I put the drivers side header on and fitment was actually surprisingly good. I did grind a tiny portion of the frame where the headers were awfully close and looked to be rubbing previously. Went to do the passenger side and the cluster mess of wiring my Dad had at the starter kept catching my eye and the corrosion I could see inside this factory metal loom so I tore into. The metal tube just had a tiny rust hole in it which I guess is where that mess came from. The wiring didn’t have any corrosion on it really
New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.
- Thread starter Mighty
- Start date
Are you referring to the rubber cushions?
Those metal tubes are important for protecting the power wires that connect to the starter. They used to be common, but I don't know about now. Don't discard the tube. Can you weld the hole?
I suspect the hole formed from the inside from water sitting in it.
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Yep I’m going to reuse it. I saw the 2 big old fuseable links inside of it. I also called mikesmontes and had a good chat on the phone. He told me that the upper and lower fan shroud is what supports the radiator which I have. He also said I can make the hour drive with my steering column and we can try to match up parts because he has a ton of steering column parts laying around so I might do that coming up. He also said he has some clutch fans as well. I was considering doing electric fans but put a brand new 79 Malibu radiator in it (5+ years ago). Electric fans might open another can of worms for me….
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Personally, I re-routed all the power wires except the battery to starter and solenoid wire, I have a 1/4" spade connection for the solenoid wire. Makes it substantially easier to drop the starter. Also use 3/8" rubber fuel line to protect the solenoid wire
Starter Wires are installed off the car, starter mounted then wires fed through their appropriate routes.
But that's me
Starter Wires are installed off the car, starter mounted then wires fed through their appropriate routes.
But that's me
Yep, decided tonight that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Would you or t5monte happen to know what the difference in starters is between factory automatics vs. manual transmissions? We were just searching around and noticed that there was 2 different starters and they specified one was for a manual trans and one for auto. The only difference I could see was how they mounted and the manual trans starter was cast iron vs aluminum for auto. Just curious as so I Don’t screw up my brand new mcloed flywheel. I currently have the “automatic” trans style starter on it and it never caused any issues with the original flywheel and Saginaw trans.
Only differences is starter ring tooth count 153/168 153 is smaller diameter than the 168.
There are dedicated starters for both and ones that can work on both
Edit
Some have a closed in gear others have open gear
There are dedicated starters for both and ones that can work on both
Edit
Some have a closed in gear others have open gear
No real updates on the car lately. I got tinkering with the wheel wells because I wanted to put them back in and poking around under the hood I realized that there’s probably 40% of the original screws/bolts holding the entire front end of the car on. Back in 1999 or whenever we originally started screwing with the car my dad took the front fenders/bumper/grill/core support etc off the car and painted the front portion of the frame before putting the 350 in. My brother bought a mid 80’s monte SS with no motor or trans years back to use the solid doors on his regal so I’ve been pulling bolts out of it and trying to secure my front end better. My dads got an entire cabinet full of hardware from 25 different cars and motorcycles too that I’ve been sorting through and finding things I need as well. I’d like to hear some opinions on electric fans. I was just going to put a clutch fan on it but a couple people have talked me out of it so I’ve been doing some reading. Sounds like electric fans off of 90’s f body cars is fairly popular and electric fans off of mid-late 90’s Chryslers are even more popular. My issue is the car has a brand new stock 79 Malibu radiator in it and I have the shroud which I learned supports the radiator so I’d like to use all of this instead of spending $700+ on a big hi performance radiator set up that needs mounting brackets fabricated. I might run to orileys tomorrow and get some dodge intrepid fans just to see how they fit since they have some in stock and I can return them if I don’t like them since my brother deals with them quite a bit for parts but I’d love to hear some suggestions if you guys are running electric fans
Sorry for not replying earlier; I wasn't notified the thread was updated.
I haven't seen a cast iron starter nose used in any car in the 1970s. Malibu795 is correct, there are 2 starter configurations due to 2 different flywheel diameters. The nose is what makes them different. There are more than 2 starter bodies, where the differences are in the size of the windings in the body identified by how far the terminal is from the solenoid. The noses can be interchanged between the different bodies.
In 1978, the El Camino was offered with a 350 and 4 speed, and came with a 168-tooth flywheel. All other 1978-1981 A bodies with a manual transmission came with the 153-tooth flywheel.
You seem to have a 168-tooth flywheel in your wagon, which means you likely have an 11-inch clutch.
My suggestion for simplicity and reliability is to use the full plastic shroud and a clutch fan.
If you want to use the Intrepid fans, you won't need the plastic shrouds. Instead, you should use the steel upper radiator support from a Regal or Oldsmobile with V8. Both of those are the same, except the Regal version has tabs that can be used to mount an electric fan (was originally holding a shroud). Here is a link to a thread with a picture of the upper radiator support from a Regal or Cutlass with Intrepid fans.
www.montecarloss.com
Searching this forum for "intrepid" reveals many threads. Montecarloss.com will also have many results.
I haven't seen a cast iron starter nose used in any car in the 1970s. Malibu795 is correct, there are 2 starter configurations due to 2 different flywheel diameters. The nose is what makes them different. There are more than 2 starter bodies, where the differences are in the size of the windings in the body identified by how far the terminal is from the solenoid. The noses can be interchanged between the different bodies.
In 1978, the El Camino was offered with a 350 and 4 speed, and came with a 168-tooth flywheel. All other 1978-1981 A bodies with a manual transmission came with the 153-tooth flywheel.
You seem to have a 168-tooth flywheel in your wagon, which means you likely have an 11-inch clutch.
My suggestion for simplicity and reliability is to use the full plastic shroud and a clutch fan.
If you want to use the Intrepid fans, you won't need the plastic shrouds. Instead, you should use the steel upper radiator support from a Regal or Oldsmobile with V8. Both of those are the same, except the Regal version has tabs that can be used to mount an electric fan (was originally holding a shroud). Here is a link to a thread with a picture of the upper radiator support from a Regal or Cutlass with Intrepid fans.
Mark VIII or SMM Ramcharger fans?
My single Caravan electric fan seems to have a little trouble keeping the temp steady with the A/C on in traffic, so I am looking at upgrading.I know the dual Ramcharger fans fit great, but am curious of seeing pics of both these as well as Mark VIII fans installed on a stock Monte rad. I...
Searching this forum for "intrepid" reveals many threads. Montecarloss.com will also have many results.
Yep thanks t5monte I read the write up last week on the Monte Carlo site that someone posted a long time ago. I’m going getting a set tomorrow to see how everything fits.
Do you already have one of the steel upper radiator supports, perhaps from the parts Cutlass (if it had the 307 Y engine)?
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