Hetman

Day before yesterday I went to where my 70 Monte is stored (no heat) and was pooping bricks hoping the antifreeze had held up to the extreme cold spell the last few weeks (-30 C). Got there and looked under the car, no leaks...., popped the hood, no leaks...., nothing looked out of place....put the battery cables on, poured a few drops of gasoline down the carb throats....turn the key, the engine jumped to life within a quarter of a second with no pedal effort....ran perfectly......no leaks, no problem....WHEW........ I guess the previous owner in Ohio was very careful with this car even though he never drove it in winter and had it in a heated garage the whole time... BIG SMILE....thank you, sir!!

I've seen this thread before but I've never had anything to contribute. Until now! My 70 Monte is parked in the garage of the house I'm building, and since it's winter, I don't get over there very much. However, yesterday my father in law and I went over there to do some work (adding a railing and banister to the unprotected concrete staircase), and he said to me, "why don't you start up the Monte?" and I was like, "that sounds like a great idea!". And so I hooked up the battery, poured a few drops of gasoline down the carb, and turned the key, and within a half a second the engine roared to life and purred and rumbled as if it had been started the previous day and not 3 months ago. What a wonderful car that is!!! Yesterday I also went to the DMV and found out that I'd need a bit more paperwork and release forms from the Polish customs (even though the car already cleared EU customs in Germany) before I can register it. Oh well, c'est la vie! I can't wait to get the old faithful gal on the road in springtime!

It's good to hear that the BOP 8.2 is strong enough to handle big HP. I like the idea that it has bolt-in axles and no C-clips (though I've never had a C-clip failure; I've heard of them). Incidentally, I have had no problems with the 8.5" 10-bolts behind a souped up 454 in my white 73, and the factory 454 in my 74. I wasn't aware of the reputation of the BOP axle, but wondered why GM put 12 bolts in so many cars in those days if the 8.2 was good enough.

Yes!! That's the one. Thank you so much, sir!

This is an excellent topic, about which I know embarrassingly little. But they say the only stupid question is the one left unasked, so I'd like to ask you experts some similar questions I have about the rear axle on my 1970 (April build date) Monte Carlo which is equipped with a 350 c.i., 2-barrel engine. I can't identify the differential on my Monte (shown below) despite looking at the above photo and description. To be fair, I haven't gotten a chance yet to get under the car and take a good look at it, but from what I see, it's none of the differentials listed in the pictures here. I know it's not a 7.5" but it doesn't seem to be the 8.5" either, which have very noticeable ears (lugs) coming out on either side on the bottom, as indicated in the middle picture. I have the 8.5" on every 2nd generation Monte I've ever had, but one of them (a 1973) had the strange ridge on the cover just like the one shown on the 8.2" in the picture. Is that what they refer to as the "irregular" cover? Anyway, as you can see in my pictures, my differential also has two-pointed ears in that same location, as well as very noticeable C-shaped indentations at 9:00 and 3:00 on the cover, neither of which is shown for the 8.2" 10 bolt in the left picture. So what gives?! What kind of axle do I have in my Monte? The car seems to be 100% original, with only 91,000 miles, so what kind of differential do I have, and why isn't it the 8.2"? I know this isn't of earth-shattering importance, but I'm very curious. Thanks for all the help!