Alex & Keith 72 Monte

I’ll definitely give that a try - stay tuned and love the feedback. My son Alex suggested lower and higher too so he will like to hear your suggestion. (Brawler Holley). best! Keith

Continue to fine tune her as hesitation coming off idle, other wise very strong through the rpm band. Putting in different vac advance and will adjust timing. At least very streetable. Love our First Gen Monte’s! Amazing I’m usually the only one at a show and always a dozen Chevelle.

I meant “caster” 3 or 5 or other

Hi Gents - completed my restoration and now need an alignment. I didn’t see the alignment specs in the article (3 pages of ?) of this chain. Do you all go with 3 or 5 degrees of positive camber? New front modern suspension (not dropped spindles) and 235 x70s and quick ration power steering. Sounds like A bodies migrated to the MC 73-77 spec but wasn’t sure what everyone recommends. Thanks, Keith.

Grant - I have a bad modulator - tool off the vent tube at trans and ATF came out. Tested it off for vacuum - zero…you nailed it along with others, Thanks and still working on tweaking some things. thanks all!!! Keith

Thanks so much Gents for feedback. I’ll track down a lot of these items and comeback with details in a nut shell - I bought this engine from a friend who did not build it. Briefly it has a cam with 0.45 lift and roller rockers and medium lopey cam. I remounted the intake and oil pan and went with a long water pump. Also y’all comments bring me to think that I did change the carb spacer. I had an aluminum one and swapped it out for the plastic one. Will check thickness of both. This engine ran fine in August with a little blow by. I added an external baffle to the valve cover as they are original 60 Corvette finned ones. My resto is all new front coil overs and calipers, booster etc and kept the rear drums and just redid everything. All new gas, brake and trans SS lines. Running the timing at 14/34 and played with several different ranges but tbis is where it was and also show chalk marks at these numbers. interesting on temp gauge aftermarket and probe - something to check out! StAy tuned as let me tinker with all your great thoughts!

So close but working out details and w8ll consult with our MC friends for expertise. brakes are weak - I believe rear drums need to be adjusted - fronts are new calipers on coil overs and tubular control arms. coming off idle engine hesitates - investigating Holly Accelerator adjustment after market voltage gauge does not work - will trace line and check ground after market temp gauge not working - same as above and already replaced temp probe (also have temp probes for electric radiator and factory temp probe on intake for idiot lights) engine runs great and then will smoke a heavy smoke for 20 seconds (not necessarily blue in color but not wispy like coolant) - need to drive her a bit and reconsidering remounting intake. Bought engine used from friend - ran well in August with just a little blow by. any comments always appreciated and have new buddy Ray of MC club coming over this week. thanks all, Keith IMG_3503.MOV

Bench tested starter and worked fine. Guess what, swapped out the new high torque starter for another new high torque starter and car turned over. They tested different too on the bench for conductivity (opposite on the two large posts). Even though I bench tested the first one with the battery and it was fine, still not sure exactly what was happening. On Monday, Will see if I can get initial time set, add gas to the Holley and crank her up and set total timing…so strange the symptoms on first starter…

God question. New Optima and I charged it. Appears to be good but will use it Friday with jumpers to bench test the orginal starter. Thanks for thinking outside the box Tom as I’m stumped….stay tuned

Thanks for additional feedback. I ran a few more grounding lines to over-do-it (4 gauge) to block, firewalls and frame and left the one at the alternator bracket. I was running HEI with the old style starter and just substituted the mini starter so didn’t change any of the distributor wiring (yellow was cut out prior). I did the same thing on my Vette with HEI and went to new high torque mini starter with no electrical changes. The brown wire ( heavier gauge) runs up through the in-line fuse and to firewall where it feeds to electric radiator, fuse box, etc. I have the smaller gauge brown wire and pink running to the HEI. Advise otherwise Kevin. let me know if all this is correct and anything else to try. Wasn’t successful on bench testing starter and was hesitant to do on the car with possible arching. When I ran extra-grounds and gear (which had been employed on the flex plate by myself and not released) was checked and I added another shim to starter, same results when starting. Everything goes dead and to regain any sign of voltage I have to disconnect both battery connections and reconnect. thanks again for all MC expertise!

Thanks for insight agents, I will check into the grounds as I looked at them all yesterday. Will move the one down from alternator bracket to the lower passenger side block. Also have a large one From battery to frame and to fender. Don’t believe I have one back of engine to firewall (a good add?) additional things I tried. Note The starter is new and I may bench test today. I did do this; I disconnected the battery positive from the starter and have it connected to the positive wire running to the firewall. I also disconnected the ignition S wire and it is not connected to anything. I can turn the key to on and everything works. The Idiot lights came on as is normal. I bump it to start and nothing happens and nothing Is shorted. Then I put a test light on he ignition wire and had it grounded, turned the key to start and light works so I am getting juice here with no shorts. Wiring appears to be correct as I double tripled checked… confused on why in-line fuse didn’t blow and why I need to disconnect battery and then reconnect (positive and negative) to see any juice again at lights, etc thanks Gents, Keith

Completing restoration and using much the same harnesses as was installed and worked fine. New high torque starter installed. Lights all work, radio and with key in “on position”, gen & oil light come on fine. When I go to crank, I hear something arch /not sure of sound as I was going to just bump the starter to turn it very briefly. (To preset initial timing). Everything immediately dies. Lights no longer work. Positive wire at starter shows no power using my DC check light tool. When I remove positive battery cable and re-hook it up, lights again work and all systems fine until I go to crank again and everything dies. Have to disconnect starter or positive battery cable on battery again. Ideas to trouble shoot? 350 SBC with HEI distributor. Starter connected as follows; positive from battery to large solenoid post as well as the brown wire running up to firewall post (photo of firewall and left wire connected to post). Purple (showing green for female connector in photo) connected to solenoid small post (S terminal). This should be the wire from the ignition. Since all is fine until I’m engaging the starter, I suspect I must have a short in this mode but strange as battery needs to be disconnected and reattached to see any voltage again period. I have a kill switch on negative side of the battery and in-line linkable fuse in positive wire by starter appears to be fine. thanks All!

Maybe I missed them but any car over $20 K should have photos of the chassis. So many cars engine bays and top side look great but underside needs restoring. My two cents…

Ray, Joe or others, I’m having trouble finding led lights for the two Courtsey lights under the dash by the lower side vents. Bulb is marked 97 and is a bit larger and squat. Looked on line and a couple auto stores no luck. Any guidance? AlsoI have a positive wire running to the drivers side under the hood by the firewall. This is run off the inner ignition post on the fuse box and also runs to the starter. What else would have power off of the ignition? Car is not all OEM wired so it may be non typical. Thanks in advance for all your experience and expertise! Keith

Ray - sounds good on coffee. Will be leaving for Florida and gone until Christmas. Monte should be on the road early year and coffee awaits! Keith. Oh so close…after three years

Joe - thanks so much for the diagram! Most helpful. Ray - Great looking big block and Monte! I’ll google too the subject you mentioned. Happy Motoring Gents!