ThirdMC

How far are you wanting to raise it? On mine I put 1" lower Hotchis springs all the way around with KYB Gas Adjust shocks. It seemed to be a little lower in the rear than the front and I just wasn't happy with the way it sat even though the ride was fine. I used the 1 1/2" spacers in the rear so it's actually only 1/2" higher than stock while the front is 1" lower than stock. It rides great and I didn't have to use shock extensios. (Can't get a pic to load at work so I'll email you one of how my car sits now)

This is what I used on mine. Cheaper than airshocks and it now has just enough forward rake to suit my taste. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPS-1628/

http://pmtfabrication.com/Category/21-64-72-gm-a-body.aspx

Shouldn't do any damage jacking it up that way. With a large enough piece of wood the weight can rest on the pulley and harmonic balancer. If the tranny is still bolted to the engine it shouldn't get out of alignment enough to worry about.

Edelbrock is there because it was on the car when I bought it. Given a choice, I'd probably have gone with a Holley. As for timing, don't have vacuum advance, my model of MSD doesn't have that as an option. Initial timing was set at 10 BTDC and the springs and bushing in the MSD wouldn't let it advance more than about 32 total. I advanced it to about 16 and it was a little better on the bottom end but was stumbling between 65-70 mph. Backed it off to 14 for now and I'm going to try and change the springs and bushings in the dist. this weekend. It seems the advance is coming in too slow. Should get the tach installed today so I can double check it all.

BMR Suspension has instructions on their site. Pull up the control arms for the FGMC and they hace a link to the instructions at the bottom of the page.

I have an MSD Billet Distributor with the MSD 6A Box. How do I determine how the centrifugal advance curve should be set? The instruction have 7 different graphs, including how it is set from the factory. I have no idea which combination of springs and bushings I should use.

Play in the steering could be caused by several things. Unless the bushings in your front end have been replaced they're probably pretty worn out. I'd check those first (Tie-rods, centerlink etc) before I replaced the steering box. I replaced those, as well as the ball joints in mine.

TTT

OK, Rearend Guru's...with the 8.2 rearend what do I need to do and what parts will I need to change from the 2.73's to something in the 3.36 - 3.42 range? If you have links, part #'s etc., that would be a great help.

Yeah, I thought so too. My pinion nut is 1 1/8 so, guess I have the 8.2. Not planning on taking it to the track or building a monster motor so I'll see what I can do with what I have.

Checked the size of my pinion nut today and it's 1 1/8 so, I guess mine is the 8.2.

Car is used around town. Rear gears are in my plans once I figure out for sure which rearend I have. (I have a post under the Driveline section about that now) I'll also get the timing checked.

My car doesn't seem to have the power I would expect from it, especially at lower rpms. It won't powerbrake or even spin the tires. The former owner did all the mods to it, or rather, 'his guy that is a mechanic' did. To give a rundown on what I have: 71 with 350/350 and 2.73 gears (No posi) L65 350 motor with all stock bottom end. (Crank, rods & pistons) Edelbrock: 1406 600 cfm carb. 7101 Performer RPM Manifold 60899 64 cc Performer Heads 1721 RPM Fuel Pump Victor Water Pump 2201 RPM Hyd. Roller Cam with Crane Roller Lifters Jegs 1.5 Aluminum Roller Rockers Hedman 1 5/8 tube headers Full MSD Ignition (6 AL Box, distributor & Blaster 2 coil) 6000 RPM Module in it. Billet Specialties V-Trac system. Aftermarket Aluminum Radiator with Electric Fan Full 2" exhaust with flowmasters Stock wheels with 245/60/15 BFG's Transmisssion supposedly has a shift improver kit and Jegs 60400 12" torque convertor (2300-2700 Stall) Now, I'm certainly no expert but, it seems a motor with all this should be a little stronger. Any suggestions on what may be wrong or what I may need to do to perk it up a bit.

If you're refering to the kickdown from the tranny to the carb, mine is from B&M. Think I got it from Jegs or Summit.

Yes Sir, the axle tubes taper a little about 1/4 - 1/2 inch before it meets the backing plates.

A little more info: Rearend code: CGC 173 2 (2.73 Gears, Built in Buffalo on the 173rd day of the year, 2nd shift,No Posi) It has bolts and straps instead of u-bolts holding the yoke. It has what looks like E 111 or something like that stamped on the lower right side of the housing. As I mentioned before it doesn't have the lugs below the cover like the photo of the 8.5. What it does have is two small nothches in the housing at about the 5 & 7 o'clock positions. About where the 'lugs' are on the 8.5.

Have a picture on my iphone but can't figure out how to get it to load.

Having the same problem as you cbolt. Can't tell which rear I have. Mine doesn't have the 'lugs' like the 8.5 but also doen't have the cover like the 8.2 in the photo. Can't manage to get a pictiue of mine, or any other photo, to load on the forum either....

Mine doesnt have the 'lugs' on the bottom like an 8.5 but, it also doesn't have the obvious diagonal indentation on the cover like the 8.2. Is there another way to tell?

How many different 10 bolt rearends came in the FGMC? Is it just a mixture of 8.5 and 8.2? Too much rust on my axle tubes to find the code but according to my build sheet I have the GS1 2:73 ratio axle. Engine (*L65 350 CID 2-BBL) Transmission (=M38 3 SPD CBC) I can decipher some of this but don't know what all of it means for sure. I would like to put a little lower gears in it eventually and would like to know exactly what type/kind to order.

Replaced the ones on my 71 last summer. It can be a bit of a pain in the a** to press the lower ones in but, it can be done. I used a ball joint press I was loaned by Autozone. Took a little trial and error but I got it done.

Look under the Tech Info section. If nothing has been changed it will give you the codes to decipher your ratio. It's also on the build sheet if you're able to find it. Mine is also 2:73.

You can also get a B&M kickdown cable, it's adjustable, just replaced the stock one on mine because the slide that connects to the carb linkage (Edelbrock 600) was broken. When I bought my car the kick-down wasn't hooked up and unless you want to manually shift it all the time I wouldn't recommend running it that way as it seems to affect how the tranny shifts. Performance was like night and day when I got it replaced. I think having it kick down into passing gear is better and much safer then manually pulling it down into L2. Make a mistake at pull it into L1 at too high a speed and you may cause some damage. http://www.jegs.com/i/B%26amp%3BM/130/30287/10002/-1

Bump