i just set up a 409ci sbc,, the engine is strong,no worries,
i also just installed a 1988 model 700r4 complete with vette servo,,extra clutches and bits anp pieces,,heavy reaction shell,,stock convertor stall speed,, the rearend is still the 2.68;1 single wheel drive unit,,,,,til li can get a 3.08 possi,,the car still has the older t200c shifter,, (3spd), the tv cable is fully out at full throttle,,the car changes gear good and kicksdown beautifull,,, 2nd gear is tightened up, so she changes harder,, under,,,,moderate acceleration the car has no problem squeeling the tyres into 2nd,,,,but under hard acceleration from say 25mph up the car seems to stay in first gear too long,,,and the engine wants to keep reving past 5800 rpm before changing,,but still spins the tyres into 2nd,, will a 3.08 rearend get the car changing into second at a lower engine speed,,,i would really like to have it change under hard acceleration at around 5500,,the engine ,,cam,,intake,,and 750 holley,, feel at ease at around 5500,through gearchanges,, the car hauls ,like a mack truck at 5500,,,will the 3.08 get it changing at 5500,,or will it want to keep running over 5800 as it does now,, with the 2.68;1 setup,, steve in australia,,
P/S my shifter is worn out so i do most of my driving in D for drive,, the old shifter wont select low,,and allow me to drive it manually also the car has no computer,,::hail:

 

You need to know which governor you have to start with. It sounds like the governor is a high rpm (Corvette). You will hvae to examine the inner weights of the governor, to determine what to do.

 

ok good ,,,,,,what i might do is take it easy for a while,,,,get hold of a propper 4 speed shifter,,and just see how it goes ,, starting in 1st,, running ther motor up to 5500, then select 2nd, with the shifter,, i really need to get a 3.08 possi setup,ASAP, and ,,see what happens,,,,,,,i think the vette parts are right through this rebuild,,,,a friend built this gearbox, for the motor i mentioned thats in the car,, he also built the motor,,,yeh ok,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i will ring him after the chrismass break and see exactly what he put in this gearbox,,,,,,i cant really complain the car flys,, but i am just a bit worried about reving the crap out of the 400 2 bolt motor,that seems to feel good up to 5500,,with ease,,,i really just got the car back on the road after running out of money,, the car still has the crapy 305 manifolds and single exhaust!!thanks for the advice, i need it,,,,,i raced a 2003 tickford prepared (aston martin) ford yesterday,,5 liter HO,,i blew his doors off,, but feel i could have been ,,15 car lengths in front at 70mph instead of only being 10,,in front,, ausie steve

 

I've seen 409 small blocks spin 7,500-8,000 repeatedly with no problems. The mains need studs though, and you can't detonate it. A friend of mine has one that was running 8.90s on alcohol in a '93 Firebird door car. Based on weight and ET it was making about 700 HP. After four years it finally split the block this year.

Shift RPM is controlled by the governor assembly. B&M makes a kit that wil allow you to tailor the shift points to your liking.

I've also seen 700R4s that hold 1st gear longer (higher RPM) than the other gears. I think they did this to overcome the great gear spacing between first and second.

You definately need better rear gears! Oh, and headers too. There's nothing wrong with single exhaust, as long as it's big enough. Plenty of people will disagree with me, but I just think the single setup works better on these cars.

BTW, your car must be right-hand drive. Did it come that way from the factory, or was it converted? Australia seems to get a lot of cool cars that we don't get here. You guys are lucky.

 

yeh rpm seems to be my main concern, when i purchased the 1975 400 block,,,we striped it and noticed water had been sitting in the # 5,7 cylinders,, the water was sitting in the engine for?? ,,,who knows how long,, and 2 cylinders are heavily pitted,,however the rebuild was completed,,the entire package was blueprinted,,,,,as intended,,,along with the 2 not so good cylinders,, the engine idles very smooth,,,very little vibration,,if none at all,,,its a really good rebuild,,,,,as for the exhaust,,its the original smog setup,,poor exhaust manifolds, and a small 1 3/4 exhaust single pipe,, 1 mufler,
because the car was converted to right hand drive,(ex californian car imported in 1985,from el toro cal),headers from america wont fit,,due to the steering column being close to the engine on the right side,,,so a custom set will be hade ,,preferably in 1 3/4 inch shorty type into a 3 inch Y pipe single cat,,single muffler,,,and a single 3 1/4 system,,,,the gearbox is tuff,, the engine builder mainly does hot TH400 TH350,s Powerglides,, for bracket cars,, and hot street cars,,some stockers,,like restored 63 impalas and the like,,,so t700,s are more or less not used here,,,most saturday night specials are big blocks,,,and nobody hot rods 3rd gen cars ,,because of the rear suspension setups,torque rods etc,, its a bit hard putting a 12 bolt in these cars or a ford 9 inch rearend,,,or a big block,,,however when i get some more money and get the gears, exhaust , and the proper ram air setup,duel snorkel,,i will see how it goes,,i am trying to in the end to run a sub 13.2 1/2 mile,,the engine is strong,,thanks mate

 

The governor can be altered to achieve the desired shift RPM. It's pretty easy. I did it on my Blazer, which also runs a TH700R4. It may take a few tries to get it dead on, but in the end it's well worth it.

I figured that the car had to be a graymarket import, because I had always heard that GM pushed the Holden Monaro in Australia as its performance car. The same car that we are now getting, though it's rebadged as a Pontiac GTO.

Did you say 1/2 mile? I'm not familiar with 1/2 mile racing. Is this something common in Australia? I once heard that we used to race 1/2 mile drags back in the late 40s and early 50s when drag racing was first getting started.

 

ok i will take your advice,,,sounds like you done this before,,,thanks a million,,,,,
oh,,,,,,,,,,i made a type error,1/4 mile,racing,,yeh we had 1/2 mile drags in the 40,s,,since the mid 50,s its been the same as america,,actually some of our old cars are in the don garlits museum,,front engined hemi,s,,,,,i dont see too many 400 on this site lots of 383,s though,,the monaro was only the no1 performance car ,,up till 1970,the cars were using 327,350,, saginaw ot muncie,,,10 bolt cars,the XU1 torana was the car if you wanted to go racing circuit racing,,like lagoona seca style,,,,it was about the size of vega ,, had a straight 3.3 litre 6 cyl with tripple CD strombergs or SU,s as we called em,,the monaro was really only a touring car after 1970 though a 300hp car was available in 1972,3,,,,then the torana whent to a V8,, made here ,,,it was 308ci and called an SLR named after thr self loading rifle used in vietnam,, the slr was fast,off the showroom floor,, and a special,L34 package was easily and readily available to the public,, complete with real handmade headers,,a 36 gallon allot fuel tank and engine mods,,,,a big hit on tracks here,,as the ford racers used the same shape car as mad max used caled the XBGT falcon,, another interesting story,,but the torana SLR/5000 ruled,,the cars often ran 4x downdraught webber carbs,,a super t10 gearbox etc,, the torana had big screw on flared guards,to accomadate 10 inch wide alloy wheels,, very an agressive car,,,,with a top speed of around 140mph,,in showroom form direct off the production line,,it was a demon race car ford couldn,t handle,,,it was agressive,looking,, was winning everything,, in endurance racing,,johnny rutherford the real good american racer raced a torana here,,,,lots of top shelf american drivers raced them here,they loved em,,,GM wouldn,t let us export these things,, the holden 308 was a real good engine,,,often used in formula 5000 open wheel race cars instead of the 302 chev,,great power boat, ski boat, or race boat motor,, the 308 was still in production from 1969 till 1997, and was available right up to a stroked 5.7 of,about 350hp production motor,, with a top rpm of around 7000,,the torana last raced in 1979 it was called an A9X,,and people tried everything from boss 302 mustangs in the early days,, to souped up camaro,s prepared by multi millionares with the best people in the world to build there cars,, the A9X rulled,,i could go on forever,, the GTO you guys are getting is only the base model here,, very ordinary but very very good to drive,,,,the car you should get is called the holden monaro CV8 or the monaro HSV GTS,,its got the body kit,,the super agressive looks and the C5 vette engine of over 400Hp,, that car is lower,,has 19inch wheels,,and will run the pants off a Gt2 porsche,, the brakes are better than the viper,,larger,, check out www.hsv.com
or www.bathurst24hour.com 2003 results,,,the monaro is available with a 427ci aurora v8,, kind of stroked up LS1,, no car in the world will beat it,, including,,the full race factory GT2 ,3 porsches from germany, the ferrari 360Gt spec cars from ferrari itself with the best drivers,,the BMW M3GTR 5 litre quad cam full factory race car from BMW ,the lamborghini full factory race version cars,,,, after our 24 hour race here in november the monaro was 1st,,2nd,,,,2 cars started both finished 2,100th of a second apart,,1st 2nd,,the mosler mt900 driven by martin short of the uk,,was 4th ,,but 60 or 65 laps behind the monaro,s this mosler ran 2nd in the daytona 24hour,,,of recent times,,,apparently the porsche that ran 3rd in this race was reported by by its opposition to be the best gt race car on the plannet,, it was 35 laps behind the monaro,,,the monaro broke the lap record after 850+ laps,,,,,thats the car america needs,,please test drive the gto,,you will be amazed,, it will beat every car in the world in its price range and even kill many cars 3 times the cost,,yeh my car isalmost ready, to start getting some,, good modifications done,,the engine is in, the gearbox is fitted,,i got ripped off on e bay for a 3.08 auburn LSD,, it was a real wake up call in regards to e bay ,,,some guy in florida ,, got my $500 aussie dollars,,,,cold,, sent nothing,,,that was 4 months ago,,,although the 7.5 inch rearends were made here,for these cars, its hard to get parts as everything was shipped to detroit,,,we even make the alloy harley motors here,,,the corvette,s had an alloy driveshaft and housing ,,,i actually made them here ,,for years before leaving the job in 2000,,,,,,,,,,,,,great to talk to you,,yes we always build good cars here,,,,also our charger of the 70,s ran a 13.9 off the showroom floor with a 265ci engine,another story,, it was a E49 valiant charger,, the dude that designed the viper from day 1 was working for chrysler here in the 60,s 70,s,,he still recons the aussie charger was his number 1 baby over the viper,,i have the interview on video,,,and 3 magazines,,the E38,,E49, and 340 magnum charger was built to combat the onslaught of the torana,, but failed due to its tortion bar front suspension setup,,,steve

 

the web site to view is www.hsv.com.au

 

Man, now I'm mad! You get all the good cars. The GTO we're getting is nowhere near that fast. I read the stats on it and was disappointed. That's what killed it for me. They hyped it up all big, and then the road test shows it's slower than my WRX! The one you get is significantly faster. I'm still going to testdrive one when the dealerships start getting them in.

You get all the good cars! I'd love that AWD Coupe 4. If they made it in stick I'd import one myself! They don't even import real Fosters to the US! We get some special brewed stuff, not the good stuff you get down under.

It does suck that performance parts are expensive there though. I sold a Hurst shifter to a guy in Australia on eBay. I sent it to him though, not like the guy that sold you the differential. That's just wrong. I use eBay to make money and put parts I don't need anymore into the hands of people that want them. I hate when people use it to cheat stangers anonymously.

Thanks for all the links. I'm spreading them around my circle of car nuts, so they can all scream at GM in frustration!

BTW, I saw a replica of the Mad Max car in Car Craft not too long ago. A guy here imported an Australian spec Falcon and modified it to look like the one in the movie, complete with the MFP decals! Summit also had a feature car in one of their catalogues a while back that was an Australia only model. It was really cool and unique looking, because it was a 60s musclecar that I'd never seen before. I think I saved the catalogue. I'll try and find it...

 

the WRX was made for australia,, years ago,,,,ours are quick but the HSV commodore the rour door version of the monaro,,is the real moover,, the HSV GTS 300KW killowatt being metric for horsepower,, 1 killowatt is 1.34 horsepower in the old scale like in the 60,s when a 327 62 vette was 350hp,,or the 69 350 camaro was rated at real horsepower,,i have a spare 74 olds 455 engine ,, the ratings said 210hp,, its more like 310hp is stock trim,,,,
ifffff you really want to see something,, check out the nissan GTRS,, called godzilla,,its 4 wheel steer 4 wheel drive,like a wrx,,,has twin turbo,s,, intercooled,,traction control,,2.7 litre,,,six cyl,,this car was made for australia only,,,,NISSAN actuall built a car to beat the holdens at endurance racing,,,they were built around the rule book,used here for touring car racing,,,yes it won,,,but the holden commodore of 1993 looked like an olds calais but a 4 door it was 308ci holden powered,,6 speed hollinger car,,,it was real fast,,,,the sts cadillac was not as fast,, being americas fastest 4 door saloon car,,,,,,check out the wild 1988 holden commodore walkinshaw car built here,,,and what a car,,,check out the injection on this thing,, we made it here,, the cars were easy to buy new,,not limited to race car teams
,,iff you want a boss 429 killer check out the ford falcon XYGTHO of 1971 this was the fastest 4 door car in the world,,,with nthe ABOVE detomaso pantera spec aussie 351 cleveland,, hi nickle content engined car,, tes the detomaso engines were built here by us at ford ,,,holman and moody couldn,t build an engine like this they even said it,,,,,BOB GLIDDEN done an article in hot rod magazine called the ultimate 351 build up,,i have the article,,,this is an american magazine,, he started with saying,,first you need an australian 351ci cleveland,,,,!!the ultimate ford engine to build,,
that was the gt falcon engine of 1969,,1974,,,the phase 3 gtho was incredible,,,,,the hot fords are being built here for last 10 years by aston martin,, TICKFORD,,,ford had no chance racing here,,,,,they gave up,,so people bought mustangs from the german touring car championship to compete,, but no good,,holden killed em still with the 308ci holden,,please keep in contact,,,,steve,,,,,,,,,,,reason i bought this camaro was the aussie muscle cars are everywhere we look,,,,,and i love american cars,,,,but unfortunatly the cars are not as good as they were in the 60,s,, however the aussie cars just got better and better,, and more refined,since 1964,,,,the list is endless of cars ,, GM wouldn,t let out of here,,,,same with ford,,,,,,,,the gtho falcon was a mustang killer,, any mustang ,, steve in 90 degrees hot sydney,, yep we are heading to the beach,,,now

 

The best Nissan we get here is the 350Z and the Sentra SeR. Neither one is really that fast. I wish we could get a Skyline or the GTRS you mentioned.

Did Australia have a gas crunch problem in the 70s like we did?

That's what killed our high power cars. American cars went into limbo from about 1973-1986. The Buick Grand Nationals and Mustang 5.0s were the first cars to really start to bring the performance back to American cars. It seems like we're still lagging behind you guys though!

I still read about guys running "Aussie" 351 Cleavland heads. There are companies that imported a lot of them and still have them in stock here in the US. The high nickel blocks are in demand, as are the Mexican 302s, also with high nickel content.

That's cool that you have a Camaro. I've read a lot of articles over the years about American cars in Australian hands. It's amazing how they convert them over the right-hand drive and they look totally stock!

Have fun at the beach!

 

Here- the best $30 you can spend. This will allow you to dial in the exact shift rpm you want for your rearend setup. You can make changes anytime you alter the motor and drivetrain specs.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...rt=BMM%2D20248

 

i think i will need this ,,when the car, runs to 5500 it changes real hard ,,taking in concideration the crappy exhaust,,,and 2.68:1 diff, ratio,, like i mentioned its got a vette servo,,and extra clutches,and a real tight tv valve that we put an extra load on to keep in tighter at lo rpm,s it does work real good at full throttle its wide open at the gearbox end,,and tension isn,t as hard,,,its setup well,,at 5800 the engine seems to be crankin hard and pumpin,like a mack truck,,,the car is very mobile indeed,,quicker than a wrx 4 wheel drive subaru,,but when it changes into 2nd i noticed it slip a little then it hooked up and whent sideways,,obviously a traction problem,,the car changes and realy gets moovin better at 5500,,eventually over the next 2 months the exhaust will be changed and the rearend to 3.08: that will give me the equivilant of a 3.77:1 rearend in first gear,,but using a 3.08,,, i hope it sorts itself out, you guys are great, thanks a heap,

 

the nissan is a weird story,,,,,,,,the endurance racing here is our top for of racing,, although we also have top fuelers running real good times,,,,nitro funny cars,,we actually build a quad cam mcgee alcahol engine ,,,,it was esentually a keith black hemi ,, people here developed heads and radical intakes and blower setups ang ran these in funny cars and alcahol dragsters like your federal mogal cars,,these things were taken to america,, and and broke records before being fully devoloped,, they were baned in about 1992,, deamed illegal,,,,so the thing was turned to nitro,, and garry beck ran it,,in the us nationals,,he made the final,, and the rearend exploded on take off, the car broke in half at 9000rpm,s ,, its on the bakersfield video,,and when the private track owned by the coors familly they had a grand finally meet,,,our nitro car was in the final,,,,the car was deemed illegal,, so the team came home,, gerry beck was almost killed in that car,,he said it was wild the full1/4 mile,, this is an twin overhead cam DOHC quad cam keith black of unbelievable potential,,,all hoffman came here as guest racer,, he said ,,i cant believe you guys are so far in front,,,,in trying different things,he said sainty had a real motor,,,,the top fuell engine built here by terry sainty is an overhead cam keith black,, running 3 valve heads,,it runs in the 4,s,, ,,and its only early days,,,,
the movie the fast and the furiouse has jap cars,, but they are nissan skylines made for japan,, only 2 wheel drive,,,,2.4 litre,,,or smaller turbo cars,,,godzilla was made to win here,,,,,it was around 500HP in stock trim,,,and it was 4 wheel steer,,into the corners,,,,it was like it was on a train track,, where the commodores were on 3 wheels,,,,,,,,,,,,,,we didn,t get the fuel crisis,, we got our own fuel,,remember we are the size of canada,, with the population of LA,,,the citys are still crowded,,,and the economy is raging here,,,,we have been the fastest growing economy in the,,OECD,,,and have been for years,,,,we did get high fuel in the early 50,s and the big buicks,straight 8,s and chevys,along with the crysler royals and flat head dodges ,,were cheap,,as gm america let us build our own cars from 1948,,these were cars designed to be driven on dirt roads!!we were primative then,,and still are i guess,,,although steve urwin makes us look like hillbillys,,our so called hi performance cars are small,like about 6 inches smaller than a 69 camaro,, even today the cars are bigger than a toyota camry, but not as big as your cars,, the buick regal,,caprice, camaro,t/am,,the cleveland 351 of 1969 to the mid 70,s had a nudular iron crank forged rods,, heds bigger than a 396 big port engine, the big oval port motor i think,,,i cant remember exactly,,,,you could fit 4 fingers in the ports,,,,american car nights are *** our club is the canaro firebird club of australia,,everyone is welcome, we get 150 cars on a saturday night cruise, including cudas,, mustangs vettes,,ac cobras,,55,57 chevs,,blown big blocks,,,stock dz ,,302 camaro,s,,the conversions have to be legal,,,transport dept approved,,,,mine is not bad,, but it would be better left hand drive,,,,fuel here is 82 cents a liter,,there is 4.5 litres to an imperial gallon,, the u,s gallon is a little smaller i think,,,the output figures on the gto may be low but the car is light and very nimble to drive,,,it is better than the more expensive european cars,,like the hi per bmw,s and jags,and the finish is very good indeed ,,,,,,,,,its easy to drive,, the driving possition is perfect,,the brakes great,, the steering rack and pinion,,,this is no cheap copy of anything,,its a racer,, without the scoops and wings,,the top,,model is the gts,,HSV car holden special vehicles,version,,,i feel my camaro will beet this car after its sorted out,,,,i mentioned before about the mosler mt900 its a purpose built car like a prototype tube frame car ,made from carbon fibre,,titanium,,and believe it or not timber,,YES wood,,,it runs a red hot LS1 and got killed by the holden 2 years in a row by the cv8 monaro,,thats the viper killer,,gm wont let us export these CV,8,S,, because ,,of the union of shipping,,and the corvette wouldn,t be the heartbeat of america anymore,,it would cost jobs,,,the corvette is primative,,uncomfterbal,and cramped inside,, along with poor vision ,in front and back,,,,the car is big and,,hard to get in and out of,,,its not good to live with or user friendly,,its a beautifull looking car like my camaro,,but its lost the plott,,,,,over the years,,i remember the camaro,s and mustangs racing here in the 60,s and winnin,,before gm here let us free to build our own cars,, then it was all over,, these 80,s camaro,s were easy to get in the 80,s but were about 25,000 u,s dollars because they were nearly new,, the equivilant holden commodore ,,the sports model like the ,z/28 was a VH model group 3 commodore peter brock model (important) peter brock was just listed in europe as number 7 in the history of motorsport greats,,,he still races here and at aged 53+ took your gto to victory in a 24 hour race here full of the best GT cars in the world,,including lamborghini,s porsche gt3,s ferrari,360 challenge cars ferrari 360 GT super spec cars,,,your gto killed em by 60+ laps,,www.bathurst24hour.com ,,the results are there,the hot fords can be seen on the ford australia website,, yes the hot rods are 4 door cars,,,,we like to take friends in our cars,,unlike my camaro,,,,,its a 2 seater, really.,,,,but i love america,,,,,,,to the fullest,,love their cars,, and i will open a few eyes with my poor ol 82,, this car will fly the stars and stripes at traffic lights,, when i meet a few hot nissan,s and commodores,,especially the cars that are $75,000 U,S dollars here,, yes some comodores are $75,000 U,S or $105,000 AUSSIE $$$,s i thank both you guys for your advice, and please keep in touch my e mail address is lukerene@optusnet.com.au ,,no i dont work for GM ,, i actually work for pirelli who gave millions of dollars to lamborghini australia to race ,, AND ferrari,,,,,,,,,,,,to kill the monaro cv8,,,the model down from your gto