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What did you do to your Monte Carlo today?


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My transmission has a JW Bell Housing which attaches to the front pump bolts. These bolts leaked quite a bit so I yanked the unit on this incredibly warm Christmas morning. It was probably my last chance to do this until it gets warm again in March. This removal took one hour, on the floor, alone. Same job on my '99 T/A would be a day and half a night. Next stop Select Performance Transmissions!

 

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Yesterday I installed the AED 750HPHO carburetor my wife gave me for Christmas on my ’70 402. Right out of the box, it started the engine as soon as it had sufficient fuel and idled smoothly (although a bit low) after a minute or two of warm up. The first test drive showed was a bit lean on the low end but very strong from 2000 up.

 

Today, I met up with my racer friend from Sweden, Jimmy Alund, at the Muscle Car City Swap Meet so he could make some adjustments to the metering screws, set the idle to 900 and reset the timing to 16* static (with no vacuum advance). We took it for a test drive and verified his expectations that the AED carb would solve my low speed issues while improving top end performance without replacing the Edlebrock Torker II single plane intake manifold. The engine idles and runs smoothly at low speeds in all four gears, responses instantly from any speed and is still pulling hard at my rpm limits.

 

Best of all, there was not a single ping heard when Jimmy accelerated from any speed in any gear! To get an apples-to-apples comparison to my 650 Edlebrock AVS Thunder carb, I did not change anything but the carb – same fuel, same plugs, same timing, same air cleaner. And, although the idle is about 100 rpm higher now, there has not been a hint of dieseling/run-on at shut down.

 

Another thing that has changed is the potential for lower gas mileage but that’s really a matter of self control. Hopefully, occasional heavy-foot events will be somewhat offset by the smooth idling and low speed driving that predominates my normal driving around town. All-in-all, I couldn’t be more pleased with the results of this simple, bolt-on performance enhancer. Now I just need to get an air cleaner lid that doesn’t have Edlebrock embossed on it.

 

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No doubt after 14 years without turning the engine, my valve springs are done. This Moroso tool made things easy-although a bit difficult to attach at the rear locations.

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AND as my machinist is an anal SOB (thank heavens!) I need to measure the static height of every valve stem so he can get the spring pressures and shims "dead on balls accurate". This engine has a mechanical roller cam with .680 lift, the springs need to be accurate. What a pain doing all this in the car!

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I'll probably never get to use specialized tools like that, Paul, but I find them fascinating. Precision almost always costs more and takes longer but it usually pays off in performance and/or reliability. There's also a great feeling of satisfaction when something is done as well as possible. Thanks for sharing.

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I'm lucky that my machinist is good enough to loan me these two tools. I've been using and recommending him for many years and I occasionally do some electrical work for him. We're working together to get his dyno fixed up, it took a big hit during hurricane Sandy.

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