EVC

Sam,,, I just ordered 5 quarts from Amazon and it will be here Wednesday … I keep a couple of 5qt containers on hand at all times … I also use it for my lawnmowers and other equipment Ed C

Purely personal preference… I've had a few K/N filters over the years… Always a maintenance issue. Either too much oil, not enough or often neglected… I decided to keep it simple and stick with good quality paper filters. In my humble opinion the K/N filters are way overrated and I've never seen a Dyno test that showed an improvement… Ed C.

For me, keeping track of milage is my way of detecting problems… My 350 gets an almost constant 16 local driving...… If it drops to 14 it's usually because I'm putting my foot in it.. When she drops to 12 , I start sniffing out the problem… When I leave California on a road trip, I'll get 18 to 20…. I believe this California gas is half air bubbles (oxygenated) and when it settles a day or so after a fill up, I'd swear I'm about two gallons shy in the tank. … My Gas gauge is deadly predictable, so it's not the gauge…. I keep a few gallons of seasoned gas on my property for equipment etc, and often top off the Monte… When I do this,, there is no change of gauge level …. As far as gauge accuracy is concerned,, the gauge has always erred on the side of stupidity by not letting me run out of gas… It always has a reserve after first showing empty … (about 3 gallons ) Ed C…

Looks like your cat doesn't get good milage… 😂

A good girl , a good car and a good dog makes for a good life. To hell with the gas milage.😆

Paul , the only time my car idles at 1500rpm is on initial start up… I usually tap the accelerator and drop it to 800/850. Personally I don't want it to idle at that higher speeds when the oil hasn't flowed thru the engine to my satisfaction … The original carbs and ignition worked well back in the day, but I use my car for some serious road duty and found that tinkering with this stuff wasn't what I wanted to do in the middle of the desert or Tucumcari New Mexico with my wife and dog in the car… Over the years, I've modified my cars with things like HEI distributors, better carbs and the 700r4 trans. Anything I did to my car had to improve the safety, reliability, fuel economy and performance. My Monte has been in only one show and my 63 Bonneville in two, so being bone stock never worked well for me. The biggest problem I've had over the years is the usage and interpretation of the word "performance" when dealing with some mechanics. Ed C.

Fast Idle 1500 ? I set mine at about 850 rpm. Idle in drive, with AC on it drops to about 700 rpm. Vacuum at idle is 18 inches……. With vacuum advance,, Initial timing is set at 8 degrees. If running with mechanical advance only,, I'd set her at about 12 to 13 initial.. Make sure the vacuum advance module on the distributor works and isn't leaking…. Ed C. sb350, 300hp 700r4 Edlebrock 2701 intake with 1406 Carb. I recently replaced my Edlebrock 2101 intake with the square bore 2701 Edlebrock intake… For me, It made no sense to use a spread bore intake with the 1406 square bore carb….It made a big difference in performance ,fuel flow, and economy. I also blocked off the heat crossover under the carb…

I did a compression test and also checked for valve guide wear on the out of variance cylinders. My engine was reacting similar and that was the problem. When she warmed up, and things expanded, she ran much better….Seems that the nut bag who did my engine took a few shortcuts on my heads and didn't replace my valve guides. He didn't set the valve geometry correctly either. This is especially important if you're using a roller cam and roller rockers. The engine was slowly beating itself to death. Luckily I caught it early and was able to redo the heads and set it up properly. Hope yours isn't as serious. Ed C.

I agree, I'd probably do it too… I'm all about putting them back on the road. I'm more into driving them than making a perfect show car and trailering them to car shows. I ended up selling my Crown Vic, my 54 Merc and 36 Chevy to a Ford dealership… I hated doing it,,, but my family needed a new home more than the cars… Besides that, I still had my 70 Monte Carlo and 56 Mercury to drive. ed

Good luck on this Dennis… I tried to restored a 56 Crown Vic in similar condition many years ago … All I end up with was a patch work of new and replacement parts. Lucky for me was that some of the station wagons in the junk yards had the same bumpers, dash and other parts. Finding a Crown Vic was very difficult. I also had to use the engine and drive gears from Mercury donor cars. The car was at least back on the road and looked pretty good… It wasn't one I wanted to keep. The Crown is what separated the car from the other 56 Fords. Same thing with the Monte Carlo … Very special car. Tough decision you have to make.. Ed C.

Bruce, BTW… Congrats on the Monte… See you're from Sarasota… I was born and raised in northern Florida. Welcomer to the club… I think you'll find a lot of help here from some very experienced owners… Ed C

hope that helps… A lot of us use different sized tires for many different reasons… Having different tires on the front and rear is common,, but not stock.. A lot depends on what you're using the car for and the look you want... The stock size replacement, I believe is now considered to be 225/70/15… I personally like the 215/70's and they are available on Amazon for about $100 each in the old school Tiger Paw brand… They are also available at Sams Club, installed for $97. Good luck … Send pics of your car and info if you want… Good luck… Ed C.

I'm running 215/70/15's on all rims … Mostly because it's easier to get in a white wall… Ed C

Fan not required… I use 180 degree Mr Gasket in all of my vehicles. In heavy traffic , with the AC on, the engine will still reach its 195 to 200 degrees… On the highway it stays at 180 to 190 range…. It just opens faster. I should probably use the 195 in the winter. I've been known to partially block the airflow to the radiator in the dead of winter to compensate.. Not recommended, but it keeps the temps up. I have two temp gages on my Monte… one for the top of the intake and one for the passenger side of the engine…. I can always tell when the the thermostat open and closes…. If you look closely there is a small hole on the inner edge for air embolism… I still drill a small 1/8 hole …. Mister Gasket thermostats have never failed me. They turn the mechanism to open rather than pop open. I've had the standard ones fail, but never this style. Personnaly, I never put anything in my radiator other than the proper mix of Anti freeze. If your radiator is that bad, you may want to have it professionally cleaned and rodded out… Cheap insurance ... Ed

How many wires on each gage ? You said they were connected to the same source…. Something is cross wired…. Can you send pics? Ed C

As little as possible , Typically 2 to 3 acres actually needs to be mowed.. Some of it can't be mowed and I use a weed eater. The grass on my place has always grown very well, lots of surface water flow and absorbtion,,,, but fortunately needs to be cut only three or four times a year. My neighbor will run his sheep on my lower pasture….That really helps. The real trick was learning how to use a zero turn on a slope… The ride to the bottom can be very exhilarating if she gets away from you. Timing is everything. Too wet is impossible . Too dry and you'll start a fire. BTW.. Hank wears a safety strap… Mowing is party time for him... Ed.

Haven't driven her in a few days…. Been busy getting ready for the Fire season… After Hank and I got off the mower , we sat in the garage and had a beer with our Monte… Three hours on the hill side with Zero turn mower did us in. Hank doesn't care, it has wheels… Ed.

Brings back memories… Very nice car.. Ed

Beautiful story. Thank you Rob… It certainly causes one to think about how life is so fragile and it must always come to an end. 62 years of being married to her means far more than anything on earth. Without her our home and cars would mean nothing. Ed C

Dennis, I went thru this with my deck about ten years ago and was able to save most of the redwood floor boards by using a "saws all " and cutting the screws… I replaced about 12 or 15 of the bad joists and was able to save the outer expensive beam by doing some patching and treating…. The contractor wanted more than I paid for my home to teardown and replace with 24 centers… I managed to save most of my 16 center joists and still have a better deck than he would have replaced it with. BTW.. Every year I spray the tight areas down below, between the joists and floor boards, with a few cans of wd40.. No more dry rot in past ten years… It's a 10 by 60 deck and is 43 years old now. Solid as a rock. Hint, I also topped the floor joist the some strips of self sticking roofing felt. Hope this is helps .. 0 Ed.

Thanks Rob … Safety is always foremost in my mind… It will never be left on the car. It's 9 inches overall from the receiver and 5" from the pointed tip of the bumper.. To clear the license plate I took some careful measurements on this before we welded her up … Thanks to the many members and their pics,, I was able to make a hitch that doesn't insult the car and actually looks like it belongs.. I even took it to the local Uhaul store and they really liked it… They said they'd have no problem hooking up one of their appropriately sized trailers to this hitch.. Tongue capacity is about 150lbs .. My trailer will be about 100lbs with a GVW of less than 2000lbs.. BTW. the main bar between the plates is well gusseted to the steel plates bolted to the frame… The only limiting factor would be complete bending , twisting, or failure of that piece of the main bar… Very doubtful… Ed C

On flat ground the trailer can be carefully turned to 90degrees without contacting the car or bumper. For the purist , LOL , The back up camera near the Monte script really helps it backing and the hook up.. Ed c

Hooked up the trailer to my new hitch and tested the lights. All went well. I was concerned that the trailer lights would interfere with the new Led tail lights… The new relays , triggered by the taillights, all worked well together. Ed C

A little duct tape will help…

Mowed my pasture yesterday.