gprimm

As everyone has said, yes they did come with the inner flaps, or they were supposed to. I have seen Chevelles with 3,000 original miles delivered without them, but they also had all the SS emblems installed upside down and other quirks that were done shortly after a strike was settled. Seems it was the way to get back at GM after the strike was to do stuff to the cars. So there are exceptions. George

I'll contact Dan the Carb man and see if he can help. George

Well, it is a GM crate engine with a Comp Cams XE268. Going to 3.42 gears and a 700R4. Will eventually get aftermarket or Vortec heads. The Eddy is nice, easy to adjust, but often "dissed" by performance guys. George

Currently have a Eddy 650 electric choke on my 350. I have the chance to buy a Holley DP 600 for $100. I am not a carb expert, but Don "Rice Racing 1" like the Holley's way better than the Eddy? My initial response is that I should stay with the Eddy. George

Jim, I have never seen a post 1968 Chevelle or any FGM with Redlines. It appears that once they decided to go with raised white letters the redlines were nixed. I have not seen an original 70-72 FGM or Chevelle with the redlines. The most unique tire I've seen is the double thin-stripped tires on the Monte. That's a kick. George

The original rear air shocks, still in the box for the Monte SS I have are red in color. I can send a pic. George

do you want a correct date code carb for it?

John, If a date correct carb is necessary, the Feb 71 dated carb is not good for your production date. If you do have the build sheet, in the upper left corner box, it will give you the date of production and the production sequence # of your car. For my Monte it was produced on 12-11 (70)and the 16th produced that day. Just some fun info.

John, yes. The issue would be when the car was built. If the car was built prior to Feb, 71 then you have an issue. If it was after, you are fine. Generally people give a 6 month window for parts dates prior to car production, but I have seen original low mile cars with date codes exceeding 6 months prior to production. You just cannot have parts dates after the production date of the car. George

Chuck, I had the same issue 2 years ago. There are apparantly two tank options; Taiwain and Canada. I spoke with Mark Tamraz at Tamraz Parts FGMCC members get a 10% discount. 630-904-4500. I chose the Canadian tank as Mark had several reasons for it. With the 10% discount the cost difference for the apparent quality difference was worth it. he helped me I bought my brass 4-core radiator; got an american-made and have been happy with both. Here is the link to their EBAY store: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-1972...96418QQtcZphoto George

A TH350 has been used behind a 383 stroker in a 1988 Monte SS that runs in the low 12's for 3 years with no problems. A friend who is the national sales manager for a national driveline / rear end company has an opinion on this. He suggests avoiding B&M as they are getting cheaper as parts from the Orient. He uses TCI behind his LS-2 1971 Chevelle EATON SEMA car(as seen in Super Chevy and Car Craft). An experienced trans builder around here won't touch a B&M convertor. George

Don, Thank you. College is still in the picture for my oldest son for one more year so I was thinking that the Vortec's would be a little cheaper and better. But all that makes sense . . . I'll just have to wait !!! I assume buying the vortec's I could not change the springs from what I have now on my current heads (Comp Cams). George

Don, Thank you. College is still in the picture for my oldest son for one more year so I was thinking that the Vortec's would be a little cheaper and better. But all that makes sense . . . I'll just have to wait !!! I assume buying the vortec's I could not change the springs from what I have now on my current heads (Comp Cams). George

Don, don't mean to butt in on the thread, but upon futher consideration, with a son in college I am not going to spend alot on new aftermarket heads right now. Assuming the Vortec's are better than the crate heads on the engine I got (350/290hp) would the Vortec's help and if so, do you have a set? George

Yes, I was going to buy it. Just getting the morale support before doing it and then telling my wife. I have another reason now. My 17 year old son, is interested in buying an AZ. 1973 Nova from a friend up here that has had alot of work done on it. It has a 350 with cast iron intake and I can now say "because I love my son so much, I want him to have teh Performer". He graduates from high school in May and has received an appointment and nomination to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. That will give me two years to do what he wants and boys . . . he is getting paid while going to the Academy and he'll pay the bills!!! Yahoo!!! He's worked hard to get into the Academy and I'll love doing this for him. He's a Chevy kid !!! George

Question of my Monte friends: Should I replace the Edelbrock Performer with a Holley 300-36? They have them marked down to $105 at Summit and wanted your opinions. Don, RiceRacing1 has me convinced to do it. George

Are these numbers in the upper left hand corner of the build sheet? The first number, 02, is the sequence build number of the car, that is, it was the 2nd car built (started) on Sept. 3rd. George Primm

Kelvin, Call Atomic Transmission in Villa Park and ask for Gordon. 630-832-1034. Located on the north side of North Ave. I have known Gordon for 10 years and if I don't work on my car, he does. He used to work just 1.5 miles from where I live but moved closer to home 2 years ago (sad day). A trans expert. Several fellas in the Chevelle club have had problems from other shops and taken it to him and after 4 years of hard racing on Route 66 and Union Grove, no problems. One fella went through 3 rebuilds prior to going to Gordon. Tell him George Primm referred you.

Fellas, I bought Rotella 10W-30 at Menards. $7.99 in a gallon container. George.

For the past 7 years I have been placing this in the Northern IL. Chevelle Club newsletter. Based on this, I have been using Rotella in my older cars; they make it in both regular and Semi-synthetic. I buy it at Farm & Fleet where it is cheaper than anywhere else. - SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT ENGINE OIL FOR “KEEPER CARS” - Excerpted from Patrick Bedard’s commentary in Car & Driver November, 1999, p.23 Each year I run this article so that those who haven’t read or forgot about it, will have the information to make a smart choice of oil for our cars for storage. “Ed Kollin was a research chemist at the Exxon engine test lab and is now director of R&D for Lubrication Science and creates designer lubes to solve special problems. He tells about one ingredient that swells up oil seals to keep them snug. He addressed “keeper cars”, those between 20-50 years old. The problem is these cars don’t get driven much, maybe once a month and what oil should be used? Ed’s answer was “I could design an oil for this application”, but for an off-the-shelf solution he would choose a “heavy duty” oil intended for diesel trucks. Instead of SJ on the can, look for combinations that begin with C (for compression ignition). CG-4 is the latest, preceded by CF-4, CF-2, etc. While the oil part of these diesel oils has the same lubricating qualities as passenger car oil, the diesel oil get bigger doses of the additive packages. Up to 80 percent of ZDDP (the primary anti-wear and anti-oxidation additive, but when it goes through a catalytic converter, it hurts it). 30-50 percent more detergent, dispersant and corrosion inhibitors. The downside to this is that the nitrogen compounds in the high dose of dispersant may cause some seals to leak, but if you change your oil a lot, your engine should be clean. The good news? If you have sticky rings – erratic compression, blue exhaust smoke, this high detergent oil will quickly free them up. For corrosion, he says, heavy-duty oil is the silver-bullet solution. It’s blended to neutralize the sulfuric acid produced by high-sulfur diesel fuel.” “There are some good tips from someone who has spent his life making engine oil to meet all the changing characteristics of the modern internal combustion chamber operating in an ever tightening emissions world.” “One quote worth noting. “Fuels today, in many cities, have oxygenates, ethanol or MTBE, as a sort of political remedy for carbon-monoxide pollution. Fuel gets in the oil. You can have 5-10 percent dilution. These oxygenates are tremendously corrosive and they attack gaskets, seals and certain metals. No problems for automakers; they choose new polymers and alloys that are immune to these attacks. But what’s to prevent the attacks, and the corrosion, in older engines?” Another consideration for regular oil changes on our ‘keeper cars’.” Learned something new. When looking at the SAE engine oil rating what does the S in SJ mean? “S” stands for “Spark Ignition”. C is “Compression ignition”. You can get the diesel grade oil for a great price at Farm & Fleet, in regular or semi-synthetic (which doesn’t cost too much more). George

I saw a question on CPU in the another FGMCC forum here and pasted a recap of our club meeting with the owner Brian Hawley, from our Feb. 04 newsletter. Below is the recap of his response to the weatherstrip question posed by a member: • Rubber pieces / weatherstrips. There are several choices. Some, as we know, are hard, that is, when you put the trunk weatherstrip in it can be hard to close. For example, the original trunk weatherstrip was a three layer operation; a core, surrounded by a soft sponge and encased in a thin harder casing. That way when the lid closed it would compress nicely. Other strip sold is solid, yet softer rubber, but you know it takes 2 or 3 “wacks” of the trunk to get it closed. For a correct restoration, call Brian and he’ll get you the right stuff." Sorry, I should have posted this before with my other response. Members of the Northern IL. Chevelle Club (we let FGMCC's in also because they are the same as the 70-72 Chevelle) have used CPU, Tamraz and Parts Place, since they are all within 15 miles of one another. Brian from CPU really gets into the minutia of the details and alot of fanatical "resto" guys go to him. George

Call CPU Muscle Car Parts: 630-551-4490. 30 Stonehill Rd., Unit B, Oswego, IL. 60543. www.cpucarparts.com They can help by asking you what part of the car you are looking for rubber; door, trunk, window, hood, etc. as each manufacturer makes different softness; doors should be softer (ever notice a Softseal guy slaming his door?). The same can be said for having too soft for the trunk. It is not a "one fits all". George

I contacted Terry McManmon, Editor of the Corvette Restorer Magazine. He judges Vettes at major NCRS shows and makes or breaks guys dreams cuz he has all the numbers memorized (alternator # for a manual SB vs. BB AT, etc). He is a friend and longtime member of the Northern Illinois Chevelle Club and has a 1967 Chevelle 327 and a 1971 Vette LT-1. He is a NCRS judge. This is what he had to say, which goes to the "they are the same, Vette had to have more advertised power" thought. Their factory exhaust manifolds were cast iron just as ours were, they were just configured differently for the frame. "I am sure the exhaust manifolds and perhaps more importantly the exhaust system are different. 30hp difference?? I doubt it. Corvette had 2.5-inch exhaust pipes, and relatively short ones at that. Remember in those days (and still) Corvette almost always got the highest horsepower engine -- 1970 LS6 being the notable exception. I am sure the Chevrolet dyno operators were not above fudging the numbers to ensure Corvette stayed on top. Also back then they were measuring gross horsepower. My understanding is that was without water pump, alternator, and exhaust system and with cold air induction. So how did they account for the kinds of differences you are asking about? Beats me, but the fact that Corvette always was on top gives us a clue, I think. The fact that all of them are called LS5 would lead one to think that they are all the same, however."

Yes, the engine is the same. By mislabeled do you mean the air cleaner decal? The radiator support emissions decal? Those could be changed. You mention that you don't have the buildsheet, which if you did would have an engine RPO of LS-5, which for 1970 was rated at 360hp. The value of the car is not impacted by this. I think the only way it would be impacted is if the engine was not numbers matching and that would decrease the value. Check on the front of the passenger side of the block for the engine stamping. There will be a 3 letter code followed by some numbers and letters.

Ed, you are right; our LS-5's are the same as Vettes, and that is what drives some of those guys crazy. They thought their engines were assembled on a different line because they were in a Vette. The engines were assembled in Tonowanda and shipped to the assembly plants, regardless of the model. Oh well. George