72MC

Thanh, I have the BMR version and love it. It was a piece of cake to install. I have no experience or knowledge of the other company, HRparts, so I have no info for you on them. I will say that I have been a BMR customer for about 8 years and have purchase many of their products. I'm a big fan of BMR and the quality of their product. - Dave

I will add to what Greg has stated about the full manual 4L80. I have one and it is built to withstand 800-900 hp at the rear wheels. Thats great. I love this tranny. I get to up-shift and down-shift everything with no clutch. Yes, it took some getting to used too. But, it is 3-4" longer than a TH400 and will require some fab work to fit under a Monte. This includes a combination of either locating the tranny mount support rail UNDER the frame or relocating the frame support square that resides in the middle of the frame rail. The Monte frame rail has a support welded right at the end of where a th400 will fit on the rail. I have heard of guys using gear vendor units on stout built th350 and th400 and they love the set up. Just something to think about. - Dave

Since you don't want those PITA shocks, I'll take them of your hands, for free of course . Since we had a conversation about your QA1s adjustment knobs, below is the example of how they should be Greg. - Dave

If you buy a newer D stick universal setup(ie. Lokar), they will fit both trannys. If you buy a new stock repop, they will be different from th350 to th400 and it will be the tube and mounting points that is different, not the length of the stick. I would recommend an aftermarket stick setup from Lokar or Moroso. - Dave

They are a direct bolt in BUT,... they will need to be stuffed in the rear with use of a floor jack. Meaning, one end of the axle housing will need to be jacked up to give you the space needed to insert the spring on the opposite side and then visa versa. Your shocks will definitely need to be disconnected. Once installed, your Monte rear will be very stiff but will handle nicely. SBC front springs with a/c will be shorter than stock but the weight rate per inch is high. I assumed you had a small block. If you have a BBC you will need BBC front springs. - Dave

Well the pic is actually valve seals fragments caused from to much lift on a cam but the principle Mark is describing is the same. I just wanted you to see the potential for oil starvation. - Dave

The rear springs can be had at any NAPA, etc. They are listed as "Variable Rate El Camino 1970-1972". If you can't find them local to you I could sell my spare set to you. You shouldn't have any problem finding them local. Keep in mind, the coils are wound tighter at the top and looser or wider at the bottom of the spring. - Dave

My rims out back are 17x9 with 5" bs and tires are 275x50x17 (up front 17x8 with 4.5" bs and tires are 255x50x17). Tires are Nitto NT450. No rubbing with the way it sat then. I trimmed about an 1/8" off the rear lip when I went back to the HD spring set up. Didn't have too, just peace of mind. No rubbing problems. - Dave

I believe this is kind-a what Mark is talking about. - Dave

From what I see in the pics, your Monte looks close to dead on for stock. Maybe a little low in the back but still close to stock looking. That being said, SBC "front springs with a/c" will lift the front big time. If you want the rear tall and strong, put some El Camino variable rate springs back there. Be forewarned, those rear springs will need to be stuffed in using a jack. My sig shows that exact setup. I have since gone backwards using QA1 double adj coil overs up front and HD Monte rear springs with 1.5" spring perches. My new look is 1.5" -2" inches lower all the way around. Better weight transfer for drag racing. - Dave ps - by the way, good looking Monte.

One thing I do AFTER the car has been warmed up. If I make a quick or extended stop somewhere, I will NOT pump the gas before starting. I will hit the gas after the starter has engaged. Mine has fired up right away using this technique. If I pump the gas before I attempt to start the car, then I have an issue of extended starter use before it will fire. Since doing this routine, I only pump my gas before starting the car on the first start up of the day. Now, this may be a situation that works for me since I run an electric fuel pump. I also have a carb spacer and my fuel line is well away from my engine and headers until it reaches the intake manifold area. - Dave

For any engine big enough to handle it, I would recommend the Holley HP series carbs. Mine has been great out of the box, bolt on and go. Fires right up all the time. My Holley 1850 and 4779 DP are the same way. I have a Edelbrock on my 72 C-10 and don't care for it. Like was said earlier, you have your Holley crowd and your Edelbrock crowd. Guess I fall into the Holley crowd. There are alot of awesome carb makers out there building carbs on the Holley foundation. Kind-a sez it all. - Dave

Very cool pics. Thanks for sharing. - Dave

Awesome news on the maiden voyage David. Good thing and bad thing you didn't call me first on the master cylinder purchase. I would have recommended the Wilwood aluminum version. Kinda pricey but the weight savings would have gain you 2/10's easy . - Dave

Well Greg, looks like there is some other P/N's as well but,... if you have stud girdles... they want work either. One solution,... get rid of those stud girdles . Guess your stuck with regular grommets. - Dave

Greg, I think you misunderstood. Moroso makes baffled grommets for the breathers AND the PCV valve. The point here is they are grommets that are baffled for both the breather and PCV for valve covers with no built in baffles to the covers. - Dave

I second that. Those Moroso baffled breather grommets are nice!! - Dave

Greg, Crazey Davey runs these with no problems http://www.eddiemarine.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=11597&c=55 . Hope these help ya out. - Dave

I read an article in one of the Chevy mags recently where they dyno'd the same engine with a X and H pipe exhaust. One ran slightly higher peak torque and the other ran slightly higher peak HP. Forget which was which. Bottom line/conclusion, the numbers were close enough that both were good setups. Not worth changing if you had one or the other already in the car. I wanna say, but could be wrong, the H pipe setup had better low end torque. - Dave

I have a set of standard 350 valve covers from a 72 El Camino that I painted chevy blue. They are in great/very good shape. I don't think there is any differance in the valve covers from 70-72 for chevelle, el camino, monte carlo, etc. They're just "plain jane" stamped steel covers with no exterior script or markings. - Dave

Tony, my thinking was exactly like yours until I moved to the mountains to a house on a 1/2 mile gravel/dirt road and drive. I'm fortunate that most of the road is in the shade and through the woods but, I still don't take the Monte out unless it has rain a day or two or three before said venture. The daily drivers,.. well,.. lets just say I enjoy when it rains hard for about 15 minutes . - Dave

We could start a photo album of just Davey's launches. Nice pic. - Dave