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MGD72Monte

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Everything posted by MGD72Monte

  1. As mentioned on a thread about hood spring part numbers, after a few close calls of almost getting my hands chopped off by a falling hood, I ordered Original Equipment Reproduction (OER) part #3848272 ($17 ea) from Summit to replace my tired 52 year old OEM springs. Total cost with shipping and tax $48.01. The new part looks identical to the original. Installed tonight and big difference. Hood now stays up even when lowered a few degrees from max angle as shown by others' pics on this thread. After considering the many methods out there to replace, I opted for the washer method although for the new springs, I used some plastic spacers I had on hand out of concern of scratching the springs. For easy on and off removal, I found that the spring had to be stretched about 2" from its fully contracted position. To remove the existing springs I let the hood down to stretch the spring while leaving just enough space to stick my arm under the hood to stuff washers in between the coils until the spring was removable without using force when the hood was fully open. I used a broom handle as support to hold the hood fully opened during the removal and installation process. To install the new springs, I used a floor jack (see pic). I hooked one end of the spring under the pin located below the pad and the other around a crow bar I placed under a set of 4"x4" pieces of wood which rested on a 2"x4". The 4"x4" created the additional jack travel needed to get the right amount of spring stretch, while the 2"x4" made it easier to hook onto the crow bar. I also used the jack to remove the washers from the old springs after removal from the car. Once stretched, I inserted 1/16" plastic spacers (see pics) between each coil then lowered the jack. The spacers kept the spring partially elongated. I unhooked the spring from the jack, installed it in the car, put a bag under the hinge, lowered the hood and the spacers fell in the bag. This worked flawlessly for the first spring, but for the second I found I had to add a few larger spacers and then coax some of them out with the hood down low enough to still get reach under the hood. The larger spacers had ridges and that seemed to prevent them from slipping out easily. Using smooth ones like the smaller ones likely would have made this easier. I did not invent the above method but chose it to avoid scratching, prying and because I found other methods did not seem feasible based on the work space, and equipment I had on hand. Hopefully someone finds this useful.
  2. After a few close calls of almost getting my hands chopped off by a falling hood, I ordered Original Equipment Reproduction (OER) part #3848272 ($17 ea) from Summit to replace my tired 52 year old OEM springs. The new part looks identical to the original (see side by side pic). Installed tonight and big difference. Hood now stays up even when lowered several degrees from max angle. Hopefully they will retain their strength for a long time. I will post some info on removal and installation on a more appropriate thread.
  3. Not sure if anyone has already posted this, but stumbled upon it and noted a lot of Monte assembly archival footage. Wish I had a time machine.
  4. Put in Alpine 4"x6" in the front decades ago. Cut the original brackets so the magnet fits; no issues with the fit on the pax side. To get the driver's side in, unbolted the dash, moved it out slightly, installed the speaker then bold the dash back in careful with contact points to avoid shorting out the flexible instrument cluster circuit. It still is a very tight fit. Good luck.
  5. Thanks, very well explained additional info; the taper was clearly visible in those added fittings.
  6. In case anyone is wondering, yes, the discount is still on, ordered these last month and installed them. Nice upgrade, not only does it clean up the clutter of the stock belts, it certainly feels safer. There are cheaper 3-point belts out there but these are worth it just for their attention to detail at using the stock dual bolt and cover for the shoulder achor point.
  7. Thanks for providing some good pics of the installation. Sorry about the slow reply, I wanted to provide a comprehensive overview in case someone else ever decides to install this rad, especially with the stock shroud. So here goes: To recap some of the info on my previous posts, I ended up ordering the Ausley Chevelle all Aluminum rad http://www.chevelle.com/1968-1972-Heavy-Duty-Aluminum-Radiator-Auto-or-Man-P7982.aspx in part because it looks somewhat stockish and because the transmission cooler ports are in the right location. Also at a total price of $267.95 (delivered to my door) it was acceptable although certainly not the cheapest out there. The rad arrived the same week I ordered it, double boxed and in good condition. Fit: Here is where the fun starts. Although the height and length dimensions are pretty much the same as stock, unlike the stock rad, it does not have nice well defined and thin tank ridges to sit in the groove of the upper and lower radiator mounts. The bottom and top of this rad (and I assume most of the other all Aluminum welded rads) are a lot flatter. In addition, at 2.5", the core is 0.5" thicker/wider than the original. Does not sound like much but with the stock fan shroud you can’t just drop it in or the shroud will be too high and the bottom will stick out to far away from the rad support to properly clip in. Instead it will rest on the rad core fins which could damage the fins overtime. To resolve this double problem, I had to shave and shape the rad mounts (mostly the bottom ones). This is a pic of the shaved ones next to new ones . This allowed me to move the rad as far forward and as low as possible (being careful not to generate any metal on metal contact). Here is a shot of the pax side one installed . After multiple test fits, more trimming I was able to get it to sit as well as possible. When I put the shroud in, it was touching the core fins slightly so I had to shave off a few millimeters of the driver’s side upper portion until I could pass a piece of paper between the fins and shroud without binding. The Area is shown here With all this done, the shroud sits about 3/16" higher than stock but that is not visible from the top and this is still low enough that the bottom clips of the shroud mate properly to the lower rad support. Transmission cooler lines: One of the main selling points to me for this rad was the location of the cooler ports being very close to stock. Although the locations are good, the problem I identified earlier i.e. that the transmission cooler ports on the rad have a flat or even concave matting surface inside which is the opposite of the stock plus the hole for the fluid flow is larger ultimately this does not mate properly with the flared ends of the transmission cooler lines . Nevertheless since the fitting thread fit, I decided to try it out. I found that shortly after I started running the engine the fittings were leaking in spite of being nice and tight. I could have tried to use sealant tape or made up some kind of small gasket and that may have worked but knowing that other sellers of this rad provided fittings to address this, I called Ausley’s and pointed this out. They said that they had never heard of this problem and did not have these fittings. After some research I found the fittings to be available as “Be Cool” brand Automatic Transmission Cooler Fittings part #72001 https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bci-72001. I was able to pick these up at Summit for $5 each. I put them in (found I needed to use sealant tape on the bottom one) and it solved the leak. I also found that the rad drain plug was leaking around the threads after a full cycle run so I added sealant tape and that stopped the leak. I like the final installation, basically a nice aluminum rad with stock shroud configuration. Cooling performance looks to be good although it has not been very hot yet. Overall durability is to be determined but hopefully this is useful for someone else looking to fit this rad in a stock configuration.
  8. Robert, Thanks, I made some phone calls to radiator suppliers about the transmission line ports today as some rad suppliers provide some adapters with their rads. You can see them in this pic http://www.usradiator.com/catalog/product/gallery/id/10050/image/9268/. Apparently if it is not the right config, the threads won't match. I test fitted the rad and the threads fit. I'm think it should be OK, the pressures are not like those in the brake system. My next step will be to find a way to fit the rad itself. I think it is not an issue for you because you are using electric fans. My biggest challenge is with the stock shroud as described in my last post.
  9. Thanks, for the input, I ended up ordering the Ausley as well, in part because it looks somewhat stockish and because the transmission cooler ports are in the right location. I'm not sure I would call the fit perfect though; based on trial fits, it will take some work. First, at 2.5", the core is 0.5" wider than the original. Does not sound like much but with the stock fan shroud, it looks like I have to move the rad forward as much as possible. This means I will have to trim the front part of the bottom radiator mounts or make some custom mounts which let the rad slide forward. The second issue is that unlike the stock rad, it does not have nice thin tank ridges to sit in the groove of the upper and lower radiator mounts. The bottom and top of this rad (and I assume most of the other Aluminum rads) are a lot flatter so even without lower mounts during trial fitment, it sits higher than stock which is going to make fitting the shroud more problematic when it comes to securing the bottom of the shroud to the rad support. Another aspect I am not sure of is that the transmission cooler ports look to have a concave matting surface inside which is the opposite of the stock ones so I don't know how that is going to match with the flared ends of the transmission cooler lines. Did you or anyone else have to get some kind of adapter for those or re-flare the lines in a bubble flare shape?
  10. Thanks all for your input, still hoping someone has dealt with Ausley's Chevelle can speak to that option.
  11. After a 40+ years of service, it looks like my (28.25" x 17" x 2") 3 row OEM style radiator has sprung a leak that can't be pin pointed and apparently can't be fixed. At any rate, I'm looking for a replacement. The OEM design provided plenty of cooling for my mild build 350 so no cooling power issues to resolve beyond the leak. I've read on this forum that the Champion Aluminum 2 core http://www.championradiators.com/Chevy-Monte-Carlo-2-row-radiator-1970-1977 is a popular replacement and at about $160, it appears to be the best bang for the buck. Other options include an OEM APDI replacement http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3610614&jsn=__GIP__3__ at $210, other OEM replacements I found are almost $500. Strangely that Rock Auto part is only listed for 70-71 Montes. Specifically I was wondering if anyone had any experience or feedback on this Aluminum unit http://www.chevelle.com/1968-1972-Heavy-Duty-Aluminum-Radiator-Auto-or-Man-P7982.aspx. At $250, it is the most expensive of the three but it has a bit of the stock look which I like and the transmission cooler lines holes appear to be closer to my current stock location than the other two options, plus I like the idea of getting the longevity and weight advantage of Aluminum. Thanks for your time.
  12. Scott, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and the tips. I'll be patient on the galleries. On the previous version of the site I had flagued a series of topics through the years, under my watched topics. They all had some tech or other type of info of interest for me to look back when needed. Looks like I can make a new list but the old list I had doesn't seem to be there. Is this list eventually going to be carried over or is it gone for good? As a bonafide dinosaur, I'm doing my best not to become extinct during this change... but I'm hurtin
  13. Thanks, it feels better to know I'm not the only one confused. I'm like a fish out of water, floundering to find my way around. I found some of my photos but when I click on them I get "Sorry, you don’t have permission to see that." and "Sorry, but that does not appear to be a valid image. If you arrived at this screen by following a link on this site, please notify a system administrator". I can't find my albums. Found someone else's albums and when I click on them I sometimes get a dead end / white page with errors such as: http://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/gallery/category/1-members-albums-category/ /forums/index.php?/gallery/album/146-1965-gto/ Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) 500 Maybe someone is testing a new site format. Maybe there's a push to weed out people who are not computer savvy like me
  14. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I've been away for a bit and am totally confused with the new site format. It's a bit like coming back home from a trip and somebody has rearrange the house completely, thrown out most of my stuff and even moved some walls around. 1. Is there a way to set my preferrances so that things look like they did before? 2. Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to get some of the previous features. Active topics? My watched topics? How do I get to my albums it says there are none?
  15. If you are running a basically stock set up i.e. no electric rad fan, no 50000W sound system, or other non stock current drawing system, the stock alternator should be fine. So if it is the problem, all you should need to fix is the alternator, either rebuild the existing one or get a new stock spec one. If the alternator is not the problem, getting a new or more powerful alternator will likely not help you. Good luck
  16. What is your voltmeter reading with AC on then off? If you don't have one in the dash, use a portable one under the hood.
  17. For the A-arm shields, I made my own. Bought a set of thick mud flaps made for a truck, cut the desired pattern out of them then I drilled and used a tap to make some threads in the plastic wheel wells then I used left over small stainless steel ARP bolts lef over from my engine accessory kit to hold them in. For the splash shields, as I said back in 2010 I would be interested in reviews of the aftermarket ones, for those that have installed them, have they stood up well or have they cracked like the originals?
  18. Nice pics, thanks for sharing. Interesting the degree to which various hub caps change the appearance. I'm partial to the stock smooth hub caps because you don't see them that often.
  19. Wish I had some speakers, it sounds like someone crumpling paper on this #$%&* laptop.
  20. They make repro pieces for the A pillar drip rail linky and the little corner piece linky because they fit the Chevelles but not the other ones as far as I know. Your only option is to find ones that were removed carefully. I would also like to get some, mine are all dented.
  21. Where are you guys weighing your cars and are you substracting fuel weight from your numbers? Thanks
  22. This is clearly a treasured find, thanks for keeping the pics coming.
  23. Sounds like an interesting build, what's the goal? You mention a torque monster but no racing, are you planning to pull a big trailer or carry heavy loads or ?
  24. When I bought my 72 someone had replaced the original hood ornament with one from an early 80's Monte. When it fell victim to an unfortunate garage door incident, I replaced it with the correct one from the local GM dealer for about $40. Not sure how the plastic emblem is stuck on there but I can attest that whatever glue GM used, it does bleed through the emblem somewhat. Also, there is a notable gap between the edge of the plastic and the ridge of the chrome recess it sits in. I assume crap/moisture gets into this gap, works its way underneith the emblem causing it to eventually fall out. To avoid this, I filled the gap with clear silicone sealant and it has lasted for the past 25 + years.
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