76ChevyTrucker

I'll try my hand at a couple of these. The new C6 has exposed headlights The 90s special Vettes were ZR-1s 87 was the last year for the RWD Monte Carlo The last year for the 409 was 1965 (I believe) Tri-power was probaby an option for the Impala for 1961 on the 283. Unfortunately, the others I have no clue on....

Considering that I see no exhaust plumbing whatsoever for the flathead side of the engine, I would say like Sly says, the OHV side of the engine is being used to force air into the turbocharger strapped to that side of the engine, meanwhile the actual power is being made on the flathead side of the engine. That way the entire engine is fully functional, but it is technically only "running" on 4 cylinders, the other four just act an air pump to supply air to the forced induction system, which keeps the guy in the displacement rules.

I'd say tie rods or wheel bearing hub assembly. Like said above, jack up the front end, grab the tire at 9 and 3 and see if the tire has excessive free play side to side, also see if you can push the tire in and out, if you can, then you've probably also got a wheel bearing issue, and lastly grab the tire at 12 and 6 and see if you have any excessive up and down movement, if you do, then likely either the strut mount, or the ball joint is bad. More likely than not though, its the tie rod ends that are bad, which after replacing them and a proper alignment, you should be good as new again.

well that's the same way I feel, but you never know how some people are these days, you know? And if I can be that brave, then I'll do my best to either pop the hood, or get a door open (I'll be praying all night long for the door to be unlocked.

Got the coaster in. Looks great, and thanks again man!

Glad to hear that your 3.4 is doing well. I've done a head job on 3.1 (same engine) for about 450, which included tune-up, replacement of hoses, having the heads reworked, changing the oil, replacing the thermostat, and more or less PM-ing the rest of the car. Overall, I made $238, the customer paid for the parts herself, all I did was the labor involved and take the heads to a local reputable machine shop. Parts, labor, and all can run high, 1100 is about right. One thing to remember about shops, even your dealership has two prices for parts. They have "cost" which is explanatory, that's what its going to cost them. Then they have "list" which is what they'll charge you, typically the list price is about 1.5-2.5 times what the actual cost of the part is. Now of course some shops won't charge you full list price if you're a good customer and the like, but most of them are going to make some money on the parts, just like they are on the labor. That's where a good part-time mechanic can be your best friend. He doesn't have the overhead that a traditional shop has, therefore his prices can be a helluva lot cheaper than your dealership that's gotta pay out what they pay out. Which is why I do mechanic work on the side when I'm not selling parts....it not only helps pay the bills, but it gives me experience and lets me do something I like.

Well, most of the classics I see are at the monthly cruise-ins, and this month I'll have to get my butt out there with the camera and take some shots.

Well, I bitch and piss and moan a little as someone who has to tear the damned acoustic cover off the engine for oil changes. Sure, I know that it helps make things quieter and the like, and while I'm all for quiet, they could probably put more sound insulation into the firewall than pulling a cover on the engine....

Well y'all, the plan is underway, tomorrow morning will involve going and trespassing a little to get some pictures of this car.

Hmmm, my last experience with racing a Honda ended badly for the Honda (actually it was an Acura, but you know, they're all the same).

All right y'all, I'm going to have to take a road trip up your way Sly. There are too many cars up there for me to see. I haven't really seen anything down here to jump around after, so I can't report anything interesting.

Congratulations sir. I'm going to finish up with my original intention of a double BA in english and history, who knows, maybe I'll teach, maybe I'll write, but I want to complete. Only thing holding me back right now is previous college finances that I want to have squared away before starting again.

I'm lik you bob. The man upstairs wants all of us to do one thing, love one another as he does, now does that mean everyone is going to like everyone, no. But at least be tolerable about it. I have to agree, I don't exactly go out and do backflips over someone passing, but hearing this brings me fairly well close because he was a close-minded and hateful individual.

Johnny Cash always had a way of making you feel the song, whether he wrote it or not.

aroused

All right, quick smoke analysis from your friendly parts guy/technician. Black smoke=too much fuel Grey/White smoke=Water in exhaust, probably a blown head gasket, or a HELLUVA lot of condensation Blue smoke=oi

Well boys and girls, still haven't gotten the contact information. This weekend will hopefully make that happen. Actually, if I can, I may run down to my parent's tomorrow morning and see if I can sneak in really quickly snap some initial pictures, then get the hell away from there as fast as I can. I know that one of the best ideas for this car would be modern tires, bias-ply tires are fine for something that is going to be trailered to a location, then trailiered back, but if its going to be an everyday driver (such as this one would), I want modern tires. Drum brakes wouldn't be all that bad of a thing on the car, and if I did any conversion, I would first look at doing just the fronts. I take you word to heart saying that the original drums on the car are plenty sufficient to stop the car, and if I can still find all the parts that I need (which if I can't, I'll be very scared since I work for an auto parts store), then I'll probably just restore the original system. If I can't, then I'll do a front conversion and call it a day. As far as the battery is concerned, I can find the "antique" battery case anywhere, that's no big deal, or I can just relocate the battery to the trunk if I so desire. Also, thanks for the information on the rear axle ratios, that'll help me out a whole lot. I really want a car that is going to make one fine street cruiser. I know that the car has plenty of bone-jarring power all on its own, so doing power modifications would probably be mostly unnecessary. I however, do have one question for you Balth, on the issue of the starter being transmission mounted on the '63s, IF I could get ahold of a 389 from say, a 64, or slightly newer engine, would it have a mounting pad for the starter? If so, then I could probably find one, then do the transmission swap without worrying about where I'm going to strap a starter on at.

'92 Olds Toronado, I'll find out, give me a few minutes.

not sure ocn, I'm sure it would depend a lot on the dealership and the region as to what got traded for what

I'd say that the convertible caddy looks right up my alley

Early retirement would be nice.

Horseplay

Welcome home sir. Good to see you back.

First things first, I need to get contact information for the guy who owns the property so that I can legally go out there and examine the car. I really don't want to get out there during the day, or night and have the county mounties come and remind me that there ARE "No Trespassing" signs up. I know that 25mpg will be damn near impossible with a 300+ horse engine, but I figure if I can get ahold of some lower gear ratios for the rear and couple that to a 6spd, then possibly I could see 20, maybe a little higher if I don't go and have my normal lead foot. I've done some digging around and I haven't found a true fuel injection set-up for a real Poncho engine, but I can probably come up with one myself and slightly modify the existing intake to accept it. I didn't know that the Pontiac 400 and Pontiac 389 were family (well, of course they're family, but you know what I mean). Now once I get official permission to get out there, I'm going to take a buttload of pictures, along with look the car over with a VERY fine tooth comb. This will include getting into the doors, hood and trunk to examine everythign in there. After that I'll get every GM number I can find so that you can help me on this one Balth. I will really really appreciate everything I can get as far as information on this car.

Sounds about right, one thing to remember about shops and mechanics, even if they are good friends of yours is that they will always charge you a "list" price.