MCfan

Just got a call from my daughter and granddaughter who safely rode out the storm about six miles inland with some property damage. They made it over to our neighborhood this morning. Neither our house nor garage was flooded and the canal at the back of our property had receded back within the seawalls. What a relief! Of course, the pool screening was gone and part of the screen cage was in the pool but only a few roof tiles had blown off. Several trees and tropical plants were down but the tallest palms were miraculously intact! My Monte and wife's Lexus were unscathed ... so much to be thankful for!! Now if the army of power company repairmen can get power restored soon, evacuated folks can return so cleanup/restoration work can begin in earnest. It is so much worse about 30 miles south in Ft Myers and on down to Naples. Those areas were inundated by a 12' storm surge so there was massive destruction and many suspected (unconfirmed) fatalities. Very sad ...

Ian was basically a direct hit on our costal neighborhood, making landfall between Cape Coral and and Punta Gorda. It was just as strong but much larger and slower moving than Charley that directly hit Punta Gorda in 2004. We are still at our summer home in Crosslake, MN so did not have to evacuate. Our boat was securely lashed high on its life and all the hurricane shutters were put up before we left in late April. Unfortunately, that does nothing to stop flooding from a huge storm surge or prevent high winds from peeling the roof off. I hope neither of those damages occurred but I won't know until my daughter can get over there to inspect things in the next day or two. Since my house is only 9' above sea level (and the garage floor is almost 2 feet lower), I know my Monte would not have escaped a storm surge in the 12 to 18 foot range initially projected. Even a modest storm surge with so much surface rain may have created a flooding incident. Earlier, when I had an opportunity to have our cars moved to higher ground, Ian's expected target was Tampa Bay and our storm surge was projected to be much lower so I took the risk. Anxious to find out what actually happened to our property and vehicles ...

Nicely done, Greg! Wondering if you could share more of details of your gathering like the venue, duration, activities, invitation process, etc. Maybe your "gathering" could be replicated in other locations (like Florida).

AED 750 (Holley with custom valve bodies)

Carl, your original post said you wanted 3 battery terminals and 3 accessory terminals but I don't know what kind of loads you plan to run off of them. I assume you will want to have each additional terminal properly fused for whatever you are powering through it. Tapping off of either of your current 30 A fused ports sounds like daisy chaining to me. That could possibly work but I would wonder about combined load on the original port if several of your additional devices were drawing power simultaneously. I guess you could try it and later wire it direct to your battery if you start blowing 30 A fuses. What sort of additional devices do you want to power? You should only need a relay if you want the power to be accessible only when your ignition is on. If you do run a direct line to your battery, be sure to use an adequate gauge of wire (i.e. #10 AWG for 30 A DC) to carry your highest fused terminal or highest combined amperage for simultaneous loads, which ever is greater.

NAPA Part #: NW 785124 is a kit with two plates and other connectors for $9.99 at https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NW_785124?impressionRank=21 Their name is "Battery Cable End Taps Frame Ground Tap / Side Mount Terminal Tap". When I got mine (also at NAPA) several years ago, it was a single part in a small package but I don't see that listed at NAPA online. You can get a single plate on eBay for $5 at https://www.ebay.com/itm/221733809403?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338590836&toolid=10044&customid=d9a259c3e966123d78af3ac9272a23a6

My '70 4-speed was very low optioned from the factory. When I added power windows, locks and seatback releases, I used a simple 6-port ATC fused expansion panel mounted under the dash above my left knee. I powered it from a dedicated power wire through the firewall direct to the battery connected via a 3-port "C" plate behind the positive terminal (see pics). I did not need to go through the IGN circuit because the factory power windows have their own relay, the locks need direct power to work with my keyless entry system and the seat back releases operate off of the door pin switches. It was simple and cheap but it did what I needed and works well. Not sure why the photos always load in reverse order - guess I need to learn to think backwards!

Nice! A useful body mod that doesn't spoil the classic lines of the First Gen Monte.

Exactly the exterior (white vinyl over Autumn Gold) and interior (Sandalwood cloth bench) of the '70 I bought new at Pappas Chevrolet in KC, MO in July of 1970! Mine had the 402 and TH400 which I loved. It would be very hard for me to pass this one up if it had that powertrain. Glad to see they are asking a worthy price.

Beyond Black by Surf City Garage. Not so easy to find. The last place I found it was at a NAPA Auto Parts Store in SW FL.

A 17 x 8 rim with 4.5" backspace is 0 offset (mounting surface is centered on the rim width). To keep the wheel/tire combo centered within the available space on first gen Montes, a +6mm offset is needed on the front and a +12mm offset is needed on the rear. Since your 0 offset rims will push the wheel/tire combo outboard 1/4" (6mm) and 1/2" (12mm) from the center of available space front and rear, respectively, you can encounter outboard clearance issues with wider tires. You will be fine with 255/55-17 on the rear and 235/55-17 on the front. Going to a 275/55-17 on the rear (with those 0 offset rims) will leave you with only about 1/8" clearance with the wheel well lip. Some may risk that but I personally would not.

Those rims would be essentially the same as stock rallys which are 15x7 with 4.30" backspace (+8 mm offset). What tires are you planning to run front and rear or all around? I ran 245/60-15s on stock rallys all around without clearance issues anywhere. I have also run 255/60-15s on the front on 15x7 rallys with 4.5" backspace (+12 mm offset) but a 4.25 backspace (+6mm offset) will also work well. Where you will run into trouble with that 4.25" backspace is on the rear if you try to use a really wide tire (like a 275/60) You will run into unsafe clearance problems with the lip of your wheel well opening unless you plan to trim it enough. I wouldn't suggest putting a wider tire than a 255 on a 7" wide rim anyway but it's been done. Good luck.

Welcome to the club and forums, Dave! Your beautiful '71 brings back lots of memories. I am partial to gold first gens with white vinyl tops and cream interiors as my first new car out of college was the '70 version of yours. Congratulations on a great find! Enjoy her and the club!

Yes ... however, a 5 1/2" backspace on a 15 x 8 rim pushes a 275 R 15 tire inboard further than necessary, leaving plenty of clearance with the wheel well lip (untrimmed) but very little clearance (1/2" - 5/8") with the inner wheel well, frame and possibly tailpipes. Small clearances should work fine for normal driving but allow little margin of error for body shift during hard cornering, rough roads or even hard acceleration or braking. If you have a choice regarding backspace (and you many not), I would recommend a 5" or 5 1/4" backspace (+12 or +19 mm offset, respectively) to better center the wheel/tire combo in the available space of a first gen Monte. I run that same rim/tire combo on the rear with 5" backspace (+12 mm offset) with no lip trimming or clearance issues. Good luck.

Hi, John, Welcome to the club and forums! I hope you are able to find a nice '70 or '71 SS in time. I owned a '70 SS for eight years and know what it's like to have that itch scratched - there's nothing else like it. I also live in SW Florida in Punta Gorda for six months and a day (required for permanent FL residency) during the late fall/winter/early spring season. My (almost) daily driver here is a modified big block/4-speed '70 into which I have invested considerable time and money. It is a blast to drive and I really miss it when I relocate to north-central MN for the summer each year. Where in SW FL do you live? Maybe we can hook up at a local car show next fall. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the club and are successful in acquiring your own SS.