Yea you do. Its coming back out to paint, ill trace out the last pedal bracket and i already have the template for the firewall bracket

Took the SS out to a paper chase yesterday and my pup got her forst ride in it. She had never ridden in anything that loud, but she seemed to be fine.



Today my buddy Don came over to help with the dash project. He used to work for a custom jet ski shop so he knows his 'glass. I couldnt take pictures throughout the process, but here is where we stopped for the day.

Well done Bernie !!! I’ve never had a car you could push the clutch in that easily . One of the reasons I don’t have one , old and bad knees . I only drove sticks for years . You and Adam are both a trip , don’t change , I enjoy it ……. Hey , I love that dash . If something comes up and you don’t like the out come , which I doubt !! If you need a new one and Ron doesn’t want it , I have one , we’ll talk .

Thanks Ulli! I was kinda worried about needing a backup plan in case this doesnt work out well in the end. After today, my hopes are up, but that could just be from breathing the fumes!

Seems like one step forward, two steps back. I went to pull the car back in the garage and heard a loud metal on metal bang when the engine fired, and another when it shut down. I fired it back up to see if I could track it down, and noticed the crank pully wobbling. So I removed the pully and rigged up a dial indicator to see what the runout was.







A good 20 thousandths of runout, so I guess it's time for a new pully.

Removing the pully allowed me to remove the cover for the timing marks that was on the damper, and then I noticed that the outter ring of the damper was loose from the inner hub, and could be spun as it screwed on or off the hub... so I pulled that.





So I need a new damper. This one was like 2-3 years old, Summit brand. I guess I'll be going with ATI this time around. That's gonna hurt the car fund IDK if the cover might have prevented air flow on the damper and it got hot or what, but the next damper will have timing marks engraved on it so I don't have to use the cover.

In the process of removing the damper, I managed to gack up the threads in the crank like a total idiot, so that's going to have to be drilled out to 1/2" more than likely. If you pay close attention to the pictures, you can probably figure out my bonehead move.

Ouch man....Don't even say you didn't put the spacer into the harmonic balancer hole first????

Also That's not an accurate way to measure TIR Bernie. Mount the pulley then set up on it and spin the thing.

AHA I KNEW the noise was in the accessory area!... unfortunately it a little bit of a pricey fix. Theres alot of nice small block balancers floating around- I'd look used before buying new

Ron, wouldnt that still be able to tell me if the pully is bent on the mounting face? It was very consistent while i spun it a few times.

And yes on the spacer.

You can't be getting accurate numbers like that. I would want a measurement closer to the belt also. When it's bolted down things could change a little as it's tight to the water pump face. It might be even worse then depending on the water pump TIR? But I never have indicated a pulley. I have used laser alignment on some long corvette belts in the past though. Along with a belt tension tool to measure the frequency of the belt in hertz to manufacture specs.

This is the crank pully, but I get what you are saying now. I could bolt it back up to the hub of the old damper, but I can't think of a very good way to rotate it other than just assuming the backside of the hub is normal to the axis of rotation and spinning it on a steel plate... which probably isn't all that great either.

Yes I knew it was the crank pulley but for some reason I wrote water pump.....LOL

I really don't think those parts are that tight in the beginning. I would get a new harmonic balance wheel and then check it out on the crank. Just pull the plugs and rotate the crank with a socket. If you have .020 TIR I would think that's damn good.

lol, sounds good. I suspect it could be higher than that, as that was indicated very close to the center of the pully. It might end up being quite a bit more out at the grooves if it doesn't straighted up when it's clamped down by the bolts.

Hell Bernie, you can feel mine wobble a little with your finger when the engines running. Just turns some old v-belts, I wouldn't worry about it. I also have one of those covers on a stock balancer and haven't had any issues for the couple years it's been on there.

Man. See that puller in....bad bad boy. I used sevral summit balancers all did the abot same length of time. Ati

Adam and Doug (Sixtoes and sicmonte) came over yesterday because Doug was in the area. We had a little shop day and got a stock balancer installed. Thanks to Mark (benchseatracin) for the screamin deal on the balancer!! The new bolts that I got weren't threaded far enough and the shoulder would have hit the threads before the balancer was seated. The stock bolt went back in after cleaning up the thread, and torqued to 60 ft-lbs. I might still get a 3" bolt and see if the shoulder isn't too long to install that.

The pulley still wobbles a bit, but the balancer doesn't wobble at all so that's good news.

Can't wait for the next shop day with my bros! We are planning a get together/car show/shop day at doug's shop at a date TBD, but probably after mother's day (and the OC cruise). Anyone is invited

Yes anyone on these boards is invited...but they have to show up in a hot rod!! And yes I consider a modified monte a hot rod...lol. If all goes well there should be some wicked pro-touring and race cars coming.

Made some mounts for the dash since its 4" further from the firewall. I think i might triangulate some. I test drove it, and even without the screws in the defroster vents, its pretty sturdy. The console will help too.











I also chopped up the original gauge cluster housing so it fits in the modded dash. The dash will need to come out for more glass, but at least i can put a speedo in it and finally drive the car again.

Pssh, you don't NEED a speedo to drive the car (Or a working gas gauge if it comes down to it )


The new dash is coming along! When are you going to start cutting into the firewall?

Well it's got a good look through the windshield. Kinda reminds me of the mid 90'S F body's.

I would like to add my constructive .....

I would remove the pointed edges that meet into the door panels. That whole outward sloped end on each side of the dash should be inverted. Then it would conform into the door panel reveal better IMO. And free up those window switches a bit.

I thought the same thing when I saw that pic.




Nice idea! Since you're glassing it anyway, it's probably easy enough to cut it back 1-2" and make a gentle curve instead of the triangle point that it has now.

Well i get checked by MP's every day to work, so id need one for that lol.

I agree about the ends, i might just get rid of the flare, ill have to stare at it for a while and see what i come up with.

I was driving the SS the other day and realized how uncomfortable the seat was and that there was a metal rod digging into my hip. I have another set of buckets that are faded, but I figured I'd put that back in as it turns out it had a lot better support. While the seat was out, I figured I should fix the inner mounts, since my car was originally a 1-piece bench and now I have a welder. So out comes the other seat and the carpet. And then I see this...



And a bit later I have this...



After trying to make a patch panel, I realized that witout a bead roller, it's going to be too flimsy. I think I'll order a floor pan or find a used one and just replace the whole section.

I think Anthony had to do the same thing to his car.

How is that pinch seam at the firewall attached? Are there spot welds behind the AC box or what?

Yes indeed that looks inviting ..... I would just lift the body up while you're into it Bernie. Then the body mounts and frame mounts could be hit in one shot then you're done with the under body repairs. I'm certain the floor pans need attention else where too.