The NICC is a very active club. Activities include monthly meetings, drag races, cruises, shows and tours. Take a look at some of what we've done to get a flavor. We have an annual picnic but there aren't a lot of pictures. I guess we're too busy enjoying the company and food!
This is a sample of what we like to do.
SHOWS:
This picture is from Chevy/Vette Fest, 1996. Mike Black is enjoying a beef sandwich, Rick Miller is hamming it up and Bill Holer is enjoying the fun. Rick's dark blue 1964 SS there and Tom Wilkin's 1972 is behind them. We had fun, as always.
This is the picture of some of the NICC volunteers from the 1994 NCOA Convention in Schaumburg. We had fun, worked hard and collapsed after hosting 150 judged Chevelles, another 40 daily drivers and all of the tow vehicles.
Some of the 50+ Chevelles at the show in Naperville. Marty Leibrock's '72 (headlight showing) is next to Bill Holer's '64, Mike Hogan's '65 and Lou Scola's '64. We had a great time and had a car towed from Iowa joining us in the fun.
Some more pictures from the Naperville show. The second car on the right is the bronze Yenko of Gary & Shelley Place.
RACING:
This is member Jim Karg and his '66 getting up to speed at Union Grove. Jim is an old drag racer and loves using all 427 cubic inches. Jim tells stories of visiting Nickey Chevrolet after getting out of the service and buying a 2 door post 396-375hp Chevelle. He wishes he still had it.
Heating up the tires on a '70 LS-6 getting ready for battle with the 'Vette in the right lane.
We race hard and enjoy the company. Between rounds Rick Miller, Tom Wilkin and Mike Black practice waving to the competition.
This is Mike Black leaving hard at Byron on probably was another 12 second run with his crate LS-6 and four speed. Watch out when cruising in Hennepin, IL.
This is what we've done !!!
Well, 'Da Boys are back at !!! Here are some pics from Fred Aguayo as he, Andy Marchiando, Jim Karg, Wes Frisch, Scott Olisar and his son Eddie partake in this year's Power Tour. Scott & Eddie are the only NICC members to do the entire route, with the others joining up in Ames, IA for the trip to Madison, WI.
I am updating the 2009 Power Tour info. "live" on Friday, June 13 at 8pm as I watch the Live video feed of the Power Tour on-line.
The 2009 Hot Rod Power Cruise details:
Starts, Saturday June 6th from Madison, WI.
June 7th, Sunday to Racine, WI.
June 8th, Monday to ??? (contract not signed yet)
June 9th, Tuesday to GM Motors Tech Center in Warren, MI.
June 10th, Weds. to Friday are not yet signed, so they were not announced.
Fred reports that this is an unrestored, original convertible that is being driven. Oh ya.
Here are 'Da Boys and it is reported that both big block '66 Chevelles are running strong. From the left are Wes, Andy, Eddie, Scott, Jim and Fred. Armed and ready to go !!
A view riding shotgun in Jim Karg's '66.
Wish the factory would have made these. What I wouldn't give to have one of these beauties !!!
Fred sent this pic of a modifed HHR panel truck. Nice, now a 283 nestled in there would be perfect.
This is the NICC gang going to visit Jim Karg's cousin, Al, in Dakota, MN. They were driving to his hunting club here, and they believe they were in Hazard County, but they refused to paint their cars orange with a #1 :))
This is the reaction of the crowd when they saw the might Chevelle big blocks entering town. Oh ya, it is burnout time !!!
On Saturday, May 17th, around 22 members of the NICC spent the evening at the Holbach's. Every year it is kinda a reunion so to speak, going back to our roots; where the club all began in February, 1984. Saturday was a beautiful day and the forecast of rain for the evening didn't stop the cars from coming out, although we always wish there were more.
J
oel Primm was back from the Air Force Academy for the weekend and took the time to drive his wagon on the cruise and spend some quality time with Mr. Excitement, Mike Hogan !!
Jim Holbach had another Mazda Miata. This was was fully loaded, purchased from the original owner in Dublin, OH with 34,000 miles. Hardtop convertible. Black with tan interior, beautiful. That's Josh Primm & John Sonnefeldt deciding if they should scare Jim by picking it up and moving it, or putting it in the trunk of Mike Hogan's Pontiac Convertible. Now, that's a nice spare tire in the trunk.
Mark Wink, Jim Wersching, Jim Opaka and Mark Witczak enjoying the company of other Chevelle enthusiasts.
Jim Wersching, Mark Wink, Mark Witczak and Jim Opaka standing behind John Sonnefeldt's 1971 Chevelle 2005 SEMA 1971 Chevelle. It is the first A-body to have an LS-2 engine, and many of the pieces on this car / engine are prototypes that are used now for this common swap.
J
ohn Sonnefeldt, Josh Primm, Joel Primm and Jason Van Tholen listening to John explain some of the unique items on his LS-2 Chevelle.
After we enjoyed looking at the cars and prior to it raining, we enjoyed the food provided for all; hot dogs, brats, homemade potato salad, a great salad and pop and water. You could have eaten very well if you had come. Thank you Jim & Mary for the fine fare; everything was cooked to perfection.
Then
we had the meeting in the house. I reminded those there that this was the
very room that we had met in 1984 for the first meeting of the Northern Illinois
Chevelle Club. Wow, that doesn't
happen to often. If Jim's 1966 Chevelle convertible had not just been hit
3 years ago, it would have been like stepping back in time. We talked
about the Hot Rod Power Cruise (this year and next; yes, we know where it starts
and ends in 2009 and guys and gals, it is going to be very convenient to Chicago
again). We are lucky in the respect.
June cruise spot still needed, July's 2 meetings, August 2nd cruise and
possible overnight to Rockford, drag races
and
the 2008 Christmas party location; we are going "Back to the Future" - Jim and
Mary have graciously volunteered to host the Christmas party; almost exactly 25
years from the first NICC meeting. It's the first Saturday in
December, so you better plan on being there. You'd think by this picture
that the Jim's at the meeting weren't very happy; Jim Wersching and host Jim
Holbach are either sleeping here or just resting from the great food.
Then, because the officer elections were postponed from April to May, we discussed the officer positions and it was decided to nominate and retain the officer structure as it is now. We were going to nominate Andy Marchiando as President, but since he was "on call" and not there to defend himself, we decided not to get him too mad. Maybe next year !!!
Well, keep checking back for the June cruise detail along with July and news on the overnight.
Oh yes, if you want pics of your car on the webpage, send them. Send more if you like. I am going to make a "folder" for each member who sends pics of their car so you see on pic, but when you "click" on the pic, it goes into more. Visit the Feature Car section; that's what it will be like.
IF you are going on the Hot Rod Power Tour, please contact me and let me know. I will put the info on where you will be so the NICC members who are going can meet up with you. If you'd like, I'll email the NICC membership list so you can email or call the members who are going and I list here on the website.
Thanks to all who came and we encourage EVERYONE to come to a meeting. Now for your viewing pleasure are more pics of the nights events.
We missed you and wish you were there, but hope by seeing this that you'll make a point to come out to the next function of YOUR Chevelle Club. See you there !!!
April 19th meeting recap
There were approximately 18 members in attendance for the April meeting. We had a couple of members who drove their Chevelles to the club for the first time. That was nice. John Sonnefeldt spoke about the Hot Rod Power Tour this June and his arranging an overnight cruise to Rockford on Saturday, August 2 and then up to Freeport for a large car show. We did this several years ago and saw some great sites, including Hooperstats shop where a 50’s Auto Show Dream Car was being restored. Go the Activities section of this website and the year 2005. There is a recap of our last trip there with pics.
Jim Holbach, NICC member #1, spoke about the May cruise, which is in this newsletter and also the possibility of the NICC Christmas party being at Holbach’s house this December. That would be so close to the 25th anniversary of the first NICC meeting in the exact house where the NICC was started in 1984. How cool would that be?
The officer elections were postponed until the May meeting, so it is important that you attend the May meeting. The offices of President, VP, Treasurer and Board are up. If you want to keep the same officers, that is fine. If you want to run for something, that is fine. Just come and let us know.
Dennis Grondin's '64
The car under the cover is Tom's '72. Tom is having the engine redo after some trouble, attributable to what he chalks up to "25 years of pounding the snot out of it". Big block Chevy's can take alot of abuse, and Tom's right foot is right up there with the best. Long live Big Blocks!!!
Phoenix Three-Peat
By Jim Wersching
Our third annual trip to Phoenix started on Friday February 28th. Our departure was somewhat delayed while we all cleaned off what Mot
her
Nature dumped on our driveways. We finally hit the road about 7:30 from Mike
Moeller’s house. We had the same group as in the past two years (Mike Hogan,
John Shipkowski, Mike Moeller “Big Mike”, Vince Gallagher and myself). This
year we took Mike Hogan’s new Suburban that he had just bought from Texas. Big
Mike was the “newlywed” being married to Dawn just last year and Vince gave him
a “little companion” for our trip to ease his loneliness – a blow-up lamb. All
Mike talked about was filling it with helium and flying it over South Elgin once
he got home. What a guy!
Usually on our trip down to Phoenix, we discuss options on what we are interested in buying, various parts and cars. John is in charge of accumulating a list of available parts and interesting cars and does a great job. We had quite a lot to consider. Somewhere around Yukon,
Oklahoma,
the suburban “Service Engine” light came on. Although the truck was still
running good, Mike was concerned more than he let on, as was everyone else.
John had a great suggestion to find an Auto Zone, since they offer free code
reading. Well we did find one and the service guy was very helpful. He read
the code and found it was a loose gas cap. Even though we had tried the cap
earlier, the computer never reset itself. He reset it for us and we were on the
road again, breathing a little easier. This light would come on again on the
way home but did not present any problems.
Our first yard stop was outside Oklahoma City
on Saturday morning at Rustbusters Auto Salvage. This guy had quite a bit of
good stuff but was
very
difficult to deal with. We didn’t buy anything but were glad we stopped. We
then went to meet up with a guy from Clovis, New Mexico who bought a ‘72
Chevelle fender from us that we were delivering. I believe his name was Bob. He
said he was making money stripping cars before they would go to the “crusher”
back in his hometown of Clovis and then selling the parts on eBay.
We then stopped at another yard, which only had a few cars of interest, so again no purchases were made. Vince was so engrossed with a guy loading a late model Chevy engine and trans in a pickup that we all got in the suburban and left, and he didn’t even know it! We drove by twice, honking, but he didn’t even notice. Finally, Mike said that Meg would kill us if we lost him so we went back. All he said was “Where were you guys?”
Next stop was a guy in Moriarty, NM that had a ‘65 Chevelle for sale. The car turned out to have more rust than any of us wanted, but he did have an interesting dragster in his garage. Once we left him, it was late and we were tired so we found a motel in Moriarty. We would start early the next day to get to Albuquerque, to hit a few yards that were open on Sunday. Problem is, we were about 6,000 ft up and Vince was feeling the altitude the next morning. We hit a Pick-N-Pull yard and got a few trim pieces, and then headed for some lower altitude.
The altitude had affected Vince two years ago
on our first trip, but this time it was worse. I think the altitude was
affecting all of us a little bit. A
bag
of chips almost exploded! That much pressure has to affect you stomach. He was
doing ok until we came down some winding hills to Strawberry, AZ. where we
pulled over and he literally lost his lunch. 5 minutes later he was asking when
are we stopping to eat, “I'm starving!”
We got in to Phoenix by 9:00 where Vince and I
got dropped off at our friends Bob and Mary’s. Mary had the house decorated with
red,
white and blue lights. Their son is currently in the Navy, so we really
couldn’t miss their house. The two of us were staying with Bob and the others
were staying at a Marriott Courtyard close by that John had gotten a great deal
on from someone he worked with. This place had a great breakfast buffet. After
a good nights sleep, we'd be ready to search for cars and parts that John had
been busy lining up.
The guys picked Vince, Bob and I up and we all headed out. We managed to acquire a '64 Chevelle front clip with hood, and a pair of '66 Impala fenders from local private parties. Bob and Mary were gracious enough to let us store these parts by their house while we continued our quest. John had located a 2002 Buick LeSabre with low mileage to replace his daily driver so we went to pick it up. I think he actually stole it! Needless to say it was a great buy and a very nice car.
We went to Green Bay Ray's place. If you look up “Pack Rat” in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of Ray. He's got a lot (and I mean A LOT!) of stuff, but 80% is junk and the other 20% he really doesn't want to part with. Ask Big Mike. He tried to buy some garage memorabilia but they couldn't agree on a price. Don't know if we'll take the time to see him again.
Then we went to our old friend John Best's yard
“Alley Towing” in Maricopa, AZ but he wasn't there. Leather Lips Lucy, one of
his best workers, said he had to take care of his taxes and have some dental
work done. Big Mike reminded her that last year she had to climb into a closed
trunk
from
the back seat to unlatch the lock so we could remove and buy a ’67 Impala deck
lid off the car. Then she remembered us. Sorry we missed John. He's a great
guy. He didn't have as many older cars/parts as before and we opted not to get
anything. We had to decide whether to buy a car or more parts. Since the older
cars that caught our interest were already sold and parts were becoming harder
to find at a decent price, we looked into a newer, marketable car. A '93 Mazda
Miata was found and a deal was struck and it was loaded on the trailer. We then
went back to Bob's and loaded our parts on the trailer to get ready to leave the
next morning.
Thursday morning, after Bob drove us over to
the motel, we said our goodbyes and were on our way to Tucson to hook up with
Lee who had an '86 Mustang convertible top frame we needed for Mike's neighbor
Rob. After removing the top from the car and loading it up on the trailer, we
were
pretty filled up. It was a shame because Lee was going to junk the rest of the
car, which had rust free doors, fenders and trunk lid. Oh well, can't take it
all. The trip back was pretty much uneventful. John and I drove his new Buick
back and Vince and the two Mikes drove the Suburban. Last years return trip
will be forever embedded in our minds because that was when Judy called us and
told us that our good friend, Mary Reichenback had passed away. We thank God
nothing like that happened this trip.
We stopped at a few more yards, one in Roswell,
NM, where we had lunch and played with the Aliens. Since we had two
vehicles, once
we
got
closer
to home, we split up and John drove me home while the Suburban went to Big
Mike's and then to Vince's and Mike's.
Dawn, Mike had lunch with an Alien. Here’s the picture to prove it. This will
be on the website. Expect the World News Daily to come knocking on your door.
Mike seemed to enjoy it . . .
We all arrived home at about 10:00PM Saturday.
Tired, but already thinking about next years trip. Again, we all had a great
time, with great conversations and company. I'm glad to be part of this yearly
quest. This was another great trip! John did another excellent job booking the
motel
and locating parts and cars. It was non-stop excitement and laughter. We’d
leave at around 9:00 in the morning and not get back until 9:00 that night.
Mike Hogan did way too much work this trip. He was on his laptop until the
wee-hours of the morning answering e-mails and making business decisions. He’s
got way too much responsibility for me. Bubbles, Mikes GPS, kept us from
getting lost, although it seemed like she yelled “Recalculating” more
times than previous years. It was great seeing my friend Bob again and he fit
right in with the rest of us, as before. My thanks again to everyone for a great
time. Good friends and memories are what it’s all about.
Special thanks to Melissa and Judy for some
great cookies. They'll have to have a bake-off. And thanks to all the wives
for allowing us to go on
this
wonderful trip. I know it puts extra burdens on them, especially with the kids.
But some of us have very stressful jobs/lives and this is a totally stress free
adventure! Also, thanks to Mary and Bob for putting us up for a few days. And
finally, I would like to apologize to Marsha for my participation in the
“Corruption of John”. John was caught telling a fib, driving over 85 MPH,
swearing – at least once – and Mike Hogan is convinced he flipped him off! So
sorry Marsha, he'll never be the same. Until next year….
On Sunday, March 16 27 people spent a few hours at Lisle Bowling. It was almost the same type of day as the prior year; clear, sunny and acceptably cool. The best way to describe the day is via the pics taken.
Ralph Weidenbach has one of the more powerful swings I have seen. He and Ralphie Jr. did their best to damage as many helpless pins as they could. They did a good job. Ralph, rolled a high of 222 and Jr. about a 149, if I recall correctly. That's Carol Wirth in the foreground getting ready to watch a Tsunami of pins exploding. Poor, poor pins.
It was nice seeing the younger family members out. Here are the Leibrock's, Calvin, Evan and Owen are talking with Niki. Looks like Eddie Olisar in the back. Keep the faith going. To the right is Calvin releasing a shot on alley #1.
Carol Wirth talking with grandson Marcus. Marcus is quite the bowler, well, Joe says, quite the athlete. Tyler, another grandson did very well also and kept up with big brother. Joe & Carol were having fun, as were we watching them all do well bowling.
Marty Leibrock getting ready to roll another strike. Behind his is Joe Wirth and grandson Marcus. Yea, they had fun. Marcus returning to his seat talk'in smack and looking confident.
Not by plan, but by happenstance, the bowling activity was the same day as George Primm's birthday so there was pizza, subs, chips, pop and birthday cake for all to enjoy. To the left is Dennis Grondin, Jim Karg, Sandy Primm, Darene Campbell, and Ralph Sr. & Jr. enjoying the food. Here's a pic of the cake. George extends his thanks to those who brought cards and gifts. Sandy contacted some prior to the bowl to let them know.
I think the members of the NICC are getting ready for Spring, cars and having fun. Yup, we are getting "car driving fever". We've put up with a winter of ridiculous snow, colder temps that have been with us longer than recent memory and we are tired of not getting our babies out. The plans are coming together for the summer's activities and what we need to do to get ready for the summer.
We had two new members and one visitor make this their first meeting. Frank Gonzalez of Crest Hill and his friend came up. Also, Dennis Grondin, of Montgomery also came. Dennis had joined the club on February 15th using the on-line registration form and PayPal service. That is GREAT. Two new members came out. Dennis joined 7 others for lunch afterward at Portillo's. I think both Frank and Dennis felt comfortable right away. THANK YOU for coming out. The visitor was Bob Cleveland, who is Mike Hogan's neighbor. He mentioned he has a 1989 Mustang convertible but was thinking about getting a Chevelle but it might be too expensive. I told him don't compare the cost of ownership to Mike because most of us tend to nurse along what we have; Mike is always looking to improve; I told him the story about from several years ago where a new Corvette and Mike took off from a toll booth and the Vette hung closer to Mike than he wanted, so that prompted the 383. Didn't want to take any chances, you know !! Ha.
With that in mind, 27 NICC members attended the
February meeting at Built-Rite Engines in Lombard. Yup, we're
ready
to roll. For those of you who were not able to make it to the meeting,
I'll do my best to recap it for you, but I must warm you that you should've done
what you could to get there. We had 4 machinists there to answer questions
about "what to do", "how can I do this" or "what do you think about this"?
Every meeting we go to like this we learn something new and quite frankly, today
I learned one very disturbing thing, which I will start off with. Then go
onto the various random topics that we covered.
When I arrived around 9:20am for the 9:30am meeting there
were already 4 members there. Over the next 30 minutes an additional 23
members would come. Bill Holterman, the owner, was already knee-deep in
discussions with the members. In the picture to the right, he is in the
plaid jacket. Bill's father worked as a Ford mechanic for
over 40 years, and even after retirement is building fuel-injected street rods.
While Bill was raised around Ford's, his shop works on all makes. While we
were there he had Studebaker engine that they were working on, as well as
foreign 4-cylinders and V-6's. But, he also had a big block Chevy with
Brodix heads on an engine stand that was getting ready for this summer's racing
season. He is a genuine fella whose years of experience you can tap in
achieving whatever goal you'd like with the budget you have. You may not
get it all now, but he'll help you prioritize your work so that when you are
done you are where you want to be.
During the question and answer time, the topic of oil
filters came up. Bill, and Scott, a machinist at the shop who is the GM
guy, said that there are 3 oil filter brands that they recommend for our
engines; AC/Delco, Wix and
Motorcraft.
He specifically mentioned that he does NOT like Fram. Their filtering
media allows too large of particles to circulate and he's seen damage to
engines. I did not ask him about Fram's more expensive filters with the
upgraded synthetic filtering media (I think that would be ok). Also, the 3
he recommends come with Anti-drain back mechanisms which allow immediate oil
circulation upon start-up. Okay, that's all I need to hear.
Some of the questions and points covered:
Break-in and synthetic oil: They recommend NOT to use synthetic until the piston rings are set. Synthetic is so slippery it does not promote ring seal upon break-in. That is very much supportive of John Sonnefeldt's recommendation that synthetic gear fluid NOT be used in your Eaton posi rear-end as it will not let the clutches hook-up well. For our engines, use Diesel oil because it has more Zinc that helps. While there is less Zinc in 2008 formulated oil, there's more than stock oil.
Bill thinks that the 4-bolt block metal is softer than the 2-bolt block, on the GM's.
What cam company ? Bill says the large established cam companies are very good, but he uses Howard Cams out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They will grind a cam for him based on the specifics of the car, weight, gear ratio, etc.
377 vs. 383 engine. Bill prefers the 377 for a couple of reasons. First, it is internally balanced vs. the 383 which is externally. There is an advantage to that. Also the 377 has more torque than the 383. Seems nice to know.
Ignition: Get a good ignition. MSD is the best. It will out-perform a GM HEI, but the HEI can have the MSD unit added to it and you'll feel the difference.
Distributor Advance Curve: Bill has a Sun distributor advance machine and for around $20-$30 he'll dial your distributor in. You can buy the advance kit or he can. Typically GM HEI has about 24 total in it but an engine, especially a modified one, likes 32-36 total all-in advance. For the money, it is a good thing to do. As a note, if you do this, you can disconnect the vacuum advance from the distributor to the carb. The mechanical advance will get it in about 2,400rpm which is good.
Different heads . . . which are best? Ok, nothing is perfect, any castings will flow different, even Vortec's. It is best to have your heads flowed, there are "good flow" heads. They do not do that, they use the expert services of Jim Galto of Galto Racing Enterprises www.greracing.com for their work (more on Jim later). You can drop your heads off at Built-Rite and they'll get them up to Galto as their paths cross several time weekly. In fact, I brought my S/R Torquer heads with me that had a valve drop in 2006 and Jim Galto put them in his trunk and is going to let me know what he thinks. He knows what the Vortec's flow and he'll let me know if they are worth it, but he said they'll be better than the standard GM crate engine heads that came with my engine.
Bill's Customer Philosophy: Bill knows everyone has budgets; we aren't NASCAR teams with big budgets. So you can talk with him and he'll help you get to where you want to go on your budget. You may have to spend X amount to get your 450 streetable horsepower, but you only have $1,000 to spend this year. He'll tell you the steps you can take between your first $1,000 and what you can do with your next $1,000. A budget, building-blocks so to speak.
They do everything in their shop except line-boring. He has another shop do that but he is looking into that now.
Dyno testing. The dyno's are the cheap part, it is the room and the supporting stuff that adds to the cost, so he uses another shop (Borawski Race in Rockdale) for dyno tuning.
Built-rite does both stock and performance rebuilds.
You want your engine done but don't know how to pull it? Well, Bill is the first shop owner that has said he'll pull it at his large garage at his home, which is close to the shop. That's a first. I don't think he'll do it for free, but listen, I've not heard a shop owner ever say that. That's customer service.
They do all makes a models. They are experienced with all makes. Scott, a machinist there is partial to GM, so he has his experience to throw your way.
Want to see your engine during the process. Bill invites any of his customers to stop by and see the progress. It's your engine, you are paying the bill, come on in. That' cool.
If you have parts and want to use them, bring them in. Buy them yourself or let Bill do it. No mark-up on the parts, they are a machine shop, not a parts marker-uper (??, you get the point).
Now for head work. Jim Galto is a former fireman with
Addison who decided to leave that profession when his expertise for porting
heads for those "who knew" became known to a certain NASCAR shop in North
Carolina.
They
heard of his ability, hired him and he worked there learning all he could.
Then he came back and reopened his business full-time and he is ready to help
you. He was really impressed with the 5-axis CNC machines used in NASCAR
and he is getting one the last week of February. Oh ya, we've got an
expert. He does high dollar heads, of course, but he also does our type of
heads. It was very interesting talking with Jim and these are some things
I learned.
For our engines, that is slightly to heavily modified, do NOT be afraid of a single-plain manifold. He likes the Edelbrock Victor Jr. Great for the 1,500 - 6,000+ rpm range and you'll feel the difference.
NASCAR heads cost? Well, they use the absolute best of everything and a set of Chevy SB2.2 heads will cost $12,500 complete and ready to rumble. He said the quality of work is phenomenal and he was there.
When they do testing on the heads and Spin-Tron (turning the valve train on a stand) and use laser measuring and close-up video, the titanium springs used look like the old Slinky toy. They just bend and it is amazing they do so well. But the abuse on these springs at the rpms they are running now makes these springs absolute junk after 500 miles. They'd last decades in our cars, but are shot after an afternoon of racing.
Which heads are best? Wow, depends, but heads flow differently. They are cast so unless they are CNC machined you don't know what you have until they are done. There are sets of Vortec heads that don't flow well until they are worked on a little and others that flow well right away.
Any of the aftermarket valves you can buy are better than the stock. Get the basic Manley Street Flow and they are an improvement over the factory.
Well, as you can see, we had a very good time at Built Rite. Bill, Scott, Jim and Jim Galto were very friendly and informative.
I am taking advantage of Jim Galto's expertise with his testing of the heads I brought and if they are worth it and will beat the crate engine heads, I think I'll have Bill take care of them. Why replace the crate heads, well, besides being an old design, they came with bad valve seals which had to be replaced cuz the right side was smoking like a misquito abatement vehicle. They are cursed, so off they go !!
For your convenience, I have posted the prices for the basic work they do.
Other Misc. pics from the meeting
Jim
Holbach, the founder of the NICC talking with Joe Wirth, a long-time member.
That's Ralph Weidenbach and Mark Witczak in the background. Oh yes, after
21 years at Motorola, Mark is starting with a new company on February 25.
This is Jim Galto of Galto Racing Enterprises in McHenry, IL. He was very willing to answer all of our questions, whether it was a group question or a one-on-one situation. He is taking delivery of a 5-axis CNC machine this coming week, the week of 2-24-08.
These are Built-Rite employees Scott (in the red shirt) and Jim in the blue shirt. Scott is the GM knowledgable machinist, although they all do it. Jim takes care of the office and coordinating things.
Scott answering more questions. Jim Wersching found out that Scott and he live one block from each other and have "spied" each others cars in the garage. In fact, Jim sold his 1970 Gobi Beige small block Chevelle to Scott's brother-in-law and they put a 406 SB in it. Watch out for that one!
Jim Galto speaking with new NICC member Frank Gonzalez and his friend Joe. I assume it is about heads and head flow, but it looks like he could be talking about the fish that got away, or how much one of his heads beat another at the finish line. Very nice guy, located in McHenry right off of Rt. 31. www.greracing.com
Wish everyone could have been there, but we had an outstanding turnout with 27. Afterward, 8 of us went to Portillo's, including new member Dennis Grondin. Yep, we are ready to get our cars out and cruise !!! Let's go !!
Videos:
This video is of Bill and Scott explaining the difference between the 377 and 383 To Video
RECAP OF JAN. 26TH MEETING AT
PROFORMANCE RACING TRANSMISSIONS IN ELBURN
We had decent weather, considering the -6 degree temps the four days before. It was clear and we had 14 NICC members attend the January meeting. Members walked around the shop and caught-up on winter news allowing extra time for those who weren’t there at 9:30am. We actually started the meeting portion around 9:45 with some updates. Then I introduced Dave Klaput, owner of Proformance Racing Transmissions. It was very informative and for those who could not attend, I will recap below.
NICC
Meeting:We covered a few topics involving membership, winter meetings, summer cruises and an overnight cruise in August.
- If you’ve visited the club website, you’ll notice a significant change. We now have “on-line” registration now, meaning you no longer have to print the Word document, complete it and mail it in. Well, along with that we want to make it EASY for potential and current members to pay their $20 membership fee via PAYPAL. Yup, that’s right, you no longer have to write a check, you can use this very convenient method.We posted this on the website on Tuesday, February 22. On Friday, February 24, Bob & Sharon Stigter were the first to use this service. I really think the availability to join “instantly” will help. Plus if you are registered with PayPal you can use a credit card that gives rewards. Cool.
- Reminder about the February meeting at Built-Rite Engines in Lombard. I explained that their operations are like Proformance; the owner is very involved, actually doing the work, and you can talk to him for his advice and tap years of experience. - ACES Convention. The first weekend in June. Mark Witczak said if you are planning on going make reservations at the Holiday Inn. Why? Because they are right next to a meat packing plant that has a huge parking lot that can be used for tow vehicles and trailers. Thanks for the tip Mark. Perfect. - Mark Witczak is also buying an original, GREAT shape, 1967 Malibu 300 DeLuxe post car. It has no drivetrain, so plans include a 396 with 5-spd manual. The Chevelle was originally a small block with a manual 3-on-the-tree. Another project, more great results. - Summer cruises. We traditionally start at Wilkins house in April, then Holbach’s cruise in May. If you want to host a cruise, reserve it now. - Andy Marchiando talked about the Hot Rod Power Tour. He and a few other “Long Haulers” from last year are going to pick-up the cruise in Ames, IA, then to Rochester, MN and finally Madison, WI. That would be June 11-13th or Weds – Friday. Sounds like a plan. I will be taking either the green Monte (with the new 700R4) or Joel’s 1978 wagon. Maybe both if Joel is home from the Air Force Academy or if Josh wants to drive one. - John Sonnefeldt, has already begun to arrange an August 2 & 3 weekend overnight cruise in conjunction with the Freeport, IL. Cruise Night on Saturday, August 2. This should be good, and we’ll have details on the website as soon as they are available and in the newsletter’s Calendar of Events and detailed info. either June or July in the newsletter.After this information was discussed, we proceeded to Dave’s talk. This is the first time a car club has ever been to Proformance. Dave let us know that he has been into transmissions for 23 years; when he started working on 4-speed manuals when he was 15 years old. He is a one-man shop. He does every rebuild personally and has one helper. He does his own machining in-house, and for the few things he cannot machine, he has a trusted machine shop right across the street. I get the feeling that Dave treats his customers trans as if they were his own; wants the best and done right. He gave a tour of the facility and the equipment he has. He then opened it up for questions. I did my best to cover all the questions so you would benefit from his knowledge.
700R4 Questions:
Buying a used 700R4:
Dave suggests locating a trans that has never been rebuilt; a virgin unit. That way he knows what is in it. The factory has spent millions getting these things done and from that base he can build from there. If you want a 700R4 and don’t have one, Dave has cores and will build one to fit your needs; based on HP, car weight, cam, etc.What type of 700R4 should you buy?
Dave suggest any 700R4 from 86-91 will be good. You can get an Impala, Camaro or pick-up truck, either 2 or 4 wheel drive. The thing that makes these different is the tail housing and Dave can switch those out. If you are lucky enough to find a Corvette 700R4, GRAB IT. The Vette 700R4 is built to have a full-throttle upshift in O/D. The others will not and top speed is hurt. Dave mentioned that there have been several aftermarket attempts to enable non-Vette trans to have full-throttle upshift, but not successfully.Lock-up in a non-computer car, what do you do?
Dave likes the TCI valve body unit. It eliminates the TV cable and the adjust for O/D operation. Works on fluid pressure. While the original units experienced some problems, the new ones work great. The cost is about $300, but remember, if you don’t get the TV cable adjust correct you will burn up the trans. Seems like the way to go. The only thing the TV cable is used for with the TCI valve body is as a throttle kickdown.700R4 vs. 200R4?
The question was asked, can a 200R4 be used in our cars. I hope I remember all of this correctly, but here was the explanation. There are good and bad points with each one; the choice depends on the application (weight of vehicle, hp, etc). The 700R4 has, over the years, kinda been chosen as the favorite of the two and there are more parts for it, but the 200R4 can be used also. The TH350 trans has 3 planetary gears, and so does the 200R4, which is a good thing and for cruising is a viable option. The 700R4 has 2 planetary gears with one of them working as the 3rd gear that is in the 200R4 and the TH350. The advantages are that the driveshaft for a 200R4 install the driveshaft does not need to be shortened. It is the same length as the TH350, which is 3 inches shorter than a 700R4. Finally, consider the 1st gear of the 700R4, which is a 3.07 ratio, compared to a 2.48 for the others. It will launch like you have a 4.10 rear gear, but the drop-off from the 1st to 2nd shift is significant.Other Trans Questions:
Can you turn a manual 4-speed into an O/D?
No, cannot do that.Is the 2.75 first gear for the TH400 a viable option?
Not really. Dave showed us how that is done. The gear for a TH400 is cut and the piece from a 700R4 is welded in place. The problem is that it will break when you have lots of horsepower and good tires. If you have street tires that spin, it might be good. If it hooks, you are going to break.What does Dave do to the trans he rebuilds?
On any type of trans Dave puts in bearings and removes the thrust bearings for better performance. On the TH400, there is a shaft that controls the flow of fluid by using bands. To improve the shifts most rebuilders just leave the band off, but that doesn’t improve the flow; kinda like restricting a 3” exhaust by using 2” tailpipes. Dave completely machines it down so you get the advantages plus good flow.What are rough cost estimates?
For a “bench rebuild”, that is you take it out and you install it, the cost is between $900 & $1,100 with the convertor stall of your choice, for a 700R4 and TH350. If you want Dave to convert your present 3-speed auto to an O/D add another $400 - $500 for the complete turn-key operation. Nice, drop it off and pick it up ready to go. You’ll have the confidence that an expert rebuilt it and installed it as if it were his own.Dave also mentioned that TH350 are good trans, but are becoming somewhat hard to find because of they haven’t been produced for a while and O/D’s are becoming more popular, junkyards are just scrapping them.
After we left, Terry McManmon, Joe Wirth, Jim Karg, Andy Marchiando and George Primm ate lunch at Papa G’s in Elburn. We had fun talking about Andy waiting for his daughter Jeanette to provide him with another grandchild, let us know that Abbie, his first and only granddaughter, was watching TV with the family and a Disney World commercial came on at which point she walked over and asked her grandpa when he was going to take her there. Wow, they learn quickly. Ha. Joe gave us an update on his kids and what they are up to, Jim discussed his work and knee, and Terry was there with specific answers to Chevrolet questions. I stopped at Bob Jass Chevrolet on the way after seeing a used 2003 AWD Astro on the lot. They had two new Malibus, 4 Vettes and some HHRs. I spoke with Leonard there and he remembered us from the July 21st cruise and said he’s still looking for Mike Hogan’s GM auction dark blue with beige interior Suburban. It was fun.
Dave, thank you for taking your time. When I was talking with Dave prior to the meeting he mentioned that he was moving in to his new house and his truck and enclosed trailer were at home for the packing. We appreciate Dave taking his time to help us. Dave also mentioned that he had received several calls from people who had come across our website, saw his transmission shop information and will probably bring their cars over for work when it warms up. That’s great. Good things happen to good people. I cannot wait to get the 700R4 in the green Monte, along with the new 12-bolt and 3.42 gears. An improvement from the 10 bolt and 2.73 gear.
Contact Information: The number for Proformance Transmissions is 630-365-9483. Dave is the owner, a Chevrolet racer whose Nova runs 8.01 with a full interior. He knows transmissions !!!
Below are various pics of members before, during and after the meeting and talk by Dave. The pics #4 & 5 are of Dave standing by his lathe answering questions.
This is Dave explaining how he adds a heavy, aftermarket aluminum bellhousing to a TH400 trans that will be handling alot of horsepower. He had a carbon-fiber scattershield that is SFI approved, but he has said he's see the shields fail under a trans explosion. He builds the trans as if it were his. Doesn't want a customer getting hurt and coming back with half a foot gone.
This is the rear suspension on Dave's 8.01 quarter-mile Nova. Gets it done !!