gprimm

The shop in Villa Park Joker / Andrew is referring to is Atomic Transmission. Long time shop. In fact Gordon of D & G was the shop manager there for maybe 8 years. Frank is the owner. This shop did many 700r4 conversions for the members of the Northern Illinois Chevelle Club. I see that Joker is in Bolingbrook also. We have to meet!!!!

Yes, here are three for you: Westmont, IL: High Speed Welding. 728 Vandustrial Dr. Westmont, IL 630-971-8929. He set up my 12 bolt. Yorkville, IL: Wilk Enterprises. Rob Wilk is the owner. On Facebook just look up WilkEnterprises, Inc. 630-901-8923. Tell him George Primm referred you. Known Rob for 20 years. He's very good. At the time I needed my 12 bolt set-up he wasn't at his own shop. Crest Hill, IL: D & G Auto, Gordon and his wife own it. I have know Gordon for 28 years. If I don't work on my 1971 SS or green 71 Gordon is the one that does it. 815-529-4350. Tell him I referred you. Excellent trans guy. builds my OD trans for my cars. Wilk Enterprises uses D &G for their trans rebuilds.

1971 Green Monte small block - 43 years and 5 months. Purchased in Greenville, SC my Jr. year in college. 1971 Place Gold Monte Carlo SS - 37 year and 9 months.

That is indeed Bill Pastoor. He lives in New Lenox, IL and I have been to a few shows with him. Heck of a nice guy.

I have that Thursday and Friday off, I'll have to see.

Fran Preve, an employee of the Tonawanda, NY engine plant for decades, was also an avid racer. In the mid 80's Chevrolet gave him access to the production records. He attended the 1986 National Chevelle Owners Assocaiation's Annual Convention in Peoria, IL. He had a seminar and covered many topics and then answered questions. I was there as our Northern Illinois Chevelle Club was the host club. I asked Fran about the mysterious 1971 SS LS-6 and 1971 SS 4-spd manual transmission Monte Carlo. He said per the Chevrolet production records no 1971 Monte SS454 was made with a 4-speed manual at the factory. Based on his access to records I do believe GM can provide production information if they wanted. Just like Pontiac. He has never publicly explained the rare factory production cars as he does not want them to be replicated or "tribute" ones made. I was with him in Columbus, OH NCOA national convention in the early 90's when a shop owner came up to us while we were looking at Chevelles and said he had worked on a 1965 300 Deluxe Chevelle with a 396 and hydraulic lifters that looked original. Fran asked what color the car was and when the mechanic told him he said "go find that car". At the same time a Northern Illinois Chevelle Club member, Gary Swearingen, of Bloomington, IL said he had purchased a 1965 Z-16 but when it was delivered it had a 327 engine, but everything else was correct; dash clock, Tach, special rear trunk chrome, etc. He rejected it and an older woman eventually purchased it. When Fran knew the model and color of the 1965 Chevelle with the "big block" with hydraulic lifters he knew about these cars. A GM exec wanted the plain jane Chevelle with the IX code Z-16 engine (425hp 396 engine placed in the Corvette but they took out the mechanical lifter and used hydraulic). A few years later my family spent some time with Mark Meekins, President of the NCOA, and his family in Greensboro, NC. He showed me pictures of the mysterious Chevelle that had the IX coded engine. It was outside Nashville. The brother of the GM exec who ordered it died and his brother got it. That explains why Gary's Z-16 was delivered with a 327. We subsequently found several other cars he knew were produced.

Nice. Pics of the truck coming soon, I hope!

This is my original compressor.

Very late to this game, but I have the 5 original Goodyear tires. For display reasons only I will put on the bias ply tires, but have put tubes in them. The 3/8" whitewall looks very sharp on these cars.

My Air Force son is replacing the main rear seal on his SBC. He sent me these pictures. The rear main bearing seems fine with me as the wear pattern is good in the center / bottom. It is just the "black streaks" on the side that I question. The crank looks fine also with no scratches. He said it is nice and smooth. Just needed another opinion. It runs fine and doesn't burn oil, just was losing lots of oil out the rear seal. It is 7 years old and he said it fell apart in his hands!!!

Remflex. Put them on 3 years ago and it has been perfection. Just don't overtighten.

Got mine from Advance Auto. Perfect match and fit. I always buy on-line and pick up at the store. Always look up Advance Auto discount codes and usually save 30%.

I prefer ATK. http://high-performance-engines.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=GM

Amazon and Rock Auto will give you the part numbers for each manufacturer.

I used American Autowire. Exactly like original. I asked for the engine harness that included the hookup for the new highout alternator. Looks factory and works like a charm.