bdk70monte

Yes, I have a clutch fan like that on my 70 and it doesn't have the A/C parts on it anymore. I'd like to get the A/C put back on and working again at some point, but the clutch fan works just fine without it. Like I said, I did need to upgrade to the heavy duty clutch when I went to the big block though. Keeps it nice and cool so far ever since then. Ben

My big block 402 was getting warm and the solution I found was to put a new clutch on the clutch fan. I believe it was a heavy duty one, rather than standard. There is also a supreme duty (if I remember the terms correctly), but read that it didn't cool all that much more than the heavy duty yet produced a lot more fan noise. After replacing the clutch with the heavy duty one, I rarely ever get above 180 even on warm days. So that could be an option if you're running a clutch style fan. Ben

Yeah I went with the cup holders that slide into the ash tray slot. Works pretty good and have a lot of people ask about it at cruise nights and such when I leave it in place. Love driving the old cars, but nice to have some of those modern conveniences such as arm rests and cup holders

Looks great Murphy. I did the same thing in my 70 Monte a couple years ago. I ordered original 70 black cloth material and my upholstery guy made a seat cover for it so it all looks stock. Most people don't even know and it's so much more comfortable on a drive of any distance to have that arm rest. I've really enjoyed having it so far and I'm sure you will too. I'll have to get some pics of my interior posted as well. Ben

I was running a Holley Street Avenger 670cfm on my ZZ4 crate motor until I did a big block swap this winter. The ZZ4 is rated at 355hp and I thought the Street Avenger was a great carb on it. It was almost plug and play out of the box like they advertise. We bolted it on and hooked everything up and it started right up. Just had to do some minor tweaks to get it the way I wanted. I'll use it again on something in the future. I went stock with the big block so I'm running a quadrajet now.

Well, it seems that it was just a bad thermostat that was causing the big block to run a little too hot. Tops out around 190 now, which is the range where the radiator always held the small block as well.

Glad to hear you are happy with it so far. You'll enjoy the fuel economy as well. I got around 19-20 MPG with the ZZ4 crate motor (rated at 355HP) when I switched to the 200-4R. I'm interested to see what it does this summer with the big block installed now. Between the fuel economy and lower RPM at highway speeds, it makes the car much more drivable though. I've had mine all the way up to St. Ignace for the car show up there. Always fun to drive across the Mackinac Bridge in a classic car.

The other advantage I had with going to the 200-4R was that I was swapping out a TH350. By switching to the 200 instead of the 700, I didn't have to cut the driveshaft. The cross member just slides back a notch to the TH400 spot since the cross member mount on the 200 is further back than the TH350, but has the same driveshaft length.

You'll enjoy the overdrive. I have a 200-4R out of an 85 MC SS in my 70 and it made it much more drivable. I can run highway speeds (70-75mph) at around 2400RPM with a 3.31 posi rear gear and a 350 ZZ4 crate motor. I did a big block swap to a stock looking 402 this winter, so I'll have to see if that changes things any. If you want to go with an original 200-4R for a core, they say to look for the one's from the Grand Nationals, MC SS, etc. I had mine rebuilt with several hardened parts to help strengthen it. They are getting more popular, so do your research and you should be able to find something that works for what you are looking for. Or order up a new one from a place like Bowtie Overdrives to the specs that you want too.

Well, it didn't turn out to be the heads, but at least they are nice and fresh now. What it ended up being was the cam hitting the distributor. It wasn't doing it as much after we put it back together but what we ended up finding was that one of the lifters went bad and caused the cam to get wiped. So needless to say, a new cam, lifters, rockers, and push rods later and the knock is no more. Some of the rockers were looking pretty worn, so decided to replace them along with push rods as well. The cam is just a touch over stock with a 519 lift and 284 duration. It's got a great sound out the back exhaust though. Can definitely tell it's a big block. The next issue is that it seems to run a little too hot though, around 200, even with a new 160 thermostat in it. Planning to take the thermostat out and see what that does. Thanks for the input guys. Always great to be able to post on here and get advice and info when needed from others that have been through similar things. Ben

Yes they should be. My understanding is that any of the 68-72 A-body cars seats will work in the FGMC. I have a bench seat with the center fold down arm rest out of a Cutlass in my 70 Monte.

Well, the heads are off to the machine shop. Hoping that will take care of the issue. Fingers crossed.

Well, we eliminated the fuel pump and water pump from causing the knocking this past weekend. It's hard to tell even with a stethescope where it's coming from for sure. We did notice that it runs a little rougher when the knock starts and then smooths back out when it goes away. The strange part is that standing behind the car, you can hear the knock through the tailpipes. The local bodyshop let us borrow a camera, so we ran that through the spark plug holes and everything looked immaculate in the cylinders and pistons. When we ran the camera down the intake ports though we saw a lot of carbon build up around the vales. Although we were not able to find anything solid that would be holding the valves open at least on the intake side. I'm thinking I probably should pull the heads and have them reworked though since the rest of the motor is fresh. Apparently they just threw some used heads on it and called it good. I'm hoping that will fix the problem, although there are no guarantees that's what it is. Any other suggestions? Thanks

It's hard to tell for sure, but it seems to be coming more from the top and passenger side.

I did a 350 to 402 engine swap in my 70 Monte Carlo over the winter. The 402 is a 71 block and was a fresh rebuild that I purchased from an individual. Now that I'm to the point that we can fire it up, it seems to run and sound good, but there is a knocking noise. The weird part about the knock is that it comes and goes. It'll knock for a minute or two and then go away for a minute or two before coming back again and so forth. I plan to try the usual things with it like adding a second valve cover gasket to see if it's just something hitting there. Also plan to try changing the fuel pump and rod. The fuel pump was already on the motor when I got it, so I'm not 100% sure if it's for a big block or possibly a small block one that got stuck on there. Also plan to get under it and check the flywheel that was changed with the engine swap as well as the torque converter bolts. Any other suggestions as to what might cause that kind of noise that comes and goes like that? Thanks

I would've brought the Monte with the weather being good. That's what makes having an overdrive trans worthwhile, I can make those highway road trips without too much effort. I am hoping to get the big block swap done in the next few weeks though too. If all else fails I could always bring the 86 MC SS that I bought recently as my new summer daily driver. Like I said, hopefully something like that can be arranged again next year. There seems to be a pretty good Monte following in Michigan and surrounding areas. I feel the same too Tony, seems like we keep missing each other at the local shows this summer. I see your progress on your Monte on Facebook though. Keep up the good work Ben

Wish I could've been there too. Looks like a good time and great weather too. Hope something like this happens again next year. Would be great to hang out with some friends and meet new ones. Always good to share some Monte love. Ben

Sounds like a fun time. Would definitely like to join you all if the schedule allows. Thanks for trying to put something like this together Sam. Always fun to be able to get together with fellow Monte lovers. Keep me posted with date and location as they become available and set. Ben

Thanks for the input guys. Unfortunately mine was not a Canadian built car to get the info that way. It's a Baltimore built car. I did check the trim tag though and have found that it has 04B, so I guess she was built the 2nd week of April. Pretty cool finding out little things like that along the way. Thanks again for the help guys! I'll have to get some updated pics out here sometime soon. It's been awhile since I posted pics. Ben

Hi all, I was wondering if there is a way to determine build date for my 70 MC other than the obvious documentation which I don't have with my car. Original engine and trans are also long gone, so not sure what else to check. I mean the VIN has a build number, but that's just the number of the vehicle that rolled out of that particular plant that year isn't it? I'd like to get one of those door decals with the build month/year on it and such and would like the real date if possible. I realize this might not be available without the things I'm missing though. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks guys. Ben

I have a ZZ4 350 in my 70 Monte. It was already in the car when I bought it a few years ago, so I didn't deal with the installation of it. Everything works fine, although I don't have A/C or anything running on it either. Mine has the fast burn heads so it's rated at 385HP. I haven't been seeing in the catalogs as much now, but it definitely wants to scoot even with our big cars, and that's just with a Holley Street Avenger 670 cfm carb.

I'm running an original 3.31 rear gear in a 12-bolt posi.

Sam, I went with the 200-4R conversion last year as well. I got a good core from an 85 Monte SS to start with. Then ordered the rebuild kit and billet forward drum from Jake's Performace out of Texas. I couldn't find anyone around my area here that knew much about 200-4Rs and they all just kept trying to talk me into a 700-R4 instead. I knew it could be done though, so I kept looking. I ended up going to Transmissions Unlimited in Utica MI. Chuck is the main man there and did an excellent job of rebuilding the trans for me. Very knowledgeable guy, likes and knows classic cars, and stands by his work. I'm currently running a ZZ4 350 with the fast burn heads which rates out to 385HP. I plan to eventually get a 402 rebuilt and drop into the car (mainly stock with a few upgrades) and should have no problems running the 200-4R trans behind it. That was something I discussed with Jake's Performance when ordering parts from them. I now get about 20mpg and can run at highway speeds at around 2400RPM. So the overdrive definitely does the job there. Makes it nice when wanting to travel to some of the further away car shows and such. Ben

Just to give an update, ended up pulling the trans and taking back to the shop on the advice of the builder. He looked it all over. The 3rd gear clutches and band were fried from the test drive. He also changed a few things on the set up. Switched out the servo and adjusted some things with the shift kit. Great guy to work with. No charge for anything. Took it back home, put it back in the car. Set the TV cable back up again. Go for a test drive down the road, shifts into all 4 gears Stop and go a few times to make sure everything seems good. The beauty of country roads. On the way back after it shifts into overdrive, punch it and it kicks down into 3rd just as it should. Pull back into the house, get the GPS to test the speedo and do it again. It's off, but should be able to correct with different speedo gears. Cruising at highway speeds now at 2400 RPM, which is exactly what I wanted. So somewhere between the changes he made in the setup and us setting the TV cable up again it all came together. Called the trans guy up today and thanked him for all of his help. I'll definitely go back to him if I ever have any tranny issues in the future.

Thanks for the quick feedback guys. Yeah we had loaned out the line pressure gauge to a friend so we're going to get that back this week. I'm not driving it hardcore, just testing to see if it shifts. Other than checking the line pressure and continuing to play with the TV cable adjustment to find the sweet spot, I wasn't sure what else to try so thought I'd ask around here.