rotinrob

If you are looking for technical information in regards to the various model codes like CR or CT decode to as far as what's inside the transmission ckperformance has some great charts showing the various combinations of clutch plate numbers, springs, plates, steels etc. Really shows the difference between a grocery getter 400 and a LS6 400 or a TH425 rotin

I kind of like the standard buckets with the Legendary rally seat conversion. Not as wrap around as true track ready seats but look somewhat stock and no mods needed except in your case need to add the bucket seat mounts. Don't buy this color. rotin

Looks like it has a purple wire? Purple wire is for the start circuit. Could this be for a center consul floor shift application? rotin

Pictures along the door look good except maybe the house has a bent eve trough back by the door handle. Hopefully not a wave in the otherwise really flat door. These are big flat sided cars and really will show if the sheet metal isn't flat. Wish mine still looked that good, but years of sitting next to the wife's ride and people not in full control of their doors have taken a toll (no longer in that garage). Not sure why you say it needs to be wet sanded, that would be a bunch of work (trust me I have wet sanded my share of cars), unless the pictures are hiding something. Most all of my paint jobs get wet sanded and buffed but only because I don't have a $30k paint booth to keep the bugs off the wet paint. Reminds me of painting the 35 Ford (another very flat sided car) I couldn't figure out why it looked like crap inside the shop but great outside the shop until I realized that it was reflecting so much of the Blue from my MC that's why it looked like crap. I always say if you can shave in the reflection the paint is good. rotin

A quick way to come close is most speedometers register 60 mph at 1000 rpm cable speed (easily checked). Do you know what color gears are in your TH400? On my MC I had to change out the speedo gear housing, gear and add a box for my 4.56 gears. I don't think I changed the gear on the output shaft. The box came from the GM dealer I used to work for. The Olds parts book actually had a chart listing the gear and box required for 4.56 gears in a Toranado (trans basically a TH400). Must have been some serious tow package's back then (or maybe gas was just starting to creep to $1.00/gallon). As for a revlimiter I have been using the Flamethrower 3 ignition with built in revlimiter on most of my builds now, works great and looks stock. Need to run 12v to it for optimum spark. Haven't replaced the HEI in the MC yet (on the list of things to do) so my foot is the rev limiter. Actually now it is the used up valve springs as it will start floating at about 6200/6500 instead of the usual 7500 needed to get the full benefit of the 4.56 gears (also on the list, springs on the shelf, self on the couch). rotin

They are repoping those so they can be easily purchased. Still not sure of the clearance to the cross member. Let us know how they fit I might want to try them on my 71 Chevelle as that one will stick with the nearly stock motor. rotin

I went with Eaton Detroit Spring MC1012 at standard ride height. With the Chassis works AFX tall spindles (no drop) I have about a 1" drop (need to buy a lower profile floor jack). Car looks great with no interferences anywhere. You can buy these springs at various ride heights from 2" lower to 2" higher, not sure if MOOG offers that. rotin

The 69 and earlier Chevy big port manifold will fit just fine. I run a 425 hp 427/375 HP 396 (there the same) chevy manifold on mine with a 800 DP and a 14 inch open air cleaner with no real drop and it fits just fine. Stay away from the 1970/71 LS6 manifolds as they are a low rise design to fit under the 70 camaro hood and are very expensive, even the repops. Used 425 hp intakes are relatively cheap if you want to have that stock look but are flanged for Holley square bores so for a q-jet you would need a spacer/adapter that will change things and they are for rectangular port heads. If you are contemplating a q-jet you are probably not thinking rectangular port heads so why use the 425 hp manifold (it will work for oval ports)? For oval port heads you can't beat the cool factor of the 400 hp corvette intake. 3 Holley deuces and will fit under the hood. There are a lot of chevy options in oval port cast iron intakes but not many in aluminum. Never tried the exhaust manifolds but might have some trouble with the crossmember. Thought about it but I know my motor won't be happy with them. Back then chevy just knew that the stock manifolds would be replaced with headers so they didn't take as much care in design as they do now. One nice thing is the corvette oil pan will fit on a big block Monte, one extra quart and nice baffling to control the oil. rotin

Your clutch will depend on the engine torque, car weight and rear gears. Not long ago I finished up the Camaro 375 HP 402 car. I went with the McLeod Super Street Pro. Advertised for up to 550hp mildly modified street cars. Very light pedal and seems to hook well although I am not past the break in point yet so haven't really hit it. Also flywheels are inexpensive but repairs to the car and your legs aren't so but a new steel flywheel and ARP bolts. rotin

Yes use AMK for fasteners they are always my first stop for fasteners. Nice product but GM sourced at a lot of suppliers so not all markings are available but they do sometimes offer the same fastener with a different head mark. They have a reverse look up for GM part numbers (others too). The best place to get the GM part number (and sometimes the only place) is the AIM. The $40 (I thought it was $35 but we do have inflation) minimum is easy to hit if you think ahead to other things that you may need in the future. I've been known to fill out an order with things like fender screws and brake line clips or whatever. GMPartswiki has a good selection of parts manuals online but it can be tough to look up a part without a part number. A description search might never give you the right part, especially the way GMParts descriptions are. A group number search isn't much better but can get you through the pages faster. rotin

The assembly manual comes in handy for stuff like this. Also parts manuals have different illustrations that are useful. The service and overhaul manuals are not so good for this stuff. Unfortunately I don't have any of my AIMs here at work or I could scan in some pages for you. For this kind of work the AIM is much better than the service manuals and are not expensive ($25.00), plus you don't need to rely on others to look up part numbers for you. This is from The Classic Muscle catalog, works but the AIM has torques and other nice stuff. rotin

Seems to be a lot of room even with the big block and if I remember correctly I did it without jacking the engine once or twice. If I did jack it wasn't much. Of course it will matter which oil pan is on it, should be a Chevelle type pan. However I have a corvette oil pan in mine now that doesn't leave much room. And for a real tight fit put a corvette pan in a 2nd generation camaro big block (it will fit). Anyway use the one piece gasket that is available sooo much better than the original cork and rubber 3 pcs pos. Also if you can find one the vette pan can't be beat. rotin

But how do you like that no feel steering box? rotin

The internal stops are wrong is those boxes so you might not like your steering radius. They can be changed but why when the JGC box has the proper stops (well close enough anyway). The TA WS6 box has the best internals as does the IROC box. I have a list somewhere of what T-bars and what stops are in the various boxes. Thing is if you are going to go this far as to custom building a box we would be having this discussion on another level, like how much fun it is to find all of the balls when they accidently hit the floor and how many do I need to find. rotin

I have seen "pro jobs" that were not so good. No problem this is relatively simple but can be tedious. Hard to mess it up unless you cut and glue first or try to hurry to get it done or have the good enoughs going. Start out by snapping all of the bows in and get it centered start in the middle and work to the front and back. Some cars have different bows for different spots so be careful with that (I don't think the MC is one of them). On repop headliners some of the bow pockets may need trimming to set proper now is the time to do that. I have heard of people not using glue and this could work because the metal hanger strips have teeth in the backside. I use glue. Let the glue tack up well on both the headliner and the strips. I start on the sides first and pull the headliner tight around the strip but don't bed it into the glue. Get it so it looks nice and wrinkle free (some small wrinkles can be removed later). When you like it snap the windlace onto the metal strips, this should pull the headliner tighter and bed it into the glue. Do the other side the same then the front and back. Now the real fun begins finding where the sun visors, belt clips, hangers, shoulder straps and dome light go. First and easiest is to find the dome light wire and make a small hole and pull it through. You should be able to feel around for the screw holes inside using a heavy T-pin (from a hobby store) push through the headliner into the screw holes. Put the dome light back together and mount. Do similar exercises with the other things feel around on the headliner for the places things go and poke around with the T-pin to find the screw holes (on a perforated headliner use the perforation holes so you don't add new ones), after awhile you will be able to feel the threads with the pin. Don't be afraid to tackle this just remember to take it slow, also if you screw up the glue can be separated carefully while you go but after a few weeks forget about it. Oh and just in case with some material wrinkles can be worked out with a heat gun (be careful not to melt it) most materials will steam if you have access to a steamer. rotin

It is called the intermediate steering shaft and as far as I can tell no one is repoping or rebuilding them. You can get them for a Chevelle but that is a part that isn't shared. However since you are swapping in the JGC steering box (you will appreciate that over the stock box) why not build a new shaft that doesn't use a rag joint. Or if the end you need to replace is shared with the Chevelle you could try making your old stock style one from a new Chevelle shaft and your old one just be careful burning out the plastic that holds the collapsing joint together. rotin

I would take this opportunity to change it to a Jeep Grand Cherokee box. Better feel and dirt cheap, still could have the leak though. You will need a new rag joint and some metric hoses or adaptors other than that it is a direct fit and looks the same. Lots of information on A-body sites to do the swap. Very easy and worth doing compared to the no feel variable ratio box that is stock. rotin

Not sure what parts you are looking at as my catalog build didn't have floor pans on page 282 but what I found will work. When it comes to using repop patch panels what you get depends on what you want. For instance I like to maintain factory seams so the one piece panels usually omit the seam and just have some sort of feature where the seam would be, I ovoid them. However for someone that just wants the floor fixed they are a great way as they save time and money with less welding required. Some pictures of the damage that needs to be replaced would be helpful. No need for urination be thankful that First Gen Monties are an A body dressed for the country club. The market for 70 Chevelle parts is much larger that the market for 1st gen MC parts so with all of the shared parts it gives us more choices in repops in both quality and availability. Don't believe me just try to find quality parts for a pre 73 2nd gen Camaro, or god help me a Vega/Monza. rotin

Got mine at NPD because it is only a short drive from my house. I doubt if it matters much who you buy them from as there are only a handful of companies that stamp the things for all cars. There was a bit of a mismatch in the drivers side foot well. Since I didn't go all the way up into the firewall I needed to do some hammer work. I basically did the whole drivers pan from just forward of the seam to the seat plate and to the top of the tunnel. The car had a manual trans in it at one time with a big ugly hole in the floor. Some small by Michigan standards holes that where just patched over and other issues. No problems with the pieces other than that mentioned. I didn't use a 1 piece floor pan and toe board I used individual pieces, a toe board and pan. rotin

Oh and be careful with a build that is from 30 years ago there might not be any engine braking when you let off the gas. Is it a reverse pattern valve body? If that is the case you should only down shift while not moving or parts may come out of the case. Newer reverse patterns have the option of retained engine braking so you could change that out. rotin

The poor mans lenco. Is it a B&M or a Fairbanks? Most had a cooler delete going so you might want to consider changing the circuit back and running the fluid to a radiator cooler to keep the fluid at operating temperature. You can launch at any rpm the tires can take, chances are the trans input shaft won't take as much as the tires, the clutches were usually solid hub so no cushion there. If the trans is set up with any shift harder than a Fleetwood Cadillac you will feel everyone of them since there is no cushioning by the converter, rude actually when just cruising. Kind of need to shift like a clutch less manual (which in some ways it is) with rev matching up and down. Hopefully it also has a lower first gear or the 3:42 might not be enough gear. But it does sound fun. Not sure if Jake's performance still does these or not but he might be a source of input shafts when yours breaks. rotin

If you are worried about having the proper color codes for the hoses Old Air Products has kits available. If not any quality vacuum hose of the proper size will work rotin

Black for the top for sure. Not certain of the bottom piece but I would vote black also. The correct shade and gloss is up for debate and probably varies with the plant, time of year and the supplier. Also not generally put on with great care at the factory/supplier. Mine are gloss mixing black. rotin

Even the NOS stuff might not fit that great. As the above post indicates cars weren't built to the same standards as today. I worked as a mechanic in an OLDS/Cadillac dealer in the 70s that had a body shop, between boxing, shipping and general disregard for quality most parts needed work to fit well. Sometimes I wondered if the line reject panels were sent to the service depot. When I restored my 70 SS MC I was still able to buy all GM parts from rear filler to the front fenders except the passenger door. The part that required the least work to fit to the car was the junk yard door I used, just a trip to the dip shop and a couple of rust pin holes to fill. Forty years latter and the car still looks good but is getting some freshening up while I change it from a straight line beast to a more touring type car. Just an FYI I currently contract work to an international known test lab and the local location pre fits aftermarket repair panels to newer vehicles so when /if we start restoring cars from the 2000s or so the parts might be better. rotin

If you buy direct from Legendary there will be a wait period as they don't stock the stuff they make. So if you order seat covers and door panels direct your order is put in their system and built to their schedule. If you are in a hurray buy them from a stocking dealer you will get them much faster as long as the dealer has stock. However when I ordered the interior stuff for my 70 Camaro (a few years ago) the wait wasn't excessive. I didn't go to my local stocking dealer because they didn't have the install kit (highly recommended to have the install kit) so I would have been waiting for that anyway. So far Legendary has the best stuff in my opinion. rotin