LIL' Mac

Steering wheel, door spears, rocker mouldings, and I am not sure what all yet.

Drove the SS two hours away up to see Joe(Toppless72). We went to a friend of Joe's house and bought some '55 Hardtop parts, not planned just happened! Had a GREAT time and it was a beautifull day. Joe is a class act and a very nice guy.

WOW Joel, what a one-of-a-kind beauty!!!! Bet you sure are proud of her. Nice car congrates!!!

Drove the '70 all day today. Have not had that much fun in a while. Not much else to compare to going down the road in an original first gen. BB singing on a beautiful day. Was up around Dayton, Ohio, and everywhere in between. Must have ran at least 300 miles today. Sweet.

Had my Monte at Springfield Ohio meet this weekend. Hope someone (FGMCC member) out there saw her! I have been selling parts at that show for 20 years. I go in around lunchtime on Thursday, and don't ever leave the grounds until Sunday when it is over. I am burnt to a crisp. Ha. I am a diehard parts guy. Old parts. I put the Monte on the rollback and took her up. I had to pull my parts trailer or otherwise I would have just drove her up there. People about wore the door off of her. I had the buildsheet out and a short description and history. She is not a restored car, but a survivor SS. She got alot of attention. Man, it was a GREAT weekend!!

HAHAHAHA. That ias BIZZARE. All I can cay. Thanks for posting that Darren.

Dave the car looks great. Love that color. Pulled my monte out of the garage for the first time in months. Started right up and went down the road the same as always. Felt fantastic to drive the old girl again!!!

Also, failed to mention: That 3 piece job you have is definitly for a Holley, not Quadrajet. Way wrong as I'm sure you already know.

Let me know if you get a line to work. And where you get it!! My line was cut when I got my car. I bought one from "Right Stuff" out of Ohio. It did not work. They made 3 more lines, and none of them worked. Guess they don't see many SS Montes. From what I have surmised, the pump clock position on a LS-5 Monte is different from a LS-5 Chevelle. The first line I got was OK except for when it got to the fuel pump. The curve for the TCS solenoid (just off of carb) on the first line they sent me was right. After that one, they got worse. There was enough of my line left that I know the pump on my car is the correct pump. The last line they sent is on my car now, but it is not right at all. I may drive my car to their shop so they can make one. So, I believe the difference is at the pump. Hope this helps. BTW, your restoration pictures are great!!

Thanks very much Rod for posting the pics. And thanks for the comments guys. I only have a couple hours or less more work on it. Getting the time is the problem. Can't wait to bolt it in.

Jared the thing is I will keep my original grille too. The donor I am using , I picked up for 20 bucks. I thought about asking around for a damaged one, but the outer edge of this one is pretty good and I was anxious to get started so I just decided to use it.

I got the grid cut out of the middle of the stock donor grill. I took some pics but will have to figure out how to load them. I am a mechanic but my computer skills stink. Anyhow, it is looking like this may work out well. I was able to get things pretty smooth were I made the cuts. Figured I would paint that area, silver or flat black. I think it was paintd silver originally, so I will probably do that. I don't think it will be that visible once my insert is in anyway. The tube grille is going to have to be shortened a bit on each side to go in. I want it to fit as tight in there as possible. The top and bottom clearance is tight, perfect.

Rod. WOW!!! Looks like great times. Great looking people, scenery and some killer looking Montes!!! I bet that was a BLAST I'm jealous!!

Stu, welcome to the club!!! One of the differences is the bolt hole location for the headlight surround(door). The '70 is different from the '71 an '72. Others will add to this, I'm sure.

The tube grille is going to require some fabricating. It is not big enough, and leaves too much space,especially between top of grille and bottom of hood. I have an idea. Fortunately, I lucked into an extra used stock grille a couple of weeks ago that I am thinking I could use as a donor for the custom one. When I bought it I figured it would make a nice spare. The grille might actual be a little better than my original, and I kinda hate to chop it up but probably will. I have to measure some more to be sure, but I THINK I can carefully cut out the center grid, smooth the edges, and insert the custom grille in the middle of the old grille frame(so to speak). The good thing is, they should bolt in independantly. It should work ok if I am thinking right.

I would like to find one of those hitches too Dennis. My car has the holes in the trunk already. The original owners pulled a small pop up camper with a hitch just like yours. Don't know why they took the hitch off.

Yes, that's it Rodney. Hey, how's your new job going?

Just picked up a custom tube grille for the Monte. Looks great, I will post a picture when I get it on the car. I have the original grille out, preparing to put the custom grille in. The guy I got it from had bought it on Ebay, but while his car was getting painted, his car was destroyed in a fire. To make matters worse, the paint job was done on the car. SAD.

Ditto. My 10/69 built SS has never had the valve covers off. Still runs sweet as ever. 94,000 miles and growing

Awesome you are home and doing better. I think we all take the fresh air and sunshine for granted at times. Take it easy and get well soon.

Great to hear from you Rob. Everyone wishes you well and prayers. Keep up the recovery!

Awesome news!!! Keep us posted!!!

Prayers from Kentucky Rob get well soon!!!

Tim, I have L-60-15's(same as 275-60-15 ,I believe) on my original 7" Ralley wheels on the rear. They do not rub under any circumstances, and the 7' supports them just fine. Look great too. My car is VERY low in the rear too. Hope that helps a bit.

It has been a long time, but I will offer what I remember. I would always lean to the higher torque spec, around 20 FT. pounds. Especially if your using your old pinion. Make sure you use a new crush sleeve, that is a must. Also a new lock nut, or at least ample blue threadlocker on the pinion nut. Your click torque wrench should be fine. That's what I used. Just my opinion, hope it helps. Scott.