Paul Bell

Assuming the engine started life as a 454, it's externally balanced. The damper should have a weight in it.

No Chevelle ever had a rear with the "RC" code. Can you tell us any more? What year do you think it is? Can we see more pics, including the cover? The 0515 is a date code but it's meaning changed through the years.

It is said that no-name/import tubular control arms have questionable tubing and welds quality. There have been some instances of welds letting go or the tubing fracturing at the welds due to poor tempering. They also use cheap ball joints. I wouldn't trust any of them. Some folks have good luck with them but I sleep good at night. Look at UMI, BMR, Global West, QA1, etc. for tubular control arms. All US made and they make top shelf products. The better ball joints and steering components today are from Pro Forged. QA1 makes Delron lined rebuildable adjustable low friction ball joints in standard and longer lengths.

More pics later. 2" primaries, special request 3-1/2" collectors.

Yes, that's a great trans cooler. It'll cool better that any OEM in-tank cooler. Any truck that has a heavy duty transmission cooler it's outside the radiator.

The most efficient radiators have two rows that are 1 or 1-1/4 wide each. The aftermarket offers some good choices, my Griffin radiator is decades old and never gave me a moments problem. If you're using an automatic transmission, consider and external stacked plate style cooler, not an factory style cooler tank in the radiator tank.

No, it's the end of the year and a few people are out using up vacation time. It's kinda my fault, I was told the 27th and I went there without calling first. Very nice guy that Nick, we've met a few times before.

I went to pickup my headers today! They weren't ready! But I got a nice T-shirt! Nick says you guys shouldn't worry, they install with the engine in place like any other header. I do know you'll need to have the nose of the car pretty high up or do it on a lift.

Hey Steve, nice collection! I'd like to see a shot of you with the nose of all five cars surrounding you. About the numbers matching value, I'd say if it was a rare car like an SS or a 402 car, having the numbers matching engine, transmission and to a lesser degree, rear end, the car should garner a premium. For a pristine all numbers matching SS car, I'd say 7~8 thousand more in value over a non-numbers matching car.

Santa made an early stop at my house today!

My set won't be ready for pickup until the 27th so it won't be in my X-mas loot. 🥴 But my Mahle racing pistons are due on the 24th!

Anything from Ron Francis would be a good quality product. I don't care for dual fans where one comes on full speed then the second comes on also at full speed. It's noisy even with one and the full power turn on is a pretty high instantaneous current spike. I like what GM did with the '98 & up Camaros & Firebirds. Low speed, the two fans come on wired in series. They run at half speed and the startup current is low. High speed switches them to parallel connected, full speed. BUT you'll need two things to trigger it. I actually drew it up in the 1980's with switches in the console. Now my EFI system triggers the relays at set temperatures. Here's the relay setup for it. Coils are powered from key on ignition, the triggers are switched grounds.

You guys are killing me. My set MIGHT be ready before Christmas. BUT I get to pick them up at the plant! Dan, I love how nicely tucked up to the floor yours are. My Hookers were lower than the trans pan. Mine will be slightly higher because the AFR heads I'm using have raised exhaust ports.

ME?? I'm laying them in the frame before I drop the engine back in-and it'll be springtime so....

I'm sure like most headers they can be but you'll need to get the front of the car up pretty high.

I used two of the above Blue Sea blocks. I made up an aluminum buss to center feed both of them with a 4 gauge wire that hits the battery and alternator. Relays for my fans are at the horn relay, fuel & water pump relays are on the firewall. A 200 amp Powermaster alternator feeds everything, a 140 should do well. Go for the biggest AGM battery you can fit.

They don't say what amperage the circuit breaker is but the feed wire is 10 gauge-which means total load shouldn't exceed 30 amps. Two good sized fans might draw 20 amps each. https://www.painlessperformance.com/Manuals/70107.pdf Many single feed fuse blocks have pretty thin strips inside the feeding everything. Independent feed fuse blocks are better because it doesn't depend on one wire and internal strips to feed them all. You can get an Independent feed block and tie them all together with a heavy wire that'll handle your total load. Relays are better separate from the fuse block. https://www.campingworld.com/blue-sea-systems-st-blade-fuse-block-6-independent-circuits-350606.html?msclkid=3fdd553b42791033bb4908cc6263b5c6&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SHB | Boating %26 Watersports&utm_term=4580702886566933&utm_content=CW - boating %26 watersports %26 marine electrical

I got this stuff. Made in Germany, only Eastwood has it. Two part epoxy paint, ya press a button in the bottom to release the curing agent. Supposedly bullet proof. I'm tired of always having to touch up spots on the engine regular paint won't stay on. A little costly though, the two cans were $65 delivered. Once mixed, they can be sprayed for like 30 hours.

Hey Mark, years ago there were few choices and I went with Hooker Super Comps. I forget what the issue was but I had to have them modified, which was done by George Kryssing “Papa Kook” in his home shop, well before he started Kooks Headers. RIP George. 😟 Point being, our Monte Carlos are somehow different than a Chevelle and all headers on the market for our cars are for Chevelles-except the offering from American Racing Headers. I know some fit decent but I went with 2" primaries and I want the very best for this one time purchase. (well OK, one time purchase every 25 years...) There's a guy here who runs them, they fit good and have good ground clearance. ARH makes them to order and they need the exhaust port shape and size and your collector size. I have a set on order. As I'm within driving distance, I'll pick them up at ARH, I've been there before. I don't think this is needed. Ya gotta get the car up pretty high and of course, the starter needs to be removed. Mine will be easier, I just need to lay the headers in place before I drop the engine back in.

I stopped at a bit of a high end interior shop today to get a quote, I used this guy before to fix a Firebird seat. Can you believe he was closed on a Saturday? I bet he'll be closed on Sunday too! How dare he!! Whatever shop does the job, I'll let them take out the seats but not the center console. I'll assume it's less than a day's work so I wanna drop off the car and take it back the same day. Of course, the engine rebuild & installation comes first.........

Hey Todd, as you're staying carbureted, your actual fuel flow rate is fairly low. Unless you're running dual quads on a 8,000 RPM engine, even 3/8" lines will feed your float bowls more than adequately. I wouldn't worry about the internal sizing of a fitting that goes from -8 to -6 AN.

I found a Youtube video, two parts, like 45 minutes each but fast forwarding through them they can be viewed in about 15 minutes. It's some guy doing the install and he's learning as he goes along. Early on, the seats are in the car then they disappear. From this, I learned: -The center rod snaps into plastic clips that are in the roof bar, these clips are brittle and will need replacement with new. -The roof rail weatherstrip needs to be removed which will destroy it so it also needs replacement with new. -It looks like a lot of work so I'll shop around for installation quotes, I'm not gonna attempt this job (I'll screw it up). I also found that just the cloth is $109.00 and there's enough included to do the sail panels AND visors. SO: Headliner cloth + clips + weatherstrip + labor. Now I just need to know, the lighter blue or the darker blue? I'm leaning towards the lighter blue because the 1970 blue interior was a darker blue but I'd like to confirm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHuuWYq6ufo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHqVzPAm6dI

On a "modern" vehicle with a hard cardboard headliner removing the windshield is usually mandatory. On these cars it's a cloth that's suspended from wire rods that run from side to side.

Because the years ago installed headliner in my car is some odd shade of blue, I can't match the material to do the sail panels. So I need to replace the headliner and visor covers. Questions: OPG shows two shades of blue, one is lighter the other darker. Which is correct for a 1971 car? The headliners offered appear to include enough material to do the sail panels. Is there enough to also do the visors? OR should I purchase new visors? Is headliner replacement a job I can do myself? What else do I need?

The only breakdown of bucket seats installed is the total across the entire Chevelle/Malibu/El Camino/Monte Carlo line. 56,638. https://www.chevellestuff.net/1971/options_by_cost.htm