1983 Big Block Monte Slow Build

[Supercharged111]

Swung back out today after work also after hot tanking the transmission case bits for my Camaro's spare T56 to address the lower radiator mounts at a minimum. I did just that. Here's the passenger's side which was the worst.

I kept this one lower to avoid the tank and radiator nipple. It's way stronger than it was, but not quite as rock solid as I expected even with the gusset. Better than good enough though. Onto the driver's side.

With the shorter spam and nothing to run into, this side came out a little stouter. Now let's see how the radiator sits.

Truth be told, I'd like it to sit just a smidge lower (splitting hairs) to maximize fin exposure to airflow, but it's so much better than it was I really can't complain. Now that top cover sits as it should and I noticed the hood spring relief and bolt holes all line up. The thing was actually made for this car, it's not just a random piece. It's going to work beautifully. Success. Mostly. The hose fitting is sitting on the lower mount lip, I'll buzz that down tomorrow and try to get a rubber buffer back between the metal on metal. My dad had some lame foam tape that wasn't going to last forever on there but did its job.

Gonna finalize this and a few other items tomorrow. Can't retrieve it from the shop yet as only an unladen 4x4 can get in and out still so I'll probably line up a few piddly items to tend to after the fam gets back Sunday and prior to bringing it back to the hangar. Also, I've had the battery on a desulfator for about a week now, it should be pretty fresh come show time.

 

[Supercharged111]

Told myself I wouldn't screw with the lights on the lift then got a bug up my @$$ to do just that. Swung by Ace for 8 #8 stainless panhead screws, 8 #8 countersunk stainless screws, 2 #8-32 screws, and 2 nut plates for them. I started off with the only installed corner marker on the car.

These miserable things were not even close. Also note how crappily the bezel fits. There were a few of these, they kinda sorta almost fit the fronts and didn't come close out back. Luckily I had what I needed on hand for that.

Much less bad. Now onto the front blinkers.

Ain't she a beaut? Thankfully there was a new one on hand.

Much better, though I did fail to capture the new fasteners in the headlight bezel. It only had 1 or 2 in the bottom and had always flipped around. Now for the other side, it already had a new light installed.

With this 1 screw.

Getting this knocked out felt like taking a huge dump. It's piddly, but it always drove me nuts. Also, the machine screws and nut plates went to the unpictured license plate lights.

You'll have to turn your head, my phone went full r3t@rd here.

Next was rear brakes. Strange they wore out so fast.

But as the tires can attest, this thing does rip a mean one, sometimes 2 wheel peel. This struck me as odd, this bracket serves only to hold the bearing and axle in the housing.

Seems it either ought to be thicker or have spacers to keep it from caving on itself. It's a quick performance 9". The pads were a bit of a chore to get in as I didn't have a pad spreader. I tried shoving a prybar in the passenger side and was met with limited suckcess. Driver's side went in just far enough. I came back to the passenger's side. I removed it from the car, put it in a bench vise, and saw the piston was cockeyed. I shoved a prybar into the other side, and shot brake fluid across the shop. I'd knocked it free and it slid right back into place, back on the car it went.

Next it was front brake line time. Just a note that I bent it down the middle to remove and it quickly ripped open where it had scraped the ground. Thing was paper thin and beyond borrowed time and I'm so glad I'd chicken out before leaving the airport property or getting past 25-30. I'll be exercising a bit less restraint going forward with that threat of death removed.

Well that seems a bit better than having the hard line hug the LCA.

I'll feel a lot better once I hunt down an inspection cover, but for the short term this should be OK.

As you can see it is close to the header, but no longer grinding on it.

Also not resting on this header for support. I think 2 adel clamps should do the trick until the frame swap. I should mention that I did manage to tuck that starter wiring that was touching the header above the oil dipstick tube. Had to remove it to facilitate that. No pics, but the tube is a 2 piece deal now and it had come separated. It is held together by a sweet piece of rubber fuel/oil/water/??? hose that wasn't properly spaced for said duty and so the top bit of tube popped out and wouldn't go back in. I scooched the rubber hose up to give the upper tube more room so the clamp wouldn't just squirt the tube back out and now I have a functioning dipstick again. I'll have to take my dad's markings on the stick as gospel for now, if they are to believed it's full which wouldn't surprise me. But here's one last gem for tonight.

Both sides of the downstops were just as loosely goosey. And those plug wires are on the shortish list of things that gotta go, I want some 90 degree booted cut to length wires to replace what's there.

 

[565bbchevy]

Both sides of the downstops were just as loosely goosey. And those plug wires are on the shortish list of things that gotta go, I want some 90 degree booted cut to length wires to replace what's there.

I always run universal "cut to length" wires but make sure you use a good ratchet crimper when you make them, I use 90 degree ends with heat boots on my Monte and they fit the BBC well.

 

[Supercharged111]

I always run universal "cut to length" wires but make sure you use a good ratchet crimper when you make them, I use 90 degree ends with heat boots on my Monte and they fit the BBC well.

Got a link to a crimper you like? Last time I bought MSD wires they came with a crimper, but I ended up not using those wires and sold them off.

I did get out there Sunday and knock a few items out. First I had a bolt on hand that, once I nipped the tip off, was a perfect fit for the LCA.

I need to see about a 90 degree adapter for the zerk fittings in these arms. Or maybe just get angled fittings for the arms themselves. Next was the arduous task of plugging that new wideband bung.

I very nearly strained myself with this one. Next I knew the fender washers I used to clamp the trans mount in weren't long for this world, fortunately I had a couple of these bad boys on hand.

That arm should be staying put now. I may go back and sneak some lock washers in. Not pictured is the fiber gasket I swapped in for the rubber gasket that came with the trans filter. Nothing really to see there. I knocked the new output seal in and bolted the driveshaft back up. After even more research, it seems that this trans never came with a slip yoke, only bolt in. Denny's Driveshaft makes a slip yoke just for this but they're out of stock. Once I get one of those, I can get the driveshaft resized locally and be good to go. From there I zapped in the half dozen missing oil pan bolts that I could see, made sure all were right (they were not before), tweaked on the lower radiator mounts, got the hoses back on, and just need to get that top plate functional. I really wonder if it was ever supposed to be a mount? It seems more cosmetic in nature. A trip to Lowe's/Ace is in order to see if I can find a sheet of rubber. Mine from years ago has apparently had enough time to grow legs. So all I really have left is to fill the trans, finalize upper mounting and radiator isolation, clean up some wiring, and make the car fire off of the key. Off the lift, I can swap out the new lock/trunk tumblers, deal with weather stripping, door cards, and gauge cluster wiring/configuration. After that I'll be about out of excuses to not tune the carb.

 

[565bbchevy]

Got a link to a crimper you like?

I bought an MSD Pro crimper many years ago at half the price they sell them for now that works perfect, but I think there are some quality less expensive ones out there.
Just make sure it is the ratchet style:

Amazon.com : spark plug crimping tool

 

[Supercharged111]

The long rubber strip goes along the bottom of the door between it & the door panel.

Which door are you referring to here? Here's a refresher for the piece in question.

 

[pagrunt]

Which door are you referring to here? Here's a refresher for the piece in question.

View attachment 214200

The long rubber one goes between the lower door panel & door with the panel retainers going thru the holes. Still not sure what that other piece in the pic is.

 

[Supercharged111]

Oh, derr, the driver's door panel is off. Don't know why I had to hear it multiple times to get it to click.

 

[Supercharged111]

I bought an MSD Pro crimper many years ago at half the price they sell them for now that works perfect, but I think there are some quality less expensive ones out there.
Just make sure it is the ratchet style:

Amazon.com : spark plug crimping tool

That's going on my short list of tools to buy. I recently bought some metri-pack crimpers for another project and they're snazzy.

Last night I spent most of my time cleaning up my mess. I was in a huge rush to knock out as much as possible before the fam got back so the mess took a back seat. That and I needed a lot of the crap I'd brought to do what I was doing. Once that was out of the way I whipped up an upper radiator mount. I still need to tweak it to sit down farther on the aft part of the radiator, but it otherwise came out pretty good for what it is.

It's deceiving to mock up as the core support deflects some as I tighten that bolt down. I need to make one for the other side too, but there's a bit less room to work around the shroud so we'll see what I come up with next time I'm out there. I next turned my sights to the petcock as it appeared to be weeping. M'fer wasn't even tight in the radiator tank so I removed it, cleaned the threads, applied thread sealant, and reinstalled. Time will tell if that's all it was, the rest of the petcock looked good to go. So that brings me to this little guy right here. This is where the Dakota temp sender was, but I moved it back to the factory location which was previously occupied my a redundant cheapo gauge, part of a cluster that was (surprise surprise) haphazardly installed. That mess is gone now, so I moved the sender and now I'm left with this.

The fitting does not appear to be tapered, is the hole in the intake tapered? I didn't have an NPT fitting with me that was even close so I couldn't answer that one myself. Next I yoinked the thermostat as I want to do an orange silicone delete here too. I found a 180 degree stat, so that stays, just need a new o-ring for it. Being a MarkIV intake, do I need an o-ring and gasket or just o-ring like the later units? Once that's resealed and the hole plugged I can refill with coolant. I found a nice shiny spot for the ground wire on the block as opposed to the painted spot on the water pump where it previously lived. I'm hoping with cleaner grounds the starter is more enthusiastic. So next time I'm out I'll fab that upper mount, nitpick at trimming the core support with the Dremel, try getting that shroud to fit better, and maybe even go for a start. The power bleeder wouldn't get the front brakes though, going to need a 2nd person for that to kick it old school. We're getting dangerously close to me looking at rejetting the primaries and monkeying with the air bleeds and APT screw.

 

[64nailhead]

Never seen a fitting port that wasn't NPT from that era.