cbolt

I got the Auburn as well and Jegs upgraded me to the better of the two Auburn units offered because they screwed up my original order of the Eaton unit. Nice of them. I also got the Richmond 3.73 gears. When are you doing your differential upgrade?

Perfect and thanks. I am working this weekend so won't get anything done anyway and you will probably be out checking everything out. I know I would be! What posi unit did you get?

Just wondering the exact placement of the door jam decal pictured as the icon for this section. I know it goes on the quarter panel, drivers side door jam but not the exact placement. I don't have the fisher body book that would tell me, so I figured someone here would know and help. Thanks.

Let me start by saying I am in no means an expert on rear control arms but here are my thoughts: I don't know about quality but the boxed set looks more like standard equipment and they look more "sturdy". Not that I am planning on launching with 500 ft/lbs of torque or anything but was looking to keep as much of the stock appearance as possible and get the biggest bang for the buck. My opinion is that the tubular control arms are going to be sufficient for my particular application and the price is impossible to beat judging by everyones opinion of the quality so I am debating (still) which ones to order. I *want* the boxed control arms but at almost $90 difference I am still leaning towards the tubular, especially considering I am planning on ordering the whole package; uppers, lowers, braces, bushings, and the installation tool. I still have time to make my decision because my axles aren't scheduled to be delivered until tomorrow sometime and I have to manufacture an accelerator cable, dial in the new transmission and break in the rear gears. All that being said I would love to hear your thoughts once you get yours installed and a few miles on them.

Did you get the tubular ones or the boxed ones? Also, did you get the braces and bushings too? Just had to ask. Mine aren't here yet. I was waffling on which set I wanted, tubular or boxed and the price of the tubular set was really hard to pass up.

YIKES!

Has anyone had any luck swapping the upper and lower control arms with the rearend housing installed in the vehicle? I am planning on changing both upper and lower control arms along with the bushings and was hoping to leave the brakes alone. (Being lazy I suppose) I purchased the uppers and lowers from PMT along with the bushing installation tool and adjustable braces but will probably install the axles before I receive the control arms and figured if anyone has done that before it would be someone here. Do those bushings pop out pretty easy or not? Thanks in advance...

AWESOME! Ordering tonight....

Link to the PMT kit please? Looking to do mine since the rearend is already out of the car...

Removed the axles, differential, pinion and both pinion bearing races....

Pressed the new bearings on the differential. Took the cover to be powder coated, silver with clear. Getting ready to remove the old differential this evening after a nap..... zzzzzzzz

I would check the pinion nut anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Oh, and yes, it is worth adding the gears and the posi unit to the 8.2. Super Chevy mag just did an article either this month or last which described the entire process, with photos, for the 10 bolt. People will tell you the 12 bolt is stronger so if you are thinking about, or making, high horsepower you may want to consider the 12 bolt. I have found lots of parts for the 8.2 10 bolt, including axles, and I am not planning to making any more than 400hp, ever.

Surest way to tell for sure. Doing mine this afternoon and had the exact same question so I would be sure to order the correct parts. Just take the driveshaft off at the rear and pop a socket on the pinion nut.

Well, since I have just come from Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace hardware, and NAPA and none of them have a ball stud it looks like a new cable after all.

I'll check it today, thanks. (I guess LOL)

Ahhh... you saw through my thinly veiled excuse to get the new cable. Hardware store, huh? I have never seen anything like that at a hardware store but have admittedly never looked. I will try that in the morning, thanks.

Does anyone happen to know the length of the cable for the small block 4bbl? Last time I ordered one it was waaaaay too long so I had to make it work. Since it seems I need to change from the ball type end to the pin type end I want to maybe change to a supercoolhightechperformancepolishedfancy type and want to make sure I get the correct length. Thanks in advance

I just finished doing exactly that, keeping the bellhousing bolts tight and just working with the converter and it is officially installed and straight. It just took a bit of working the converter back and forth until it properly seated and snugging it down a little at a time. I tightened the bolts that way to keep the correct alignment because the converter seated at all three points after a few times back and forth. Thanks to all who chimed in. I learned the hard way you cannot just crank them down and expect the converter to seat properly and I am not a person who likes to make mistakes more than once, especially when it comes to the Monte.

Wallaby, the old converter came apart with no apparent problems. This whole situation makes no sense to me, either. Way back when I changed the crankshaft everything lined up correctly. (Yes, I yanked the motor, put it on a stand, flipped it over and changed just the crankshaft and bearings) When I changed just the flexplate I had the issue with the converter of the TH350 not lining up and wound up stipping one of the converter threads. I have put about 3000 miles on the car since that time and when I pulled the transmission out last week the flexplate and converter were correctly aligned, flush even without the one bolt. Snugging the two pieces together using the bolts will more than likely just strip the new converter so I am not going to do that. I have today and tomorrow off so I am going to loosen everything up without removing the trans and see if I can't get it to fit properly. I'm thinking the first part I need to tighten is the converter and then snug the trans housing and block together and then line up the crossmember with the trans mount. During this process I should be able to check the converter hub pilot/crankshaft area for any deformities or burrs I can feel and maybe put some kind of lubricant there to make it slide together correctly.

Gonna try the loosen then tighten trick of Sams first but it seems as if I did that and it didn't help the last one. Admittedly I haven't tried it with the new part yet but sure will. The other set of flex plate holes are slightly indented the opposite way as the converter, but that will be my second try. I hate to think I may have to pop it back out again so that is my last option and one I hope not to have to use. Anybody have any other ideas I could try? Is there a loosen the entire transmission housing and tighten the converver first option? Just tossing ideas out there....

I am in the middle of bolting the 2004r transmission in and ran into a snag, figured I would ask advice here. With the trans case bolted to the engine block and the crossmember just resting on the frame and the trans resting on the crossmember, the converter and flexplate only align in 2 of the three bolts. One of them is about 1/4" away from each other. I had the same issue with my 350 when I changed the flexplate and starter, tried to snug it down by torquing it and wound up stripping the converter. When I went to pull the transmission to replace it with the 2004r, I noticed all the holes were magically aligned, as if driving it, hitting bumps and whatnot helped to straighten everything out down there. Now the way I see it I have a few options. Option 1: Leave the bolt out, drive the car awhile, and go back and put it in once it magically aligns itself. Option 2: use a flat washer and make a shim to go between the converter and flexplate, torque everything down and run it that way. The drawback to that the shim will keep it from ever being aligned properly. Option 3: pull everything back loose and figure out why it isn't lined up correctly. Now I know the obvious choice would be 3, however I cannot get my head around the fact that the transmission is firmly bolted to the engine block and the converter and flexplate don't line up, only on one bolt, as if the flexplate is somehow warped. A warped flexplate seems to be contradictory to the self-alignment that happened while driving the car for a few thousand miles with the old transmission and the same alignment issue..... Any expert advice? Thanks in advance....

Pushed it outside, and removed the transmission.....

Did the same this morning, 1-1/8 pinion nut.

Yea, that does seem like a lot of cam for the motor. My motor is very similiar minus the cam and roller set up. I used a Crane energizer series and bored the block .060 and ditched the dish tops for a set of flat tops (I have no idea what brand, bought them at the machine shop that did the block bore). Mine seems to take its time getting to about 40mph then takes off like it was shot out of a cannon. Oh, I also went with the Carter 625 cfm. (My goal was no Edelbrock parts when I built it) I'll bet new gears will turn it into a fun car to drive.