gprimm

Will, thanks for posting that. I forwarded it to my son (a 2011 grad of the Air Force Academy). His girlfriend who is a Jr. at the Academy may be bringing something to Chicago for him at Christmas!!! And yes, on my 1971 Monte, I put upper and lowers on and they work well.

Jim, I get up to Huntley often. Was there in October for a Northern Illinois Chevelle Club cruise (1st Gens are members as they are the same as Chevelles, just look better!). It took me 40 minutes to get to Bolingbrook on 90 and 355. Let's do it. I have a customer (I am a banker) in Huntley. The industrial park just east of the shopping center off 47.

Well, I should have said contact them. Since the time difference is 5 hours from there you can get them. They also have email or forms online and they'll get back to you. Comp Cams actually has a program you can download and put in the parameters that you have; weight, gear, head type, intake type, headers, stock exhaust manifolds, etc. They will give you an approximate HP and Torque results. This is based on their testing. Pretty good. I downloaded it to my hard drive. You can get responses online with their tech questionaire. If you have trouble, I can do some homework for you. When I called Comp CAms they recommended the XE272, so I stepped back. Going one lower wouldn't hurt at all. The Howard Cam my son has is very impressive.

I would suggest calling a cam manufacturer and you can give them your rear end gear, type of trans, etc. Otherwise, I have kind of the same set-up. 350, aluminum heads and I just put a 700r4 and 3.42 gears in it. Based on that I have a Comp Cams XE268. Idles nicely and the RPM goes to 5,800. Strong all the way around. Now, my son had an engine built by an engine builder and the builder loves Howard cams. It is a 350 also, and torque first then horsepower was the goal. The torque is close to 400 ft. lbs and the horsepower is about 330. Extremely effective cam. Howard Cams #112571. The engine is in a 78 Malibu Classic Wagon so the weight will be around the same as the Monte. He drag races it (14.2 seconds) and Autocrosses it and beats BMWs. I built the wagon and there is nothing stock left on it (drive train, suspension, etc), although it looks stock everywhere.

I know exactly where that is. Maybe next summer we all can attend a show together. Gotta treat those people to lots of Monte!!!

I buy stainless steel exhaust clamps from Meijer. They sell them for $3.99 each. Beats the price of the mail order. BTW, where are you in Illinois?

Nicely done. Very nice. Congrats.

Chevelle SS big block exhaust = Monte Carlo SS exhaust, including resonators. Might try Tamaraz; they are on Ebay and their number is 630-904-7194. They have their systems bent after originals by an excellent custom exhaust shop here in the Naperville, IL area. This shop does a lot of muscle cars and they know their stuff. 25 years ago I got my tailpipes with the correct style resonators from Hinshaw Chevelle Parts in NC.

That's why I like an experienced builder who looks at every part. Crate engines are just that; mass produced volume. I learned my lesson and here's yet another story.

I replaced my complete underhood wiring harnesses this past winter. Bought them from www.americanautowire.com and am very happy. Exactly like factory with all the right connections and colors.

A friend worked for Eaton and recommended the Tru Trac for the posit unit. He said conventional only and NO POSI additive. Acts like sand in the Tru Trac. Been in the car for 3 years and 10,000 miles and no issues.

Just my thoughts. If my choice, I would go with an engine builder. Yes, GM builds lots of engines, but they are mass produced. The knowledge, care and precision of a quality engine shop provides a better engine. I think the exception would be the really high end GM engines which are hand assembled by experienced techs. Here's my experience with a GM crate engine. My original engine in the 1971 had a valve head pop-off and basically annihilate the engine. Bought the GM crate 350-290hp engine. Brand new stuff. Well, the heads did not last as the valve seals were JUNK. It blew blue smoke first on fire-up and then under acceleration. Just spent the winter doing work on the Monte including putting on Eddy RPM heads. Was at a car show this year and a fella had a beautiful 50's Chevy truck with the same engine. Guess what? It blew smoke. Was just at Borowski Race Engines where my son had some heads redone. Guess what they had on a pallet? A new create engine that the owner had them dyno. After break-in on the second pull one of the lifters failed. Brand new engine. Now the owner has got to deal with that. Just an FYI. Not pushing this builder (he sells internationally) but here's a link www.borowskirace.com

Metal. Plastic cracks. I hope to change my plastic to metal this winter. Where to get them? I would look for price as I guess they are produced by only a few, if not one, company.

We are putting a rebuilt set up heads on my sons 78 Malibu Classic Wagon (don't worry guys, I built it three years ago and everything is changed). The reason we are changing is that the long block was rebuilt at a shop; the short block is fantastic, but the heads weren't rebuilt that great and are smoking after 5,000 miles. So brought in a low miles set of cast iron heads, had screw-in studs put in, some valve work, etc. The head guy suggested that since the Howard cam is mild, he suggests putting 1.6 ratio on the intake for a little more power. Thoughts?

Some restorers I know use the Hemi orange. But whatever you use I have found the following make my paint last and last: After cleaning the engine, I prime it with Epoxy primer. Then I put the color on top. Have never had any flake-off with this method. Also used the Por-15 and it was great too.

The roller tips worked with the stock valve covers. When I switched to the full rollers I had to use taller covers. I got mine from Skip White on Ebay, the "semi tall" ones for $14, chrome and they work great. I just bought a second set and am going to paint those Chevy orange. I like the contrast of the orange covers on the aluminum heads.

I changed my steering box from the factory to that of a 3rd Gen F-body and a closer ratio of 12.7 from the original 16 to 1. That's where I saw my increased sensitivity and much better road feel. I always considered overboost on PS to that of no effort to turn the steering wheel; so older people wouldn't complain about steering effort. Big change and I can turn a corner with minimal movement of the steering wheel.

I bought my rear bumper from Tamraz (he is my neighbor). It fits perfect and the chrome is very good. I don't think these resellers have their own bumpers produced, they buy them at wholesale from the manufacturer. The key is if they'll stand behind it. From dealing with Mark Tamraz and his crew, if not satisfied, they'll exchange it.

Or, it could be that some stinky Ford type stuck a nut / bolt in the exhaust.

If the trans is working and shifting fine, there are several connections on the trans crossmember, the exhaust, the parking brake cable, the modulator vacuum line, etc.

A quality built 700 or200 will handle what you need. It's a matter of cost as they are controlled by line pressure and the 4160 & 4180 are handled by computer. A poorly built trans of any type will have problems. The issue for the 700 & 200 are setting the TV cable pressure correctly the first time so you don't burn it up.

Couple of things. The Astro van O/D is a 700R4, not a 200R4. When choosing between the two, either is fine and can be built for most any horsepower except the drag cars. On the gear spreads, the 700r4 has the steepest drop between 1st and 2nd because the first gear is around 3.08, and the 200r4 is closer to the TH350 so for some the 200r4 provides the best overall gear spread. Also, the 200r4 has a lower final drive ratio in O/D.

When my battery is low the gauge spikes above 14 as it is recharging the battery. After driving it for a while she relaxes and the regulator goes back to normal charging. My original Z28 typically runs above 14 and has since I got it.

That mechanic will be smiling from ear to ear. I bet when you are there, he may offer to go over it and check the timing just to make sure it is running at it's best. The mechanics I know love working on our old cars. Brings them back to better years for them.

I did the same thing, just touching up the colors. I went to Menards and in the paint section they had a spray can of plastic adhesion primer. I just cleaned the part with acetone, sprayed the plastic adhesion primer, then top coated it. Turned out very well.