminum not some cheap material from who knows where like the PRC.

Not......I still have the originals that came on my 1972....! Bought it in 1973 and still have it ....it sat for maybe 20 years w/o moving and I am sure there were no repos in 1973. No Bow Tie on mine. They look just like yours. I am about as far as ya can get from an "original everything" sort of guy. Just never could be bothered chasing dated this and that...not to mention paying the prices resulting from the seller having the "Correct" air for the tires or whatever.. Worse maybe is the guys that cannot resist report what they see as being incorrect / repro / Chinese. It kinda takes some of the fun out of the hobby for me. Had a 66 Corvette and bailed out of that hyper correctness rat race long ago.

I can lower the trans...the way I built / modified the crossmember when the 5 Speed went in lowering the trans is a snap. How far did ya have to jack the motor up? Any issues with rotating the front counterweight ?

Anyone here changed an oil pan without removing the engine. I am wondering what guys who have accomplished this task would have to say. Stock exhaust, no headers to contend with. The car does have a Richmond 5 speed which is kinda close to the floor making jacking the engine up very far a potential issue. It also has factory A/C so the evaporator core and the passengers side head might get friendly if I have to raise the engine too far. I would appreciate any experience you guys might have (good experience or bad experience) when trying this with the engine in the car.

I can scan it tonight or tomorrow or just verbally walk ya thru what ya need? Maybe a phone call tomorrow? You decide. I am actually working on my A/C right now. I would like a diagram of the routing of those hoses and the wire harness that powers the A/C. I converted my car to Factory A/C and the perfectionist in me wants to clean up behind the dash

Got it!

I might be able to help you. I could look at the overhaul manual A/C section and see if it has a diagram. Will take a hike down to basement momentarily If I don't have diagrams my dash is opened right now so maybe I could talk / guide you thru the color codes on the hoses. Actually I would like to have a diagram

Thanks for the reply. I got VERY lucky with that piece. Nothing but a good scrubbing with hot water and soap was needed for prep before paint. No stripped holes / no cracks: not bad for a 50 year old piece! Funny part was I read about the GP housing accommodating the "uprated" motor / squirrel cage and decided to make the change. I figured it would be near impossible to find one however. After the decision was made I immediately logged onto Ebay and there it was, first inquiry produced a score. Here is another pic of the housing install. I got lucky again a second time with the install. It was tight but I got the old housing out and the new one installed in the car by just removing inner fender and exhaust manifold on pass side.

I also did a clear coat paint job on the evap housing. First a good clean up to remove the dirt and grime then a couple of light coats of clear. Be careful using abrasives on the housing if you want to retain the factory surface look. BTW that is a 1969 Pontiac Gran Prix A/C evap housing not an MC housing. The GP unit allows use of a later model blower cage that is both taller ( longer if you will ) and the use a 1998 Vette blower motor. The fan / squirrel cage has more blades and longer blades: each with a more aggressive airfoil profile. Big improvement in air movement over the 70's version blower cages originally in these cars. Very minor mods needed to accommodate differences in the Pontiac versus Chevy units. Mods are related to the "sensors" and resistor mounting areas on the driver side of the evap housing. Everything else is plug and play.

Hadda have that stuff when I lived in CT. No emissions parts in place NO INSPECTION and NO Registration even if it met emissions numbers which it did !!!! Stupid laws. My buddy ran a repair shop and he had the SAME sniffer the DMV did. We made the numbers but the morons at DMV wouldn't go any further than raising the hood, they stopped dead in the water w/o the emission stuff in place. More interesting (infuriating?) is that its an LS6 crate engine ( I make no claim it is a factory car ) with the factory solid lifter FT cam and John got it spitting out LS5 numbers. Vette 3x2 / rectangle port heads (back then) / solid lifters and a 5 speed stick.... none of which were offered in 1972 Monte Carlos and he made it all work. Stupid DMV...

67 high rise rectangle port 3x2 intake, Edelbrock oval ports. Works as good as an oval port intake on oval port heads. You would never know of the "mismatched combo" unless some told ya. Also running the Vette 5 Qt oil pan as mentioned above.

Great talking to ya today. Attached is a link to the 9 inch Ford rear we talked about. If you are OK with it drop me an E-mail at my address and I will forward PIcs of some of the stuff we talked about.

John Might make a run to Summit tomorrow to pick some things up. Saw there is a show at Bethany Baptist Church tomorrow, wondering what ya think the turn out might be? Is the first ever show so I guess the question is a general one about show attendance in you area because there is no track record on this show. Thinking that if I go to Summit I might drive by the show. Depending on your schedule, maybe you are even going to attend. what ya think about a cup of coffee tomorrow afternoon some time? Ray

Honestly my driving style never put the speed shifting ability of the transmission into question. There are videos out there about how to improve the shifting problem by messing with the detent mechanisms, the sliders (not the syncro rings or the dogs), the springs and the little balls that are part of the detent system that is in one half of the case. I never thought to even try the recommended procedure when I swapped out the 3.27's for the 3.04's, I just didn't wanna power shift it bad enough to be bothered. The outlined "fix" is pretty simple and it might help but if ya don't see a problem why try to fix it? If I recall right the 1 / 2 and 4 / 4 syncro assys are stock GM Muncie stuff which works fine in the Muncie so I gotta think the issue is elsewhere in the trans. The fix outlined in the videos does not involve the syncro assys so I guess I put some credibility in the purported fix. Another theory of mine is the syncros ability to lock up the gears in the Richmond versus the gears in the Muncie. The RIchmond gears are wider and heavier than the Muncie gears so maybe the syncros are not up to the task of speed shifting the Richmond at high RPM as they obviously are in a Muncie? Beats me.

GA400 and 285.....I could leave it all behind in a heartbeat but the other half is pretty well dug in. I grew up in Northern Connecticut away from all the congestion in "The Atl"! On the wrong day, in the wrong frame of mind the traffic around here makes me nuts! It is a Richmond 5 Speed with 1 to 1 in 5th gear. Been in there since forever, I just recently swapped out the first gear gear set from 3.27 to 3.04. Makes for a very nice setup with the 3.31 gears in the rear. Pretty close ratios as ya go thru the gears, no big drops in RPM at shift points. I would consider going to 3.00 in the rear maybe or even 2.73 for the highway but the 3.31's get it done for me both in town and on the highway. Old first gear in Richmond was 3.27 which left the overall gearing in first just a hair lower than 4.88's. It was okay on the highway with 1.00 x 3.31 but 3.27 x 3.31 was like a truck in town at the stop sign / stop light. Thanks for the compliment on the dash. Dash was all home built by yours truly using Classic Instruments gauges. Carbon fibre is 3M "wrap" material, never liked that GM fake wood. Just my opinion on the faux wood...to each his own as they say. Saw a Lexus at the dealer with some carbon fibre accent areas then saw another MC that a guy had done with the wrap. It was all history after that. history after that.

John...... WOW the cars are almost twins! I think guys sometimes get too carried away with the latest go fast item and miss out on rock solid GM stuff that can be counted on to deliver the goods for years. A good shop should be able to resurface your wheel, assuming there are not deep cracks or a crazy amount of distortion due to heat. Sometimes I think a resurfaced GM unit is a better final product than a new one. Of course that depends on the supplier. Crazy high RPM stuff pretty much demands special parts but thats not what we are talking about here. Considering the shortages of EVERYTHING these days resurfacing sounds like a good option. Ya got me beat as far as trips to the Operating Room with your knee. I got "by" with three visits to fix a birth defect called "club foot". Most of the pedal pressure reduction came, of course, from the Center Force but the linkage and the extended pedal each contributed a bit and every bit counted when I was sitting in traffic on GA 400 or I-285. With the old setup it got to where driving the car all day had me taking Aleve the next day or so. I actually considered going to an automatic but "real cars have three pedals" as they say. Might be fun to get the cars together for a photo op sometime? If we can find a 3rd FIrst Gen in black we would have a trifecta with all three years represented! Keep in touch, let me know how the project is going. Ray

John Up here on the North side of "the Atl": I just saw your post on clutches and flywheels. FWIW I have some thoughts based on my work with my old bucket of bolts. I am running a 454 (no the car is not stock...far far from stock) so my flywheel has to be externally balanced. If you have not made a decision yet I would consider a GM flywheel. I have never had an issue with the stock stuff and assuming they are still available that might be a good way to go. I hadda have the ext. balanced 454 wheel but you can use a GM wheel from just about any Chevy V8. Clutch and PP choice....... Due to a few surgeries at 1 and 2 years old related to correcting ankle troubles I needed a light clutch feel. The ankle has arthritis and minimizing pedal pressure for in-traffic situations was very impt. to me. I went with a Center Force PP and a stock GM disc. Those choices along with clutch linkage that has heim joints at the rod ends makes for a solid lockup AND nice pedal pressure for my ankle. I also lengthened the clutch pedal just a slight bit, maybe 5/8 inch (second Pic) for a little extra leverage. I don't race the car and am not slamming gears very often. Now and then a good run thru the gears is about as aggressive as I get these days. Feel free to get back with any questions you might have. Ray

Those are not original. I used "Cars" for my cloth covers and was very happy with the product. I worked in an upholstery shop in college and did the install myself so I saw both the inside and the outside. The Cars covers were a quality item, just as well made as the custom "one off" custom and panel replacement / repair work that was done by the shop I worked in.

I agree with this approach and am not trying to be a PIA about this. Sounds totally logical and I am sure you speak from experience. Right now I am thinking I gotta get the rear as low as possible, then maybe lower the ehaust system toward the floor....in one piece (just disconnect the hangers and the connectons at the manifolds) I think that then the tank can move backward (toward the front of the car) until the neck clears the frame crossmember. I might even disconnect the shocks to allow the rear and the disconnected pipes to drop further away from the tank. Gonna keep this project on the front burner and will be back to you guys as it evolves. Thanks so much for the help so far.

I have a new set of new Walker tailpipes in my basement AND an old set of "who knows what brand" tailpipes in my basement. The bends are pretty darn close when I nest the Walker along side the older pipes. I assume that the old pipes in the basement are Walker but don't know. Looking at your pipes I still think that the bends in yours are a bit different but the question remains as to which are closest to factory bends. Will take a picture of the tailpipes and an under the car shot today if nothin gets in the way of progress on this.