UMI's 1979 Monte Carlo- Pro-Touring Project- Lots of Pictures! - Page 3 - Lateral-g Forums

UMI Performance · #21 03-19-2015, 08:08 AM

A few updates.

The TH400 in the car went out late last year. We pulled it out and had it looked at and it's not good. We really want to do a manual swap however we are worried about the time frame to get other projects done. We need to decide soon.

We are removing the 1-5/8" headers that were on the car and replacing them with 1-3/4". Finding a pair to work is tricky, we tried Dynatech and they didn't clear what we needed correctly. We have a set of Hedmans we are trying now. AFR recommends 1-3/4" with the heads we are using.

In the meantime we are also building a set of coilover only a-arms with additional caster built in. They are coming along nicely.

CRCRFT78 · #22 06-13-2015, 09:25 AM

Any updates on the Green Machine?

UMI Tech · #23 06-13-2015, 10:45 AM

Thanks for asking about the Green Machine.

We've been swamped here at UMI but have also been making some good progress on multiple cars.

The Green Machine went to Putnam Park Indiana to the big road course. The first few laps were not too bad then our temporary Muncie exploded. Oops.

Fast forward to this week: We have a new Bowler TKO 600 on order as well as the rest of the awesome Bowler drivetrain products to make it happen. The TKO is close ratio so it should work awesome on auto-x events and still help cruising a bit with the 0.82 OD.

We'll get some pics up soon.

ramey

CRCRFT78 · #24 06-13-2015, 11:57 PM

I'm building a 78 Malibu with an LS1/4L60E combo and am trying to decide on a suspension setup. Its just going to be a nice driver but would like to eliminate the old weak setup it has now. Like what your doing with the Green Machine but I don't think my Malibu will ever see a road course or autocross.

SSLance · #25 06-14-2015, 07:51 AM

I think I can speak for UMI when I say that a well planned out and executed suspension setup for autocross and road racing works fantastic on the street as well. I know the setup in my car is great to drive on the street and performs quite well on the track too.

Can't wait to see the Green Machine back out there tearing up the tracks...

**GregWeld** · #26 06-14-2015, 09:47 AM

There is a big gap in here somewhere --- the TH 400 was out -- some discussion about going to a three pedal car... then all of a sudden the Muncie blows... and now a TKO is on order (hate my TKO 600 BTW -- junky notchy shifting - I should have gone Tremec).

Also some header fitment issues --- but no solution posted. So what did you end up with??

I also never saw any data posted from the first testing... to where it's progressed. Would be really interesting to know that everything you've done - way kool BTW - has helped and by how much.

UMI Performance · #27 06-15-2015, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld

There is a big gap in here somewhere --- the TH 400 was out -- some discussion about going to a three pedal car... then all of a sudden the Muncie blows... and now a TKO is on order (hate my TKO 600 BTW -- junky notchy shifting - I should have gone Tremec).

Also some header fitment issues --- but no solution posted. So what did you end up with??

I also never saw any data posted from the first testing... to where it's progressed. Would be really interesting to know that everything you've done - way kool BTW - has helped and by how much.

I'll get some updates posted, sorry about the lack of them on this car. We have 4 cars we are trying to keep up with and I get a little backed up. I will work on this very soon

UMI Performance · #28 06-18-2015, 08:41 AM

Okay finally on to some updates:

Transmission- We burnt our TH400 up last fall. We tried to save a few dollars and used a Muncie 4-speed we had sitting around. We did the manual swap and got the car running and working well. The peddles are very tricky and still need some tuning, lack of time is killing us. The Muncie didn't like high RPM's and after 4 laps at Putnam Park road course it locked up seizing 1st gear.

So we decided we better do this right once and for all. A call to Bowler got us a TKO 5-speed, Quicktime bell housing and a McCleod RXT clutch. Bowler really wanted to see us with a T56 however time frame to have this car didn't allow that at this time. We have a big event next week. Bowler was able to turn this transmission around in 1 day for us, excellent service!

Headers- A few asked about headers. The Dynatech headers didn't work right on this car, they hit a lot of places so we couldn't use them. We switched to the Hedmans and so far everything is good and fitment nice. Recommended.

UMI Performance · #29 08-28-2015, 09:37 AM

The new Bowler Tremec 5-speed is working very well so far, we have completed three events and done well at all three. I am behind on updates but I'll start with this past weekend.

Our Monte participated in the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge held at Pitt Race this past weekend. The event included Friday night Track Cross, Saturday all day road course and Sunday autocross. We were able to take our G-Body 2 full seconds faster this year on the road course than last year, we are very happy about that. For this year we also running the Bridstone RE71R tires and we are having great luck with them.

**WSSix** · #30 08-28-2015, 01:45 PM

Nice action shots, Ryan. Thanks for sharing.