My 1978 Dodge Monaco 4 door sedan.

[Don Frelier]

I wouldn't use an adapter get the right manifold.

 

[Gary P]

Greetings fellas and happy Friday!

Here’s the beast in question, the glorious Thermoquad.

It’s going for a full rebuild and an acid bath during next week. Adam is excited to get into it.
The rebuild kit was ordered today from Mikes…

And I printed off the PDF e-manual for some night time reading…

Adam has been researching the kickdown cable and is confident he can modify the existing one. That lets a financial stress off my shoulders. This coming week should be productive. Oh, and the Monaco battery decided to go boom boom so I have to buy one of those too.

 

[Gary P]

Hi fellas.

The Thermoquad rebuild kit arrived today…

And I ordered this wee beastie for it to sit on.

Slowly, things are happening. Hopefully the carb will be ready for Saturday and the intake arrives too. Hopefully.

 

[Kern Dog]

That intake is a decent piece. It flows similar to stock and weighs half as much.

 

[Gary P]

That intake is a decent piece. It flows similar to stock and weighs half as much.

Excellent! Yes regarding the weight of the original intake, it about tipped me into the engine compartment when I was trying to reinstall it. That shizz is heavy!!

Dropped the TQ and the kit down to VGM today for the rebuild. Adam was excited to get going on it.

Here’s the size difference between the old LB 2bbl, and the TQ!!

Size matters. Right?

 

[Kern Dog]

Buh WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

 

[Gary P]

It arrived. What a nice piece.

The inner child in me, immediately began searching the box for my Edelbrock sticker. There always used to be a sticker. I love a good sticker. Gimme a sticker!!

There was no sticker.

 

[HawkRod]

There was no sticker.

Gary,

When your original intake has been removed and everything has been cleaned (by the way, note what manifold I use on my 416 cubic inch small block stroker - a Performer manifold!)
Lay the manifold on your engine with NO gaskets anywhere as a test fit. It should sit slightly askew (similar to the picture below) so you can measure how flat it sits against the heads.

In the picture, I am putting a feeler gauge in between the manifold and heads. They should sit parallel. If there is any big gap (maybe .005" or more), you may need to check fitment. If less than about .005", then you should have a good fit!

This is a good, quick test to be sure everything will work well.

Good luck!

 

[Gary P]

@HawkRod thanks buddy I’ll do that!! I appreciate your advice and pics. Cheers!

I’m starting to get excited now. Should I? Will my excitement be dashed or will this Lean Burn removal which has turned into so much more, end with a video of me loving my car again?

 

[Gary P]

And on the subject of stickers…. Edelbrock can keep their stickers, I work in the graphics industry so I’ll make my own!!! Here’s some I’ve made recently…

 

[Kern Dog]

This intake has a choke well similar to stock so a factory bimetallic spring choke will work.

In the below photo, the red arrows point to threaded holes that are into water jackets. Hose nipples for the heater go in 2 of these. Another will need a reducer bushing to use a factory water temp sending unit.

The yellow arrow points to a vacuum port for the power brake booster. You'll need a 3/8" vacuum nipple for that.

 

[Gary P]

Thanks @Kern Dog that’s awesome Info.

 

[Gary P]

What a day I had. Jeez sometimes it’s just not worth getting up in the morning!!

I was going to start the remove/replace of the intake today, but first, I thought, let me just fix the “rear light failure” idiot dashboard light on my Toyota. A simple bulb? No. A simple ground? No. Broken wires? Yes, fixed the wires but the idiot light was still on. There’s a rear lights failure relay box, which Toyota wanted $212 for. Piss off Toyota. Junk yard… loads of them but they have about five million different ones and not the one I wanted. So I grabbed one anyway… idiot light still on. Eventually, I pulled the cluster and took the idiot light out. Jeez why me….

Then I got to the Monaco. Dead battery, so I’ve had it on trickle charge today. Put it in the Monaco. Nothing. Jeez. Pulled the battery from the Toyota. Put it in the Monaco. Nothing. Oh my dimpled *** what’s happening today?? Tried my other spare battery! Nope. Pulled the fuse panel down, which hurt as I had to get upside down on the front seat. All fuses fine. Was it the ignition barrel? No because I’m not even getting the interior light on. I cleaned the battery terminals and leads like my life depended on it. Nothing. Right, next semi truck that comes down my road, I’m gonna play chicken with it.

It was this…

Whatever this is, it comes from the + battery lead and goes into the main loom and into the firewall. It was separated. I simply plugged the two ends back together and boom, she was alive again. My life, sometimes…..

So I have some questions fellas:

1) what is that white connector ^^
2) the tab holding the fuse panel upside the dash broke when I took it off, anyone have a good idea how to fix it back up there?

3) why do my wipers park themselves like this?

4) my alternator gauge has never worked. It’s sat in this spot and hasn’t moved. How would it work again?

5) why did it take all Saturday to get the simplest of tasks done on these two naughty naughty vehicles? Anyone else have days like these? Or is it just me being a muppet?

Thanks you guys, had to vent on my own thread, because I have date night in a minute and I don’t want to bore her to tears, or worse

 

[HawkRod]

So I have some questions fellas:

So I'll try my hand at some answers Gary...

5) why did it take all Saturday to get the simplest of tasks done on these two naughty naughty vehicles? Anyone else have days like these? Or is it just me being a muppet?

You must be a muppet!!!
Seriously, we all have days where we try to take one step forward and end up taking two steps back. They happen - don't worry too much about it, just know when it's best to walk away...

3) why do my wipers park themselves like this?

When you run your wipers, do they go quite far and perhaps even hit the trim on the side of the windshield? I suspect they are merely put on clocked a bit in the wrong direction. If this is the case: With them parked and off, simply pop off each wiper arm and put it back on the splines where you'd like to see it. To pop them off without a special wiper arm tool, I pull up on the spring loaded arm, while at the same time pry gently on the other side with a good, angled pry bar. I always put a block of wood or other protection down for the pry bar too.

2) the tab holding the fuse panel upside the dash broke when I took it off, anyone have a good idea how to fix it back up there?

I am not familiar with how the Monaco fuse panel works - not sure if it is the same as my 73, so I have no magic fixes here. Maybe a bent up paper clip or a binder clip to hold it?

1) what is that white connector
4) my alternator gauge has never worked. It’s sat in this spot and hasn’t moved. How would it work again?

This is a terrible picture - I couldn't find one any better...

Note that power from your battery should flow through a fusible link (a special piece of wire that is designed to melt if you get a bad short), through the firewall, and then through to your alternator gauge (red lines). The other side of the gauge flows to all the powered stuff your car uses (black lines). Note also that the actual wire from the alternator connects to the black side wires. This way, the gauge shows if you are drawing power from the battery, or charging the battery. Note that if you are using a million amps and your alternator gauge is powering a million amps, the gauge still will read in the middle and have no movement. It only registers if you are taking power from, or putting power back into, the battery.

I suspect someone may have disconnected your gauge and made wiring changes to your car. You would need to check your gauge and see if it has wires attached, if they are still powered (they are powered 100% of the time when the battery is in). You may need to trace some wires and see what is going on. Of course, these are under the dash, so not easy...

 

[mpgmike]

That white connector is disconnected at the factory when the vehicle rolls off the assembly line and gets parked. When the transporter comes to take it to a dealership, he must plug it back in to start & drive it. It keeps things like the clock from draining the battery when the car sits for extended periods of time.

 

[Gary P]

@HawkRod thank you again for this info - it’s so valuable and I’ll come back to it during the next few days when I tackle those issues. Cheers brother.

@mpgmike thats super interesting. I always wondered what that was. It’s a great idea and now I know, it’s extra security for my car too!

 

[Gary P]

Sunday. I had a nice day, a nice bike ride with the lady, and a great lunch. After she left late Sunday afternoon I dove in, and removed all the accessories on the intake…

After unbolting everything, there was just no way I could pry the iron intake by myself (my lower back is absolute toast and todays bike ride has me really feeling it) so I had to get clever. I just couldn’t crack the intake away from the top of the motor. I needed to lift it somehow so I could get my fingers around it and pull without ruining my back. So…

It worked properly well…

I moved the distributor out the way, making sure to put it back exactly as before, and I was able to grab the iron and get it out of there without another injury. Yay.

Mocked up for approval. Thermostat housing gasket needed, and water temp sender isn’t in the right place I don’t think. I’ll grab a few block offs for the other unused holes. New gaskets coming and I’ll drop it back on this coming week. Lovely.

 

[Gary P]

I ordered some plugs for the unused ports in the manifold…$16 from Amazon

And capped off the unused ports. I ran out of light and to be honest, I ran out of energy too, so here’s the intake ready to go back on, I just have to finish making my thermostat housing gasket and it’s ready to roll...

Adam text me Thursday evening, with pictures of the Thermoquad just before it’s acid bath…

In you go, you dirty bastard!! I can’t wait to post pics of the carb looking all spiffy and fresh.

That’s all for now fellas, but as I paused my Hunter box set to post this, I look up and what do I see….

A fire department spec four door Monaco. Damn I love these cars. Am I sick?

 

[moparedtn]

I ordered some plugs for the unused ports in the manifold…$16 from Amazon
View attachment 1357212
And capped off the unused ports. I ran out of light and to be honest, I ran out of energy too, so here’s the intake ready to go back on, I just have to finish making my thermostat housing gasket and it’s ready to roll...
View attachment 1357213

Adam text me Thursday evening, with pictures of the Thermoquad just before it’s acid bath…
View attachment 1357214View attachment 1357215View attachment 1357216

In you go, you dirty bastard!! I can’t wait to post pics of the carb looking all spiffy and fresh.

That’s all for now fellas, but as I paused my Hunter box set to post this, I look up and what do I see….

View attachment 1357218

A fire department spec four door Monaco. Damn I love these cars. Am I sick?

Fred!

 

[HawkRod]

Am I sick?

Yes.



...but we all are. That's why we are here...