Sids Monte

Wow! If I didn't hang the "Hard Luck" award from Carlisle already, I'd bring it to Syracuse. That's just bonkers! All joking aside, I'm just happy everyone is Ok and glad the Montes wasn't affected. I could have been so much worse. Thanks for sharing the details regarding your trailer setup. Carlisle 2024 was my first ever experience hauling a car in an enclosed car trailer, so anything I can learn from others, I'm all ears. I was fortunate to have a Tom Baird as my co-pilot when I had my incident and was able to pick his brain for advise. Although I don't have the MAC tied downs, I purchased my trailer with the E-track at the spacing I provided. My wheel chocks happen to fit perfectly in the e-track groove for so I strap my front wheels tight, up to the chock, before strapping down the back wheels. Unfortunately, that e-track limits space for grip tape, but I just ordered some to add where I can before Syracuse. That is a excellent tip!

Thanks again to everyone! Still in Awe. Getting all the awards at Carlisle this year was truly humbling. I thought if i got a GM nationals award, that would be awesome, but to get the modified, and then Members Pick, that just blew my mind. I hung the awards and trophy piece of angle iron up yesterday after some tinkering with the car. My car doesn't come without a some bugs that Im trying to figure out. Backfire on decel and a weird, intermittent "what was that" noise while at idle. Maybe trans? Today I backed up my Fuel MAP and ECM after confirming no exhaust leaks. Started with fresh map. I also tweaked TV cable ever so slightly but I really need to put a gauge on it. So far the backfiring seems improved, after putting a good 30-40miles on it with a trip and over the mountain rd as well. Time will tell. See you in Syracuse!

The good old booger welded home made mud flap bracket from back woods, who knows where. I sent pics of the damage to the place I bought my trailer. He said he can get pricing for all the bits needed for the repair and can do the repair but it'll be a while. No issue for me. 500 mile an hour tape will work for Syracuse. $500 deductibles a drag, but the way the weathers been, I might save that it on gas this year. lol!

Hard Luck Award photos: For those not in attendance this year, I was trailering from NY down I-81 in PA. Tom Baird was my co-pilot on this adventure. Traffic was heavy and we were doing 65-70 when there it was. A big [censored] piece of metal in the road. Unfortunately for me, unavoidable. After I ran it over, I swear there was that silence and slow motion affect. Wow. We are good, Not!!!! When I looked in side mirror, I saw the 30" piece of angle iron sticking out of my trailer. We pull over to check my truck tires and extract the evidence. That was the scariest part. Unfortunatley, the phot of the piece sticking out of my trailer wouldn't upload. This could have been so much worse in so many way's........ I'll pay the deductable.

I hid mine behind the driver back seat armrest area. This was the only photo I could find. I added some rivnuts to securely mount it as shown. If I have issues, it won't be fun, but I didn't want it visible. So far so good. FYI - My battery is in the trunk so it was easy to get power.

I know I'm jumping in late here. I'm running a (stage 3)2004R that was built be extreme automatic. It's behind a healthy 540 big block. It's an expensive transmission to get built and not the most common if you run into issues down the road. Just something to keep in mind. I selected this over a 7004R based on hearing about 200's being stronger and having a "better" 1st gear then the 7004r. It was also an easy install w/ little mods. Mine has no lock-up and standard shift pattern. Im using a horseshoe shifter with a true slap detent plate. If I had to do it again, I might have left the th400 in and added a gear vendors for OD. Hard to say. TH400's are cheap to build and everywhere. All depends on what your looking for and budget. Anyone going the 2004R route, my only recommendation is to make sure you get your TV cable set-up properly. I wont take long to burn it up if its wrong. I learned the hard way. Included, is a link to the extreme automatic installation procedure for their 2004r's. This has a great TV cable setup procedure. IMO, the pressure gauge method is the only way to go. Another thing for 2004r owners. Always start in 1st or 2nd. Especially if your gonna get on it and or do any burnouts. Reason. In 1st or 2nd gear, you always have full line pressure on the clutches. If you are in drive or OD, your line pressure is based on TV cable position. You'll see this by looking at the pressure chart in the attached. I'm at about 6500 miles since i got my TV cable right! I've beat on it some, but haven't made it to the strip yet. Hopefully later this year. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0707/5371/4478/files/2004R_Transmission_Install.pdf?v=1673808280

I have Air tags on everything. They probably aren't great, but they are pretty cheap and easy to hide and attach with velcro. I have them on everything. If there's no service, it only know's last location, but once back in service, it shows new location. I'm not sure how easy someone could find them if they stole my trailer / car, but its something, I guess. I agree with Mark. There's a lot of options and I'm sure some pretty good one's, but if someone want's it bad enough, they're gonna get it. I do have a tire boot and inexpensive hitch ball lock that will probably only take someone a few extra seconds to contend with if there gonna steal it. I have seen some nice ones, but I'd like to see someone's in person first. I'll show you my cheap one at Carlisle.

Hey all. I knew it was a long shot, finding a member able to help accommodate my request, but I wasn't having much luck adfn wasnt sure what to do. Fortunately, I stumbled on the site below (neighbors.com) and this is where I found a place to park. I'll try to follow-up after its all over to confirm the overall experience. https://www.neighbor.com/?v=2 So, I found a person that have a nice space at their private residence, just looking to make some extra cash with extra driveway space they have. I was even able to message to person prior to reserving the spot to confirm some details, like coming out during the week to take the car for a rip. Once I was comfortable, I reserved the spot. Note: This is a rental type site/service, so I will have to cancel my rental space after my stay and I am paying a monthly rate (In this case $120 w/ taxes & fees). They also offer insurance for up to 50K. In my case it's a $65 add. Personally, more then reasonable for peace of mind. Next stop Carlisle!

Hello Monte family. I am looking for a safe place to park my car trailer and car June 22 - June 27th or 28th around the Cleveland, OH area. I just happens I have training for work starting on the 23rd in Cleveland and its not practical or feasible to trailer back to Queensbury, NY and then go to Cleveland on the 22nd. I'd be leaving Carlisle, Sunday morning the 22nd and should be in the Cleveland area mid afternoon. Note: I have already called a few storage type, RV parking places and have had no luck. Full or not interested. Any input or ideas would appreciated. Trailer takes up 9x28-30'. Feel free to shoot me a message. Thanks in advance. Seth

Done. Easy peasy. Bummer they don't give you a deal for trailer parking too. I never even noticed the price difference. good catch. I just knew it was a good deal.

Thanks. I'm pretty pumped as it's really running great. I agree it should drop initially, but from what I've read, you want it come back upto 11.0 or higher. It actually came in a tech bullitin with my new starter. Because the car is starting much quicker since the update I'm not too worried for now. I need to eliminate the starter disconnect solenoid I have to see if that has an impact. I have a secret button to disconnect starter from inside the cabin. The Solenoid is rated for 150amp continuous.

Eddie Motorsport. They were pricey but work great Super smooth on that heavy hood.

Re-wiring update. I'm done, for now and hopefully for a long time. I added some photos of my ECM mount which was really the final piece of the puzzle. Supposably the Edelbrock Tech forum contact was going to provide some detailed mounting and wiring instructions to help reduce the TPS issues I had been having, but he never did. The mounting idea just evolved but mostly came from a member I met at Carlisle. I'm terrible with names and our conversation was cut a bit short. He's from Rochester (Grey monte w/ LS)? So far I've drive 100-150 miles since the re-wiring and so far it's been great. My TPS issue appears to be resolved and when the TPS is happy, the car is happy, very happy. The fan module is great. Although I need a good test drive in traffic on a hot day, I've not been over 190 since wiring in the separate fan module. I think the biggest improvement was increasing my alternator to batery wire to 4ga. Not only did I wire it back to the battery disconnect switch / battery so the car quits when the switch is closed but my voltage is constantly 13.8 - 14.1. I wish I documented this before the change but I'm sure I was close to 13.2 and fluctuated. I don' think this was good with EFI. My only and still remaining concern is the voltage drop when cranking. (10.2-10.8?) It should be 11.0v or higher. Not only did I add an additional 1/0ga positive cable to the original 2ga I ran. I also added a relay for the ignition signal to the starter. I was unable to increase my ground wire size (1ga) from the battery to block so that might be part of the problem? My other though is to eliminate my starter disconnect solenoid thats rate for 150A continuous to see if that helps. I'll deal with it this winter. Lastly. I was on a mission to go to a car show last weekend and get good test drive. The first place I went (35-40mi) was cancelled so I got on cruse finder and found one another one 10mi away. Nice small town show with 50-60 cars. I was the only 1st gen Monte. I represented well and came home with hardware. Enjoy the pics. Final Fan module mounting. Made new bracket so I could see display. I used the hole I alrewady had for the previous fan relays. ECM mounting location The fancy bracket made with aluminum and rivets. Install photos. ECM is elevated and isolated from everything. And the dash fit without issue Hardware and photo from Car show.

Updatre on Re-wiring Project. The car is back running and fires right up. I now have some Dakota digital issues I need to figure out. I have yet to take any voltage readings at my starter now that I've got a 2ga. and 1/0 ga. coming from the battery but the car fires up immediately and what seems much quicker than it did previously and I don't notice any lag from the starter. A relay for the ingnition wire was also instralled. The fan module is sweet. I'm thinking I had a fan issue on/off for some time. I did find one of my fan wires that looked compromised during disassembly. The fan1 starts at setpoint, fan starts 10 sec. later., once the temp drop 5deg below setpoint, the fans go off. I have to believe if it worked this way at Carlisle, I would have been fine. One cool thing I installed are Maven bulkhead connectors. They have a button to release them. Now, I can remove and get the the wiring behind my battery box by disconnecting three connections. Unfortunately my TPS (throttle position sensor is still flaking out. Thats a total bummer but I'm going to reach back out to Edelbrock. My ECM is totally free and I ran a new ignition wire directly an open spot on by fuse block. Overall it has been worth the effort since I really cleaned things up and addressed some actually issue I found. Unfortunately, the car will be in the garage while I go to the Syracuse National. I'll be out one of the two days. Game time decision as to which but I know where everyone will be. Enjoy! New ECM location pending fix to TPS sensor issue. To make bracket to support. Dakota digital module. Location. Held with Velcro. Mave Bulkhead connectors. Not cheap but you get what you pay for. Used $0 amazon hydraulic crimping tool. Maven connectors comming from my secret switch starter solenoid to disconnect positiove from starter. Final product. I relocated my fuel pump relay so its accessible. It was behind the back seat armrest. The Carnaige. I should have kept all the wire ties I removed.

Re-wiring progress update from Sunday: I got myself into a project alright. Syracuse nationals may be a stretch but I'm making good progress and it gives me a good target. It does make it harder when you want to keep it clean and tight. I ordered more parts and pieces late last night and can't imagine I wont think of something else. It's been at least 3+ years since I wired and fired it up. Overall my wiring didn't look too bad when I really tore into it but I've also learned a lot since then. The two issues I did find are: 1. The frame from my back seat was pinching my fuel pump power wire. Oops. Good to find now and fix now. 2. I noticed some heat/discoloration on the power feed for FAN 1 which failed or didn't start at Carlisle (cause of overheating). The fans were previously fed from my fuse panel. I used an M&H updated OEM type harness that came with ATO fuses and some spaces for extra circuits for my build and I used the 2 - 30amp spare spots for the FAN power originally. I'm now running an 8ga. wire to feed my fan module directly from the trunk/battery and will use one of the existing extra circuits for my ignition to starter solenoid. Back seat out and carpet moved to access power wires. My pinched fuel pump power wire. Didn't seem to impact anything but I'm glad I found it. Out with the steering column. The only way to really get into it. Ugh! There it is. My ECM is now out. Now where to put it. I had de-pinned and re-pinned the EFI harnesses during my original install to keep the firewall holes as small as I could. I only have so much cable to move it was bundled some. Burnt/hot FAN1 wire found during disassembly. Never popped a fuse either. I got lucky this snap bushing fits the previous alternator wire hole in the firewall and will allow for the larger alternator wire. I'm trying to avoid any new mounting holes, etc.... Some of whats been removed thus far. Original fan relays, old Alternator feed wire. Spare wires never used. The best part is I'm using all the toys/tools I have like this label maker. Last one: Next up is to get the Alternator wire run and ignition relay mounted and wired up. Figure out plan for new ECM location. Fan relay is ready to install. Just waiting for new Mandrel for rivnut tool that I broke. I'll try to keep the updates coming so you can all see the progress.