1972 LeMans, 400 improvements
 

I've owned this cars since 1992(high school). 42,000 miles, bench seat, column shifter, a/c, PS, PB. Solid car.

Originally I added rebuilt #16 heads to the 350, log manifolds, crush bent dual exhaust. Along with cast iron intake, a Q jet and dual snorkel, HO racing carb and Distributor kits and HO-01 cam. Shift kit in the t350 with a 12 bolt 3.55 post. 15" Honeycomb wheels., added front disk brakes 15 years ago.

I spent many evenings working on it.

The 350 wasn't enough and seemed tired. So in 1995 I pulled a 400 out of a 72 full size parts car we have. Rebuilt .030 with a Warrior kit and 068 cam. With the 16 heads and other stuff above. Runs great, fun to drive.

Recently added a rebuilt 200 4R I've had stashed away for 20 years. Nice upgrade.

Never been to the drag strip but bought a Dragy recently and was disappointed at my best so far of 14.6 at 95 mph. Any my wife's Mach E runs around 13.8 so upgrade time.....

At least I can beat my dad's 6.2 LS pickup.

I'm new here and have asked some questions on other threads about improving the exhaust. So I've got a 2.5" mandrel bent Pypes system ordered from Summit. And bought maybe the last pair in the country of D port ram air manifolds from The Parts Place this week.

Kent

Kent,

14.6 seem on par for the build and not too bad of a ET. Nothing wrong with that. Sounds like you have a nice setup. Other then the RA manifolds you might want to look at 1.6 rockers and what are using for a stall converter? I don't think I would push much beyond this with a 200r4 being the weak link in the system.

look down the ports on those manifolds. awhile ago, a friend of mine sent some back because at least one, maybe more were very narrow / small.

Thanks! 2004R has the stock stall. Was rebuilt over at Fort Dodge Transmission, and had a shift kit added. Working to get the governor WOT shift point correct. At about 4100 rpm now. Probably should have beefed it up... Was surprised my crossmember was rotten at the ends even thought the car isn't rusty.

The rockers sound like a good idea. All of my info from HO Racing and Jim Hand says I would have enough clearance for the pushrods without grinding. Yet I read on here I may not?

What brand 1.6 rockers do you like?

They look pretty good.

Kent, Let's see more pictures of your beautiful '72 Lemans...inside and under the hood. I'll be watching this thread for sure!

Dennis

Original interior, car was gold with a white vinyl top when I bought it in the early 90s.

Had a GT-37 that needed an interior and engine. Was going to put them together but figured out this car was too good, so sold the GT-37(I know). And this became my project.

It lives on a gravel road, so hard to keep it perfect.

Car has a good owner.. it's sharp! That front bumper looks like my member ID and would definitely distract me if it drove by.

Good luck on your quest.

Thank you!

Unsure if I want to recover the bench seat or redo a pair of buckets I have. Being 6'7' I've got the year one seat brackets for more leg room.

I apologize for getting off topic but before you decide, see if you can even buy "correct" covers for the seat. I could not for my 70 vinyl bench. Not sure about your 72 but in 70 the upholstery was different for GTO and Tempest/LeMans which added complexity.

And worth nothing... but I like your front bench.

Ok thanks, good to know. Sounds like a lot of that stuff is taking a while to get.

I really like the 1970 front end like yours.

Good luck!

And trust me, yours is prettier!

Kent, That's a tough call, but the bench seat is a little lighter than a pair of buckets...if that is of any importance! I re-upholstered the bench seat in my '70 Lemans 4-door (actually redid the whole interior) and went with a fabric/vinyl combination, so it wasn't as sticky on hot humid days ('70 Lemans' have all-vinyl seats). The fabric inserts is '63 Lemans material that an upholstery shop had extra of and gave me a good price for it to get rid of it. It was an expensive venture for sure, but turned out really nice.

The '70 green Tempest actually has an all-vinyl repro green '70 Chevelle seat upholstery done by the previous owner, but no one has ever questioned/noticed/recognized it until I pointed it out. I would imagine there is a parchment/white Chevelle reproduction set that would be the least out of pocket cost, and no one would be the wiser, except for you.

Your seat pleat pattern would be fairly easy for most good upholsterers to mimic and use your old covers as patterns.

Dennis

Dennis, I really like that green interior! Our local interior guy quit a couple years ago so need to find another shop. Unless I decide to tackle the buckets myself.

Legendary not showing a cover for a bench. 72 was just called white it looks like. Will look at the Chevy covers.

How would you compare the engines between your 2 cars?

LOL... I also ended up with Chevelle covers to try and match my 70 vinyl. I kept my original back seat covers and Ben (rambow here on PY) was familiar enough to point me to 68 Chevelle as a reasonable match. I had him add buttons to assist the impersonation when he installed my front covers.

I don't know about Kent, but my resources and common sense limit what I will spend on my low-value car... which put custom upholstery out of reach. Dennis's custom covers are beautiful for sure.

Hopefully Kent will achieve his performance goals easily and find some stock covers that he likes.

Thanks for the posts and replies. Always nice to see other LeMans and Tempest cars.

Attached pics are my original rear seat and Ben's results for my front.

Mike

The '70 Tempest 2-dr post coupe has the small valve (1.96" int./1.66" exh.) #16 heads rated at 330 hp. That's the engine that dyno'd 380+ hp in pure stock trim. Has a TH400 with a 12-bolt rear with 3.42 gears. Has run a best of 13.18 in hot muggy weather.

The engine the Lemans 4-dr post sedan is a 461 (400 with a 4.25" stroker kit), ported 6x-8 heads (255 cfm int./210 cfm exh.), RA exhaust manifolds, RAIV cam, etc. and makes 500 hp. M20 4-speed with a 12-bolt with 3.08 gears. This car has the power to run low 12's.

Dennis

Those look good Mike!

And these cars are worth more than they used to be. That said at least I can drive down the gravel at 50(to get to the pavement) and not worry abut it.

Mike, I could only afford to do an interior like this once...and it was much more than I ever planned on spending on this car...lol. I think the only A-body bench seat pre-made covers are for Chevelle's, and yours look great, btw. I bet nobody ever took exception to them.

Dennis

Love the Rally IIs and blue on the 4dr! Always wished I would have painted mine blue.

Fun to see what I can get out of the 400, but then I think I should just build a stroker. 200 4R probably not up to that task at the moment.

Got to run the car with the RA manifolds and Pypes 2.5" system briefly before the bad roads a while back.(Posted this a different thread too)

Picked up .3 in the 1/4 and 1-2mph in a no so great test. My 0-60 improved a lot. Bottom end is stronger for sure, spins more.

Maybe the 068 is running out of breath up top? 1.65 rockers or cam swap....

60ft times still 2.3-2.4 on the BFGs.

Front cover is weeping antifreeze so need to get at that.