gronlit

Thanks for all the recommendations Talked to Eric at Gardner, very responsive. Seems like they'd have pretty good customer service. Priced the system from ~850 to 1100 depending on what all i decided to go with. They use zinc plated hangers though, which i don't believe is the 'correct' coating. I think im leaning towards hangers from inline tube which are similar to the ones 'LostnFound' posted from ebay. Eric did confirm the chevelle setup is the same for the monte's they just don't list it on the website since they're looking for pictures of one of their systems on a Monte Now i just need to decide if i want to spend the money for the Gardner pipes, or take a chance on the Parts place set for about half the price. Checked the Chevelle forums too, seems to be mostly good reviews for the Parts Place Set, but the general consensus was that the gardner system was the best. Found some pictures of the Parts Place system on Ebay Iceman, do you have any pictures showing how low the PartsPlace tailpipes hang?

Im looking get to a new exhaust system for my 70 454SS, and would like a stock style system with resonators...would be looking for hangers as well. Any recommendations on where to get this? The Parts Place sells a system and the hangers seperately, anyone here bought this system and/or the hangers that could provide some feedback? Inline tube sells systems for chevelles that include the hangers and everything, but they don't list anything for the Monte. Would the exhaust systems be the same between a 70SS Chevelle and Monte? Thanks Tim

Anyone know where i can get new crossmember to chassis mounts (metal bracket and rubber insert). I swear i used to see them for sale somewhere, but now that im at the point of needing them i can't find them. I've checked Lutty's, OPGI, Inline Tube. Thanks Tim

Put together a spreadsheet so i could compare different options to see what happens to compression ration, quench, valve/piston clearance, etc. Armed with my new spreadsheet I started looking at some different options Looking at the enginetech kit it, if i assume their head gasket is .037" thick and the 0.030" over bore, this will drop my stock compression ratio from 10.25:1 all the way down to around 8.93:1 due to the lower compression height of the piston and the flat piston instead of domed. As Mike_57 mentioned i'm guessing this is to make this an easier solution for the machine shop. I would like to stick with the factory compression of ~10.25:1. After i find out how little of an over-bore i can get away with i'll pick a piston/gasket to get me there. Any reason i wouldn't want to stick with the higher CR? I'm willing to stick to premium gas to avoid detonation. Anyone have suggestions on where to look for the rest of the engine rebuild parts. I was looking on summit and found some sealed power kits, but there is only one kit with a domed piston and it requires a .060 bore, but i don't want to go that far if i don't need to. Also drops my CR down to ~10:1. I can buy all the parts separate, but it looks like if i buy all the exact same parts in the kit separately i will end up paying over $100 more. Looked on Jegs and couldn't find any kits. Anyone have recommendations on where i could get a configurable kit where i could get what i want but still get a break on cost for buying the kit? Or do i need to take the hit and buy everything separately? Any recommendations other then jegs or summit? I talked to Lunati about cam choices and they recommended their 302A6LUN cam. They said the 60202 would have a risk of detonation since it bumps up the dynamic CR. Still waiting to see what comp cams recommends. Planning to take the engine to the machine shop later this week to get started....i can see this is going to add up quick, and i haven't even gotten to all of the other component rebuilds (dist, carb, alt, water pump)!

The place ive been talking too is Pakes's engine and machine in Janesville WI. I'm not looking to do anything extreme...was origionally planning on staying all stock, but now am maybe slight can/piston mods to unlock some of the available power. Plan to keep stock manifolds, carb, etc. No plans to race, just want sometime fun to drive which suspect the stock 454 would deliver. (car hasn't been driven for close to 30 years, i've never driven it)

I'm getting ready to rebuild my engine (70 454) and am looking for some advice. I've talked to a couple local machine shops and one them quoted the following: -Clean block/heads -magnaflux block -pressure test block/heads -cylinder bore -line bore -crank grind -valve guides -hardened valve seats -balance rotating assembly -check bearing clearances -Enginetech rebuild kit (hyperutectic pistons, bearings, oil pump, timing set, cam/lifters, rings, freeze plugs, gasket kit) they quoted ~$1800 for the above (~$1600 w/o bearing clearance check or rotating assembly balance), but since they haven't seen the engine the price could go down depending whether or not i need everything. Since i have never been through this before i have three questions: 1) does the price seem reasonable. I thought it did considering all the work/parts that were quoted 2) is Enginetech a good rebuild kit? Anyone else have have good or bad experience with them or recommend a different company? I'm planning on keeping the engine stock 3)At what point in the rebuild should i paint the engine, going for stock look. should i paint all parts before assembly, or wait till heads,oil pan, valve covers, water pump, etc installed? Thanks in advance Tim

Thanks for the reply, always nice to hear someone else has run into the same thing. I think im leaning towards reusing the old clutch disks and plates. They don't look too bad. The reason im rebuilding is that it has been sitting for ~25year and i assumed the seals would be shot. I'm leary of reducing the number of clutch disks i use, i would think using 5/6 (83%) clutch plates would mean a the amount of torque that can be transmitted w/o slipping would reduce to 83%. I've looked a couple different rebuily kits and the ones i've seen all seem to be missing that 6th plate. BTW, i like the pictures of your SS, looks like you're making good progress...hopefully i'll get there someday Tim

I need some help... I'm mid-rebuild on my TH400 (code CR) out of a 70' SS and have run into a problem... Here's what I pulled out of the transmission: Forward Clutch -4 flat steel plates (~.090" thick) -5 radially slotted clutch disks -1 Wave Washer Direct Clutch -5 flat steel plates (~.090" thick) -6 non-slotted clutch disks -1 Wave Washer Here's what the rebuild kit (from NAPA) has: -5 Flat steel plates (~.065" thick) -5 Flat steel plates (~.090" thick) -10 non-slotted clutch disks The rebuilt kit only has 10 clutch disks for these two clutches, but I pulled out 11 old clutch disks of this size. And the rebuild kit flat steel plates come in two sizes, but the ones I pulled out are all the same size. Anyone seen this before, do I have the wrong kit? I checked on O'Reilly autopart's website and their rebuild kit only shows 10 of these clutch disks as well. My dad had an A/T rebuild book which covers the TH400 up to 69' which I’ve been using. The book lists 5 clutch disks for both the direct and forward clutches (which is what the kit has), but the transmission had 6 disks in the direct clutch. Was an extra clutch disk added in 70'? Also, the book doesn't show there being a wave disk in the direct clutch (only in the forward clutch), but the transmission had one in it...did this change in 70'? Are radially slotted clutch disks needed for the Forward clutch, the kit only has non-slotted disks.

Wow, look what i started. Hopefully we can agree that the lucky 454s to make it into the Montes looked better going down the road.

I always hear people say that GM published the HP ratings lower than actual for insurance reasons. The LS5 was published at 360HP, but there is a Chevrolet training manual on Ebay that lists it at 390hp...wonder if this was the actual HP? Ebay Link

I'm in process of restoring my 70 and considering getting a sand blaster or soda blaster to help. I still need to rebuild the engine and would like to clean up the block/heads ect, and will need something to strip and clean off the body. I rented an industrial sand blaster when i cleaned off the frame and suspension components and it worked really well. From what I've been reading sand blasting can damage if done improperly, especially on body panels. I've been looking at Soda blasters on Eastwood and they claim not to damage or warp the metal. Even say you can leave trim and glass exposed while blasting. Does anyone have experience with soda blasting? does it work well for paint removal? Rust removal? Any special considerations for soda blasting?

Same valve that is on my 70 as well. I have a tag-along question...I've cleaned up and rebuilt my valve assy, except for refilling the oil. Anyone found an oil with similar viscosity to what was origionally in there, i want to keep the damping effect the same. I've saved as much of the origional fluid as i could, but its not enough to refill unit.

Warning, I started writing and wrote more than I planned: The canister under the hood is a pump; it takes the vacuum created by the engine and converts it to a positive pressure used to pressurize air shocks. The back part (towards the firewall) is a diaphragm pump mechanism, the long cylinder in front of that is just a pressure vessel to hold the pressurized air. On top of the pump there is a pressure relief valve (with yellow cap) that prevents the system from over pressurizing. On the pressure relief valve there are two fittings, one with a valve stem similar to that used on tires – this is used to manually charge the system. The other fitting should have a small black plastic airline leading from it to the rear of the car where it connects to a level sensor/valve assembly. This assembly is connected to one of the upper rear control arms. The assembly has a piston / flapper valve system which is filled with somewhat thick clear oil....This system acts as a damper or time delay. When the ride height of the vehicle changes the lever arm on the assembly is rotated against a spring which in turn presses on the piston which pushed the fluid through one of the flapper valves. Since this is a thicker oil it takes some time for it to move through the valve and thus acts as a time delay. This time delay prevents the system from reacting to road bumps and other short duration changes in ride height. If the ride height remains changed for a long enough period of time the piston completes its travel and opens one of two stem valves. Two more black plastic airlines should route from the level sensor to each of the shocks. If the ride height has lowered it opens a valve which ports the pressurized air from the pressure vessel under the hood into the air shocks until the proper ride height returns. If the ride height of the car has increased it ports the pressurized air from the air shocks to the outside through a black rubber hose. When the car is at proper ride height both valves are closed and the air pressure in the shocks is locked. The pressure fitting at the rear of the car is not original, and probably means your autolevel system stopped working and a previous owner disconnected the air shocks from the autolevel system. That fitting at the rear of the car was added and is used to adjust the ride height of the car manually by adding or removing air. I recently finished rebuilding both my vacuum pump and level sensor. (when I got my car the vacuum line to the pump what tied in a knot and i had the air connection added at the back of the car.) I found that nothing inside either of the components was broken, just dirty. There was also a lot of rust dust in the pressure tank (im guessing water tends to build up in the pressure tank over time when its used since air acts like and sponge…it holds water but if its squeezed the water comes out.) I took the pump apart and cleaned all the componets and reassembled it…It wasn’t too bad but there are some small pieces to keep track of ….the relief valve was one of the harder pieces to disassembly but must be done…there are some small ports and a screen in this piece which were all clogged with rust/dirt… if you rebuilt the pump there are probably 4-5 springs in various check and relief valves which like to shoot parts across the room – just a warning.…since my 70SS is still in pieces I connected the pump to the vacuum system of my 97 monte to check it out and it worked much to my pleasure(also went and had all the exterior pieces of the pump replated for a brand new look). The level sensor was also clogged with rust dust/dirt. There are two screens in this assembly which where clogged. Also part of the assembly is filled with the clear (funny smelling) oil used in the damping system…try to catch all of this fluid so you can reuse it. The viscosity of this fluid is important to how the system operates and I imagine a fluid with too low of a viscosity (or if no fluid at) could make for a very uncomfortable (and possibly dangerous) driving condition since the system will start responding to every road bump and possibly reach a resonance. I don’t think I saved enough of this oil from mine and need to find a replacement – anyone else find an oil with roughly the same visocity? Hopefully my rambling made some sense Tim

I have pretty much completly dissassembled my monte, and am down to the frame. Now that the weather is getting better its time to start putting stuff back together. First thing to do is clean and repaint the frame. Any suggestions on sandblasting v. acid bath? Im guessing the over all result with the acid bath will be better (more $$). Im also worried about the boxed in portions of the frame. With sandblasting i've heard that the blasting material can build up in those boxed in areas and lead to rusting since it will hold water. Im also worried if i acid bath the whole frame that the paint/metal protectants will be removed from the frame and the boxed in areas will rust from the inside out since i can't really paint in there.

I'd like some help determining what Monte parts originally had the gold colored plating (I believe its Zinc Chromate). My car is a 70 454SS. I have it almost completely stripped down to the frame now; before i start putting anything back together i want to make sure i get all the parts replated that originally had the gold coloring. (I have a feeling it’s going to be much cheaper to get everything done at once, then piece by piece) Right now the parts i know where originally plated: 1) Brake power booster 2) Suspension autolevel vacuum pump/tank 3) Seatbelt mounting hardware I'm sure there has to be more, but i see no other parts that show signs of the plating. If anyone knows of other parts, I’d like to know - no matter how small the part. Thanks