zmanabba

The compression test looks good. Some stuff you should check before you throw a carb at it. What color is the smoke? Blue smoke would be oil. Probably not rings with the good compression. Could have bad valve seals/worn guides and are fouling plugs. White smoke would be coolant. Head gaskets probably ok again due to good compression. But could be bad intake gaskets sucking coolant. Black smoke would be unburned fuel. Which could be due to carb dumping too much in to engine. Likely culprits are stuck needle and seat or sinking float. If it is the carb I would rebuild it rather than replace. The q-jet is an excellent carb when working right. Hopefully it is the carb it is the easiest to fix. Good luck, David

Something you might want to try is to go to the website of the manufacterer (Sealed power, Probe ect.) get the part number of what you want. Then go to Summit or Jegs and put that part number in the search area. I have done this and 90% of the time it will come up with the part. Summit and Jegs carry a lot more than what is listed in the catalog. I liken it to a grocery store that will push certain items ahead of others. Sometimes it saves you -other times not. David

The diaphram we are all refering to is in the metal brake booster can behind the brake master cylinder. Easiest way to do is to start the car and pinch the hose off that goes in to the brake booster with a pair of pliers or vice-grips. The sound should go away. A lot of times it is the diaphram that needs replaced. You could try to rebuild it yourself (don't know about parts availability and it takes A LOT of torque to untwist the halves) or you could find a reasonable used one to use while you have a specialist rebuild the original. I don't know of any rehaps someone else can chime in. At any rate make sure your system is SAFE. Don't want to lose you or another Monte. Unless you promise to run over a Mime...............lol David

I didn't see anyone else ask this. How are you determining that the secondaries aren't opening? Because 9 times out of 10 a quadrajet will not open the secondaries (the top plate Bruce is talking about ) until the engine is under load. If you are just hitting the throttle with the car in neutral there is not enough load to justify the airflow for the secondaries to kick in. Usualy the best way I could tell was by the sound (I love that roar). You should not feel the secondaries kick in when you are driving-- it should be a smooth transition. If you do feel it then that is usualy from them coming on too soon and you are feeling a momentary lean spot. There is a way to adjust the opening of the top plate--I have done it but it was years ago. If I remember correctly it involves a flat blade screwdriver and a 1/8 allen wrench. You will need to see a service manual for a better explination than I can give. This is the last thing that should be done after checking all of the other adjustments that were mentioned before. David

I didn't look at the link Wallaby put up but I am sure this suggestion is in it (I guess I just wanted to post lol). Check to make sure there is enough valve guide clearance for the lift on the cam. David

I find as long as I take my medication I can pass for normal. David

Well this sounds like a win-win. Royce how soon can you be on the plane to Del City to replace GreazMonkY's pinion seal?

Even in my caffine induced trance Bill typed quicker than I did LOL. Bill love your car you are running the times I want to...probably help if I take out the 2.73 gears. LOL David

That is your pinion seal if I understand your description correctly. You will need to pull the drive shaft and remove the nut on the yoke (1 1/16 if I remember right). Then you can pry out the seal. The way to do this correctly however is to pull the ring and pinion out and change the crush sleave along with the seal to make sure you retain pre-load on the bearings. But the times I have had to change the seal I have just popped the seal out and made sure I had the same pre-load on the bearings going back together. Hopefully the nut hasn't backed out on it's own or you have bad pinion bearings. The seal could be your early warning that something else is going on. I did have one one my 70 that the nut just backed out so I had to guess on the pre-load on the bearings. I must have guessed right because that was 2 trips to Hot August Nights and an engine ago lol. Maybe someone else has a more scientific way to check the pre-load. The specs in the book are for when the ring gear and the rest of the differential aren't hooked up. I hope I didn"t scare/confuse you. 9 times out of 10 it's fine. This is why you should never have coffee this late in the day. LOL David

No disrespect intended but I don't think the shift kit caused that--they usualy lengthen the life of the transmission. To me it looks like a torque converter bolt came loose and got launched or maybe a weight on the flex plate. I didn't look at your combo do you have an externaly balanced engine? But at any rate you are definatly correct that a new transmission is in order. Sorry for your misfortune, David

Hi Kevin, I ran in to this a long time ago when I put a T-10 in my 1967 Firebird that was from a full sized Chevy. I seem to remember there is a bushing that gets in the way. If I remember correctly it had to do with the two piece drive shaft that was in the big cars (maybe a slip yoke in the middle by the carrier bearing?)so the front yoke didn't have to go in as far. I ended up replacing the tail shaft housing and was able to use a normal slip yoke. I wish the details were clearer in my mind but it was 31 years ago. Lol David