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It's for aesthetics and I always take the less is more approach on my projects. If something is not useful to me I'll remove it. I definitely wouldn't have done this if it wasn't 100% reversible or if I had to modify the carb itself. I ended up removing the carb and putting it on the bench. The awesome thing about the edelbrocks is there modular design. I was able to completely remove the choke system with no modifications to anything and nothing more than hand tools. It fired up first crank in 35 degree weather and it's cool to look down the throat and see the four venturi's with no restrictions.

I started cleaning up the engine bay and found I really have no need for a choke on my Monte as its just a weekend toy when it's nice out. I'd like to remove the entire manual choke. the cable and brackets are staight forward but what else can I take off? anything special I have to do to make this work or do I just remove the plate/shaft and everything they are attched to?

Wow those are some incredible builds, so what is the monte secret? long wheelbase, engine laid way back, or is it the acre of real estate under the hood? I personally like the stability, gives you confidence to go faster! Maybe the secret is out, lol

Here's a look at the progress so far. Met a very nice mechanic at work who happened to build rat rods and gave me a spare distributor she had laying around. Gotta love the car community, best people in the world! I was able to salvage the vacuum advance off of it and added a centrifugal weight kit to get both types of advancements going! Been -30c up here so haven't had a chance to fire it up but I'm hoping it will help my throttle response and power band.

Finally got my advance curve kit in and put it all together. Very straightforward, going to start with the lightest springs and see how the curve looks, hoping for all in around 3K. Only issue I'm having is my distributor doesn't have the little e clips that seem to be a safety net for the middle weight. Finding these are becoming shockingly difficult and my local parts places are clueless. Anyone know the size of them or have people left them off? I wouldn't risk it but just curious...

Thanks for the offer but I think I have it solved. Looks like i wont need a new distributor, yay! Called a few shops today and any HEI advance curve kit will work with mallory 75 and 85 series distributors. Remove the 2 hex bolts, install weights and springs, seems simple enough. I was told just mechanical advance would work fine for my application but will need to play with the spring combination to see what I like best. I'll update this when my kit comes in and I play around with it!

Thanks guys, that's a start. It's just a weekend warrior and it's in winter storage so I have time to mess with it with no real consequence. I emailed MSD/mallory to see if the parts are available but the parts aren't listed anywhere individually and the website says if you want to modify the units you have to send them in. Might be stuck buying a new unit. I didn't like the way it drove locked out at anything but full throttle.

So the part # for the distributor is 8548201 which comes in a race prepped version with the vacuum and mechanical advance locked. This is obviously the version I have. Guess I'll have to convert it back to mechanical and vacuum.

So I removed the cap off the distributor and snapped a pic. Obviously it has no Springs or weights and it can only move about 3 degrees as it is. It's definitely locked, not sure what's holding it in one spot though or which weights Springs to install... it's a Mallory 29215 if that helps...

Gonna take it out and have a look... is it possible that the timing has been locked out? like I said it was set very high at idle and doesn't budge when revved to 3k. It does start very easily though...

so I tried timing my engine and not sure if I made it better or worse. I went by the timing mark the previous owner put on the crank pulley and it was really advanced,liked 25 degrees. I set it at 14 degrees and noticed no difference in its running characteristics. But when I Rev it up to 3k rpm the timing doesn't advance at all, it stays at 14 degrees, it may even retard a few. What's going on? The engine runs well and cruises well but at WOT it's weak. what would cause no timing advance?

I'm running a SBC with iron heads, aluminum intake, no AC. Probably on the lighter side as far as Monte's go. This is just my weekend warrior to thrash at the track and the streets so I'd like it on the stiffer side. 350's won't cut it I'm starting to see... I think I'll go with the 550's. How would a set of Koni adjustable shocks and BMR 2" drop springs handle? Obviously won't be as stiff as the QA1's but at half the price I'm pretty intrigued. I emailed BMR about the spring rates to see how stiff they are.

I want to stiffen up the front suspension of the monte as the back already has the full Hotchkiss sport kit. I have chosen to go with a coilover setup and found a set of QA1's local to me in the classifieds for a great deal. Here's the catch, they are part# gs401-10350a which is listed for 1967-1969 F-Bodies and 1968-1974 X-Bodies. But, they use the same stud and t bar mounting as the monte and have the same length. Any chance they will fit? Their spring rate is 350, would that stiffen up the front end? Thanks guys, hoping to make these work and save a few hundred bucks in the process!

That is some fantastic info, Thanks very much... I did notice that while cruising the car seems rather sluggish and heavy, throttle response especially. At full throttle it's incredibly powerful but it seems there's too much of a gap between performance and driveability, its not linear at all. I'll go with a vacuum unit.

What an incredible build! Her reaction to cranking it over for the first time is priceless!

I've been contemplating which direction to take my newly aquired monte and your build is definitely giving me tons of ideas and motivation... Love the direction this is heading, If you can give some detail on the process when you tuck the bumpers, that'd be awesome!

Been loving this build, Any updates on zeus? Also, are the rain drip rails a removable item, I'd love to smooth my monte out!

Hey fellas, Now that I have been enjoying cruising in a somewhat trouble free monte I'd like to start checking the tuning aspect of it. I'm going to start with the timing then move onto the carb. For ignition I have a mallory distributor that doesn't seem to have a vacuum advance. I'm assuming that means it's mechanical instead. Do I check for base timing at idle without touching anything? Also how do I go about adjusting base and full advance on a mechanical distributor? Do I still rotate the distro as I would a vacuum? I'm not worried about the advance rate just yet, just base and max. Tried searching but not much information came from it. I'm experienced with a timing light and understand timing advance, just no experience with SBC timing adjustments. I'm coming from the turbo import world!

I'm just learning the ropes of SBC power but I have the same engine Dale mentioned and it does make solid power. I do find to get the benefits of the build you need to improve the valve springs and rev it out. I shift mine 5500-6000 during fun runs and it's a riot. Don't forget a good flowing exhaust! I think gears make all the difference. Seeing as you already have 373's you'll enjoy it even more!

Thanks Sam! Think I got all the kinks out of her, now on to the fun stuff, modifications!

Good tips! I sanded the paint off of the brackets, water pump, nuts, everything and used star washers and voila, dropped the ground resistance dramatically and the car fired up! Another question, do I have to worry about the length of bolts that go into the holes on the front of the engine beside the fuel pump? The higher one is short but the lower bolt is probably 9 or so threads in, maybe an inch. Will that mess with the pumps pushrod? I know the higher bolt can interfere but what about the lower? Thanks again, you guys have been a great assett as I learn about these beasts!

I've been told I should get used to the oil stains on the driveway and garage floor with these engines! I've tried to ground the battery to the alt bracket but I realized I have old iron 462 heads with no accessory holes. I'm using a custom bracket for the alt going to the header bolt but it wasn't a good enough ground to even activate the starter. Would 4 guage be large enough for an engine to battery ground? The stock ground isn't long enough to reach any other accessible engine bolt.

Thanks guys for the tips, I got underneath it tonight and man, what a mess, my engine decided to paint the undercarriage with it's own lubricant. Good idea with the baby powder! Robert, I think you just made my night!!! I was getting ready to pull everything off the front of the engine when I noticed the previous owner grounded the battery to the very bolt your speaking of near the fuel pump! My young one woke up ending my garage time for the evening, but tomorrow I'm going to rectify that issue and see if it seals it. The grounding in this car is terrible, the PO used self tapping screws and random engine bolts as grounds where should I move the battery ground to, or where is the stock location? I'm going to upgrade the rest of the engine bay grounding as well. Cheers to more projects!

Thanks for the info I'll start there

After chasing a few electrical issues with the car I'm now going to tackle the oil leak I've noticed. The engine is a freshly built 350 4 bolt bored 30 over. Seems to me the leak is coming from the front of the engine around the oil pan or crank pulley area. Is it necessary to pull the engine to fix this or does anyone know any tricks? I'd prefer not to pull it but whatever it takes to keep the oil where it belongs