Andy's Auto

1971 SS454. When I was a young warthog, a guy who owned an arcade had three cars. A 71 Ss454, a 72 W Custom, and a Sinatra Stubby. My bud bought the 71, another got the Custom, and the old guy kept the Mini Caddy. I actually built a clone of the 71. Five years ago, the actual 71 showed up for sale in Georgia. Sold the clone and I have that car. The 72, with its multitude of greenness was parted out after a crash in 2005. I got the engine and the power windows.

One of my old employees works in the plant that builds them. https://checkeredracing.shopsettings.com/64-72-GM-A-Body-Tubular-Control-Arms-p116157587

Kinda funny. I just took off the 4 inch sewer pipes and the Centerlines for an American Thunder exhaust and stock rallyes. The poor car sat for a couple of years and now it is time to get it cleaned up, go through the engine, and figure out why the blower isn't working.

Rob, every time I get one of those manifolds in, I ask the customer if they have had recent headaches. The carbon monoxide gets picked up by the air conditioner. Very common problem on the 2.4s on any GM platform.

And still have her. My 71 496 car. About to go back under the knife after getting the snot beat out of her for the last ten years. Not my fastest car, not my nicest car, but my favorite car.

Jared, check out Checkered Racing. Just bought a set for my 70 Chevelle. Bolt ins for $400. Nice stuff, built in Tenessee

I get alternators my parts guy calls the swamp buggy units. One wire and done, as long as you wire the big fatty on the post on the rear of the unit directly to the battery. Never been a fan of amp gauges. Even my restored 70 SS454 Chevelle is not wired for the factory amp gauge.

Def goes to neutral safety switch. On a column shift car it goes to the switch on the base of the column and plugs in to the left of the reverse light connector. On a floor shift auto it hooks to the same switch, but it moves to the shifter, and you need an extension harness to connect it.

Are you doing the small power steering belt and the ac belt? I thought the ac belt on my 71 was off so I made a fixture out of 1/2 inch aluminum L braket around 45 inches lock that follows the bend between the ac comp, power steering pump, and crank. What looked like 3/4 inch was actually 1/16". I just tightened the short belt at the pump and no more squeak.

I know where three of them are not. Two Dubyas and one U code. All rusted beyond repair.

Another option is a Hitachi style starter. The drive gear comes out an extra 3/4 of an inch as opposed to a Delco or a Denso style. CVR and Promaster make some nice units,

Standard cap was a GM R15 in stainless.

They are called shock protectors but as you can see in orbits' post, protection from what. I have around ten sets and think they are more kitche than anything. They came on all G67 equipped Montes and were standard on most ElCaminos.

When I did my 71 ten years ago there were three in the top of the back seat. One for mine, two for a 402 car that was ten numbers down the line. Both blue cars.

Going to go through them on Sunday after the funeral. The guy passed last night, leaving basically 3 acres of Monte parts in various trailers. I don't think my bud can handle that much voume of anything. I towed the guys matching numbers 70 SS454 to my house and I have no clue what to do with it. Cancer SUCKS!!!

How big is the LS in it? LS engines are huge around here. My bud just went 6.89@191 in his twin turbo 99 Formula. Not the most reliable thing, but at 1865 RWHP, who cares? Turn it down tad and have fun.

Are these billet grilles just to replace beat grilles? Or more of a modification? What if I told you I looked at a conex trailer last Saturday with at least 400 nice 70-72 grilles in it. I remember back in 2009 I was very much interested in something nicer than my buck toothed grille in my 70, BobsMc hooked me up with something nice. The guy who is responsible for selling off his dads parts hoard will be notified of this thread. He originally said he might scrap them.

Do you have the drums off already? Did the cross pin come out with all of its threads? I assume it broke. The axles wont go in far enough with the drums on and is there is a little thread left on the pin, you can try to walk it out with a sharp pick.

55 cars for the win? Hell, when I was that age I walked 55 miles through the snow..... Congrats OG. But the big question. What did you win? A trophy, a case of oil, a sticker AND?????

Point, take the best advice from those that have done it. Nothing wrong with a Howards best off the shelf grind for your application, but what if you are giving up 30 horsepower because their grind is close, but not spot on? Chris Straub has them built to spec for your particular application leaving nothing on the table. And it will be around the same price. And getting the rest of the stuff from Davey Nassimbine at CrazyDaveyRacing.com? Easy, the old fart needs the money to go racing and he will get you best parts at the best prices. Think aout this. Davey has an old white Chevelle with a modified by Scott Foxwell and Chris Straub 502 GM crate motor that on a 10.5 tire runs mid 9s at around 140. Nothing exotic about his build, just a very well thought out combo. And he runs a hydrailic roller, not a solid. Think about that. The Old Man gets to keep his valve covers on for hundreds of runs with no adustment versus every third run, and runs a time that 99% of racers run a solid roller. Not trying to pump Davey up that much, just look at his results. If I had a decent budget and my goals were in the 650 hp area with built in reliable, I know who I would call. And who am I? Just a guy with a bunch of cars. Five big block A bodies and a pair of 9 second G Bodies.

Your absolute best bet is arm yourself with ALL the information you can gather. Car weight, rear gear, compression, true head dimentions, and anything else you can think of, then spend a half hour on the horn with Cris Straub. From there, have the convertor built by FTI, Coan, etc. Then pick the right carb. ProSystems, AED, there are plenty of carb builders. Get with Crazey Davey and he can point you in all the right directions on all those go fast goodies that you need, and more importantly, you wont need to buy something twice.

66 velle is 53.5 plate to plate, 70 Monte is 54.5. Get the lines for the 66, and dont forget the rubba hose.

Being a new cell, there should be no junk. But an LT1? Didn't know anyone was doing that anymore. LS,LS,LS

You asked for it. When you are towing a trailer or hauling a load in the bed. It raises your shifpoints and will almost always keep the torque convertor from locking up at cruise speed. 180 is about as high a temp you would want to see. Higher than that your trans will hate you but love your wallet. Higher than 180 you want to either slow down or lighten the load. Your Denali has a pretty big trans cooler already, but don't ask it do do the job of a 3/4 ton. That is what a 2500HD is for.

Who, me? Got them lined up at the door right now so I'll be breif. First, Davey is afraid of it. Second, you can go as wild or mild on your fuel system as you want, but I am all about elegance and simplicity. I run it on four of my cars and my basic recipe is a Holley Black, Holley regulator, -10 Pushlok to the reg, -10 to the carb, and -6 to the nitrous solenoid. One reg, just split the need. But I an a 250 shot max. More than that on a plate system and you really got to be spot on with the tune. Always start as conservative as you can off the bat. Pull more timing than recomended by the manufacturer. Use a good non precious metal plug. Invest in a hobbs switch to automatically turn off the system below a pre set fuel pressure (usually 4 pounds). It is a cheap kick in the pants if you do it right. Every motor I ever melted was due to laziness. Done right you will eventually invest in your own filling station (a 100 pounder is $93 here).