Lol true very true. There is something good to be said about 520 WHP 454 that when you give it half pedal the *** end breaks loose and your *** pickers up to the seat. He rebuilt the Vetted from the frame up. She's 100% original he didn't upgrade anything but bought NOS when he could find detailed it. She's definitely a beauty to behold. My first hot rod was a 1990 Acura Legend L series 2-door coupe. She could hang with.my dad's old TA. Then when my grandad passed I inherited a '64 El Camino with a 327 and positrac rear end. Then I had kids and the hot rods took a side seat but now that the kiddos are old enough and due to unforseen circumstances I can start again.

 

I can almost hear the engine, feel the swerving and my butt cheeks pucker factor going back into action. You are a crazy one for sure... My brother had a 69 Plymouth GTX 440 magnum and we had some fun times with that, racing modded 64 Falcons, 69 442 Olds etc. after school. would appear your father was quite the gear head, heck a frame up is the best you can endeavor to do, finds all the issues. Did a Military M151A2 jeep like that one summer, wish I still had it, great little utility truck. I remember the El Caminos, they just screamed, my friends cousin had one and boy it was insanely fast. Maybe one of your kids will take an intense interest in your knowledge of cars and wouldn't that start a new chapter of memories for both of you. Best of luck on getting started, many parts are getting difficult to find anymore, so start squirreling them away.

 

Zippy pretty much covered it but I will add as well. Suspension I would do a full BMR kit and use gmpp swaybars. I heard zzp is making coil overs as well so look into them.

Performance side of things. If you want big power go turbo, if you only want around 300whp then either supercharged or turbo will be fine.

Plan on needing a transmission build with hardened parts as these transmissions suck and break very easily. If you plan on making 500whp+ good luck even on a built trans unless you find gmr parts and that's most likely not gonna happen for ya.

Top speed. You will need to use 2.93 ratio gears for most top speed possible which will be 160mph+ in 3rd gear. Don't ever use 4th gear when Wot because even a built trans will die very fast.

Body visuals. No one makes a carbon fiber hood that I am aware of. There is a few fiberglass ones out there but I wasn't a fan of the looks so that's why I made my own. Body kits are cool but if your lowering the car for handling the body kit may make the car too low and end up damaging or ripping it off.

Hope this helps some

 

Thanks Turbo that info does help alongside what Zippy said. I at least have a direction to go. Yeah I have noticed that I haven't located anything carbon fiber in aftermarket hoods but I have found a couple fiberglass ones that I liked some of the designs but not the whole thing. Having worked in a body shop with my dad I have the ability, if I can't find what I want, to custom make my own hood so I have been paying attention to the features I like so as to integrate them. Yeah I have a great transmission guy. He's probably forgotten more about transmissions than most people know. He and I talked about what would be needed, depending on the power I want to put to the wheels. My only problem is I have to find another good machine shop. The guy we used is an old friend of my dad's and he passed away right after I had my last engine (a 200 WHP 22RE) built, which he did all the machine work. The motor was for my ex wife's '85 Toyota 4-Runner. I have built several 4x4s in between my Elky and my Monte. I built a '79 Toyota Pickup, an '87 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a '96 Land Rover Discovery (no motor rebuild just suspension mods), and an '86 Suzuki Samurai that was heavily modified for rock crawling. Well today was payday so now that bills are paid I'm off to start my customization process. May the odds be ever in my favor! Lol

 

Welcome to MCF! Good luck on the SS project. Looking forward to following it!

 

Thanks I look forward to building it.

 

See you paid your bills and was off to start your modding quest. Any parts to speak of getting shipped your way? Jk, take your time, watch your coin, hopefully you will get some snags. The Grand Prix forum seems to have members there constantly selling off performance parts that will work on our Monte's.

 

Lol at this point the only things bought are seat covers (front and rear) for protection against my.kids, and a windshield cover to protect the dash. I am looking good at either a CAI or replacing the stock air filter with a K&N. Not sure yet as to which one. I'm trying to figure out if I'd really see any significant gains to warrant the CAI and I mean a true CAI. Not one of those open filters that just sucks in lots of hot air from the engine bay.

 

Honestly there is no real gains to be had. They sound cool though

 

You the man, got out and acquired new parts for your Monte's rebirth. Hey right now parts are parts, you are moving forward, just hide the receipts from the misses.

I have a Dash Mat, have had it since close to day 01. I believe in them, superb UV protection. So I will give you a thumbs up for that move...

When I get seat covers redone it is somewhat cheaper as I have no back seat...