mikeringland

I have a '72 350/TH350 with a 12 bolt rear end with 2.73 gears single tire fire. I put in a 454 with 440HP/450 torque about 2 years ago. The rest of the drivetrain is still the same. I want to do an overdrive transmission, as well upgrade the rear end to posi. Talking to car buddies around town, they all told me to steer clear of the 700R4 & 4L60, and to go with a 4L80 and maybe 3.73's. This is a car I take out with my wife/boys to car shows, cruises, nothing crazy. I want a decent setup for highway driving when I do go on the highway. What do you guys think, what is the best setup for what I'm looking for? Also if I go the 4L80 route, is it a simple enough swap with the TH350, or are there all kinds of modifications I'll have to make to make that thing fit in my car? Thanks, Mike

Ever since I put a big block in my 72, the header rubs the intermediate steering shaft when the car is in reverse. My plan was to remove the shaft, put a little dent in the header tube, to avoid the rubbing. I checked my Haynes manual and it simply said to mark the shaft on each end, pull out the u-shaft bolt at the connection to the column and the u-shaft bolt at the steering box. It then said to use a flathead to collapse the intermediate shaft and remove. I've managed to get the shaft to collapse to the end of the steering box spline, but now there's a small cyclinder pin past the spline that I can't get it past. It does not want to collapse any further. Any advice or tips? Am I better off just pulling the steering box down at this point?

I recently swapped my 350 for a 454 and I took the water temp sensor out of the 350 and put it in the 454. I am not getting a reading for some reason. When I crank the engine, it pins all the way to the right, then once the car is running, it just stays at the minimum, 100 degrees. It is a factory SS gauge cluster that I installed a few years back and it was working before the swap. Could the sensor have gotten damaged somehow just laying around? What else could it be?

It was the kickdown cable. Due to the location of the bracket on the 454, the cable is under a load when it is simply connected to the carburetor. I disconnected it and it shifts perfectly fine. Basically when I was accelerating, the transmission was trying to downshift, rather than upshift since the cable had tension on it already. I just have to determine how to change the slack on it now to be able to reconnect it. Thanks for the help everyone, Mike

No console

Hey guys, So I swapped out the 350 in my 72 for a 454. It runs great, but...it's not shifting into third gear. It has a TH350, worked perfectly fine before. I have a suspicion its the transmission kick down cable. I attached a photo of it installed. It is the one from when the 350 was in there. It appears to be long enough, but, should have I replaced it with the longer one? The transmission itself seems fine. The hard vacuum line from the trans is connected to the vacuum port on the top of the intake. What do you guys think? Mike

It's the same carb I had on my 350. I didn't change anything on it either.

I have not. I always heard teflon tape and gasoline don't mix?

Hey guys, I got my big block swap done, but with one hiccup, a fuel leak. The fuel line that goes from my mechanical fuel pump to my quadrajet, drips where it screws into the larger threaded fitting before the small fuel filter. When I start the car, there is a drip enough that it creates a small pool on the top of the intake after 5 minutes. I cleaned and checked all the fittings, everything seems good, nothing seems stripped. What could be the issue??? Mike

Guys, I recently swapped my 350 for a 454 in my 72. I'm planning on using my original Quadrajet carb for the time being off of my 350. The choke mounting plate does not match the one on one Edelbrock big block intake. Right now there is just a blank off plate there and the bolt pattern is different. Does anyone know where I can find the correct choke/choke plate for this intake? I tried calling Edelbrock and never reached anyone. I also looked at OPGI with no luck. The other question is how crucial is the choke? I live in MA and typically only drive the car from April to October, so it's never really started when it's very cold out. Thanks, Mike

Absolutely, I'll take it off your hands. I'll send you an email to set it up. Thanks

I am in the process of swapping my 350 for a 454 in my 72. I was under the impression the fuel pump to carburetor fuel line would work, but it’s not long enough. The 454 has an Edelbrock intake and I’m using the same Quadrajet for now. I also bought a new stock 454 fuel pump because I was told my 350 fuel pump wouldn’t be strong enough to feed the 454, is that true? I've been looking for the correct line and there are just so many different options that would seem like they would work. Does anyone know the exact one I need, am I better off just bending and flaring my own line? Thanks for the help, Mike

I'm going to be doing a big block swap on my '72 Monte this winter. Currently, I have a 350 4bbl, TH350 with a 12 bolt read end. I'm getting a rebuilt '75 big block that has a distributor, plugs, wires, Edelbrock intake, water pump, 4 speed flywheel, oval port heads and valve covers. I did some research online and this is what I gathered I could use from my 350: Quadrajet carb (for now) Power steering pump Alternator A/C compressor Fan Water pump pulley Fuel pump Already has big block springs in front This is what I saw that I'd have to purchase: Motor mounts A/C compressor bracket Power Steering pump bracket Alternator bracket Crank pulley Exhaust manifolds (someone recommended Hooker 2" comp headers for easy installation) Starter 168 tooth automatic flywheel Big block fan shroud Longer throttle cable Possibly shorter valve covers to avoid hitting brake booster Possibly a new radiator? Does this list sound correct to you guys? Am I missing anything? Where is the best place to buy these brackets? A came upon SS396.com, which seems to have everything. It's geared more towards Chevelle's, but didn't know if there was somewhere else I should look? Thanks

I have a stock '72 350 4bbl in my Monte and am looking to replace the valve seals. I was told by a friend to go with the "umbrella" type, rather than the OEM type. I looked at Autozone and they have 10 different brands and styles. The manager at Autozone didn't know which to go with. Does anyone have a brand or model # that they could recommend? This is a stock motor with the only upgrade being a stock HEI ignition system from points. Thanks, Mike

I'm looking to change my quadrajet to one of those fuel injection kits. I have zero experience with these. Are they worth it? I have a stock 350 4bbl in my '72 with the only change being electronic ignition, so I'm not looking for anything crazy. Any advice on brands, sizes? How much would I be looking to spend? Easy enough for any shadetree mechanic to install? I've just kinda had it with my Q-jet. From time to time it stumbles, stalls when I put it in gear. Not any major issues, just inconveniences. It was rebuilt a few years back too. Thanks, Mike

Turns out it was just a bad fuse. Problem solved.....for now Mike

Took the Monte out last night and noticed none of my instrument panel lights were working. Headlight switch seems to be working (headlights work, dome light turns on when switch is turned all the way to the right). The printed circuit board and light bulbs are only 2 years old. They worked in the fall without issue. Any ideas what it might be?

Problem solved. Added ferrite beads to the radio 12v ignition and 12v battery wires. Also added ferrite beads to the USB cable on the radio. Nothing, no change. Looked under the dash one more time and saw the tach wire laying on the 12v radio ignition wire, unplugged the tach from the distributor, problem gone. Unbelievable, haha. Have to reroute the tach wire now.

Bruce, Yes I did remove the original resistor wire during the HEI conversion, and ran a new ignition power wire. Mike

Honestly, the radio worked perfectly fine before I did the points to HEI conversion. The RF interference is the only viable culprit. When the engine is off and the key is in the on position, the radio works great.

I've had two issues, one is resolved, one is not. The first issue I had was the right knob stopped working, so I couldn't skip a track on the Ipod or adjust bass, treble, etc. Custom Autosound sent me a new knob and I had to take the radio out of the car, open it up and replace the knob. They were very quick to send me a new knob, which made me think this is a common issue with them. The second problem I have is a little more complex. I converted my original points ignition to an HEI system. Nothing fancy, just a GM stock HEI setup. Since then, when the car is running, the radio sound cuts in and out almost like a CD skipping. It does it both on FM and Ipod. I checked everything, speaker wires, speaker connections, ground, power, battery, without a solution. I just found out in the last few weeks that HEI can cause RF interference, which the USB and Ipod cables that are on the 630 radio can pick up and cause the radio to malfunction. I purchased a set of ferrite beads to put around both the USB and Ipod cables coming out of the radio. This is supposed to solve the issue. I get them on Monday, we shall see if that solves it. Googling around about this RF issue also lead to me an online thread where the general consensus was if you need to add ferite beads to your radio because an HEI system is causing interference, your radio is a piece of junk, more or less. Hopefully this ferrite bead trick will work and I can just keep the 630 radio, which would be nice, considering I spend 300 bucks on it. Mike

Has anyone here used the Vintage Car Audio 300 series stereo in their Monte? Do you like it, any issues? I currently have a Custom Autosound 630 and have had nothing but problems with it. I'm open to other brands if anyone has a suggestion. I'm looking for a stereo that will fit in the stock radio slot in the dash, that I can plug an IPod into and has at least one set of RCA outputs for a bass tube.

I have a Custom Autosound 630 radio in my '72 and I've developed an issue with it. It works perfectly fine with the 4 speakers (2 rear, 2 front kick panel) and bass tube when the engine is off and the key is in the "on" position. When the car is running, at first the radio is fine, but then once I start to drive it, the sound from the speakers cuts in and out like a CD skipping. If I shut off the radio, I sometimes still get popping noises here and there from the rear speakers. Both the battery feed and ignition feed are new from the fuseblock and appear to be fine. The ground is from the original wiring harness and also seems fine (since the power to the radio is uninterrupted). I even ran a secondary ground from the stud with the 2 nuts on the back of the radio to a support under the dash. I've read online that converting a points distributor to a HEI distributor can create RF interference and cause a similar problem. This problem occurs with FM radio and when I'm using my Ipod. I did just convert to HEI, but can't remember if the problem was there beforehand. I am honestly lost on how to solve this problem. Could the alternator be causing a voltage problem when the car is running? Could the factory ground be good enough when the car is off, but not when running/driving? If anyone has any ideas or has seen this before, please help. Thanks, Mike

I'm looking to convert my points distributor to HEI. I'm guessing the only stock I'll need is a GM HEI distributor for a 350? I know that I need to replace the resistance 12v wire with an ignition 12v wire. Is there a place on the HEI to connect my tachometer wire? Anything else that I should know before I attempt this? I tried searching the forum and couldn't find much on this type of conversion. Mike

I ended up moving the vacuum line for the distributor to a different port on the quadrajet carburetor, one that has suction at all times. I also used a vacuum gauge and a portable tachometer to set my idle mixture screws. I had to back them out a few times, so I believe I was running too rich?? In any case, I took the car for a quick ride on the highway and the stumbling is gone, feels like it has good power again.