GatorDog72

I have a friend that just bought a 90's Camaro project car and it came with a bunch of parts. He had an odd looking transmission for sale. It looked like a th400 with a parking brake on the tailshaft. He said it came out of a motorhome and had super low miles on it. I bought it from him and once I got home, I tried researching this a little bit. The tag reads: 88-FKA-21576. I think it's a TH475. Supposedly this is a super heavy duty version of a 400 with straight-cut planetary gears and a deep pan. I have honestly never heard of a TH475 before now and there's very little info on the web. I was hoping someone here knew more about this transmission. Are there any differences other than the gears and the pan? Do they run the same gear ratios as a 400? I have many questions! 😆

I think its more for sound deadening than heat. I have a fiberglass pin-on hood and haven't had any issues with the hood getting too hot or anything.

I don't know where they would have the space to set up a decent course. There's so many cars there, I'm surprised they tried it at all. You really need a whole parking lot.

I was just about to start a new thread for aftermarket seats and I stumble upon this thread! I was looking at doing exactly this, taking seats from a newer vehicle like a Camaro or Corvette, but I have a couple things I'm curious about. First, how much do these seats weigh, roughly? My car is a drag set-up and weight is a big concern. I was going to do Kirkey's because they are super light, but not bum/back friendly at all. Very uncomfortable If you're in the car longer than 5 minutes. My other concern is more safety related. Most new cars have airbags installed in the seats and I would not feel safe having my seat packed full of airbags in a car that's not designed for it. If there's a way to remove the explosive modules from the seat, I would definitely consider this route. At the moment, I'm considering a set of Recaro seats that I had reserved for another build. Anyone tried something like these Recaro's or similar? Opinions? I'm not sure I care to put these in the Monte. They're more for a tuner car, but they're very comfortable and functional with adjustable back and high bolsters.

Holy cow thats expensive paint and a really expensive truck. Was it a diesel at least? I hope so for that price. What paint shop are you going through? Napa on teall ave? I've had some really good luck through Liquidz on the north side. They have some really good pricing over there.

Oh god!!! The 10-year-old concrete hard epoxy primer!! This stuff was SO HARD to block sand on the rest of my car. I have no idea what they used, but boy that was a LOT of sanding! It was laid on real thick. I completely feel your pain on this one! Its looking great, Steve! I cant believe this is the first time I'm seeing this thread! I remember you saying you were going to start working on it. Looks tons better than the goofy little scoop that came on there.

Steve and Rob already know. 😂 You're definitely right on the money! Too many irons in the fire, I think. I'm just coming to terms with it now it seems. I'm not 18 anymore and jamming every day on 6 different cars isn't as easy as it used to be. I've definitely gotten more into the import side of the car scene over the past few years. For me, it's always about learning something new and I've learned a lot from the technology available on modern imports. A couple years ago, my father and I built a clone of a Japanese market '91 Integra with a b18c Type R engine. The steering is on the opposite side and everything. Some of my other projects include a 95 Nissan 240sx with a Skyline GTR engine swap, a '91 Honda CRX Si, and a '96 Integra GSR with a frankenstein accord/civic K24 engine. I build everything from start to finish, just like my Monte Carlo. Engines, transmissions, paint, everything. I may have burnt myself out trying to get parts and work on everything all at once. I think for starters, at least 2 cars have to go. It makes me sad to sell, but it's better to let them go to someone who will have more time to actually enjoy them. I just gotta get my priorities straight! I should have been running the Monte down the 1/4 mile 5 years ago!

Extremely dim lights would point to some extra resistance in the circuit somewhere. It's likely the problems are tied together. Loose or corroded ground will definitely do it. Make sure you check for resistance, not just continuity on the grounds.

I think it goes without saying, this probably isn’t the best platform to try autocross with. How I see it in my head: Titanic vs Iceberg. 😂 It can definitely be done though. There is a guy I’ve seen at the Syracuse Nationals with a 68 Riviera. I follow him on Instagram @ripnriv. Here’s a couple pics of his car.

The last 6 months or so has been difficult for me to find motivation to work on my car. Between life events, depression, and lack of available parts, I haven't really accomplished much. I've owned my Monte Carlo for 8 years now and I don't plan on ever selling it. I want to continue to improve the build, just don't have the motivation to do it. What are some things you guys do to motivate yourself to work on your cars?

From the perspective of a millennial- It was ok. Not great, just ok. The music was great, we listened to a lot of that stuff in high school, but I felt like they could have done a lot more with the show. The thing with the busses was weird. Half the stadium couldn't see the show. Only when they came out on top of the busses. I think the thing I was most upset about was the fact they had 64's that didn't hop. How is Dr. Dre gonna show up to the Superbowl with 64's that don't hop? Lame! It was definitely an awakening for those around my age. (I'm 31) At first I was like wow this is really cool, they are doing something for the younger generation instead of Mick Jagger or Paul McCartney. Then, all of a sudden it hit me. I'm not the "younger generation" anymore.... Dr. Dre is 57, Snoop is 50, Eminem is 49, Fifty cent is 46, and the youngest of the bunch, Kendrick, is 34. Scary thought, getting old!!!!! 😆

They should fit no problem. That’s the exact set up I have on my car. They are cragar 15x8 4.5 backspace with Mickey Thompson e/t streets in 275/60r15. Didn’t even have to trim the inner lip. The inner side of the tire has about an inch of clearance or more , it’s not even close.

Today I sat in it, made some engine noises, and played with the shifter. 😄

Let me zoom out on this picture 😁

I’ve got this small ABC extinguisher strapped to the cage behind the front seat. I hope I never have to use it.

Do you know if the master cylinder is original? If it was replaced with one that has too large of a bore, it will cause the pedal to be really stiff. Even with a working booster. Just a thought.... I got messing around with my brakes and I was amazed at how big of a difference the master cylinder bore size makes.

Upon closer inspection of this issue, I think I've found the problem. It looks to me like the spot on the frame where the crossmember bolts up is also a spot where someone may have put a jack under the car. It looks like the bottom of the C channel is bent up and outwards. I think I can fix it with a porta-power and a short ram. If that doesn't work, my other thought was to take a 5 ton come-along and try to pull that side back into shape. It makes complete sense now why everything lined up except the crossmember. It's just that one spot that's bent and its only the bottom part of the frame. Hopefully an easy fix. I'll let ya know if it worked or not.

Thats good news Steve! Praying for a speedy recovery!

I think the old one is definitely bent somehow. Looks that way. Here’s how the new one bolts up. You can see it’s way short. If it was off by a little, I could just slot the holes but it’s too far off. You would think if the frame was really that far off, it would be obvious something is bent or misaligned on the car.

I wondered about this as well. The old crossmember that came out of the car had rubber mounts on either end. They look like this: I also noticed the middle portion of the crossmember looked like it was pulled out of this mount more on one side than on the other.

It seems my frame has to be tweaked somehow. I’m not sure where or how. Nothing makes sense on my car. Everything measures square, yet very wide. Almost a full inch wider than it should be, according to the measurements listed on the drawing. All the alignment holes for the body line up. The body mounts are like new. The spacing between the body and frame is equal on both sides. It also goes down the road straight. I’ve had it at 140 mph plus with no issues whatsoever. This is the exact crossmember I bought from summit, it was a summit brand not a gforce. If my frame measurements were exactly like the drawing, this part should fit. I’m thinking at this point to just cut the tabs off the ends and weld longer ones on to match my frame. That way, I can simply place the mount in the middle of the car no matter what the measurements are. Good idea? Or should I try to send it back and keep searching for the correct one?

See, I thought the same thing! The way I understood it was all A-Body’s, whether Buick, Pontiac, olds, Chevelle, elcamino, etc. we’re all the same width frame with the only difference being the wheelbase and overall length. So, I go to order the g force crossmember and there’s two options for different widths. It said 72 elcamino and Monte Carlo were 1 1/2” wider. I’ll try to find the link but it has me totally confused.

Ok fellas I haven’t had a chance until now to get anything done on the Monte. I tried installing the new GForce crossmember today and it’s really short as I expected. With the holes bolted in the driver side, the bracket hardly even reaches the other frame rail. It’s about an inch and a half short. I bought the wider of the two crossmembers as well. I don’t get why my frame is so wide. Everything measures square, but the whole thing is wide. Other than the Grand Prix, the Monte Carlo had an exclusive frame, correct? There’s no possible way the frame could be swapped from another A body. I’m completely stumped and at this point I’m going to weld some longer tabs on the crossmember to make It fit.

It's got the 4v closed chamber heads. 11:1 compression. I gave this a try and put a 31 in the front. I used an extra one from the previous carb. It did exactly what I expected it to do, so I'm on the right track. I was able to lean out the idle circuit and it cleaned up the initial hit, but opening the secondaries still causes a lean bog. That's with 31's front and rear. I'm gonna put the 35 in the rear and see what it does.

Here's an awesome video from Engine Masters on this exact topic. I love this series on Motortrend, I highly recommend watching some of their videos.