Dear,

I have a Monte Carlo ss 2003 and I would like to know if I can make it rear wheel drive and mount a Hemi 6.2 v8 engine? If someone could answer me and help me I would appreciate it.

 

Can it be done - yes. Several approaches to get there, but its certainly doable. Will cost a good bit of money to do it right. You've got to have a real passion for the monte body to even start to consider a project of that scale. Id bet you'd be at least $50k if you were to drop it all off at a pro shop - those labor hours add up very quickly at experienced pro custom job rates. The more parts they source, the more expensive it gets as they add their profit / overhead onto it.

Can you personally do it - no. Not trying to be rude here, but if you have to ask a question like that, you don't have the skill & tools to pull it off. The person or team of people needeed to successfully pull something like that off would be reasonably experienced fabricators with at least one having some background in engineering. Modifying the load bearing structure of a car properly is not a simple task.


Probably sounds a bit calloused, but between forums and FB groups someone asks the v8 RWD swap question at least once a week. The number of people that actually start the project are probably less than 0.1% of those who ask. The number of people that actually pull it off can probably be counted on both hands in total across the life of all W bodys. Theres at least an equal number of completely ruined cars from people that started hacking and got in way over their head and scrapped the project because no shop would touch a half done hack job.

 

I imagined it must be an expensive project of that magnitude. Save well, you think you can get more horsepower from the engine that saves itself is the 3.8 V6. What should I do to give this engine more horsepower? Can I make it turbo? Change the camshafts? Put intake? Header? cat-back? What do you recommend?

 

Next question in line would be whats your power goals and whats your budget? Also, what is YOUR mechanical skill? Can you do all the work yourself or will you have a shop do it?

 

Have a read at this thread: https://montecarloforum.com/forum/en...-bumpin-24896/

You have the L36 engine.

 

Like a few others noted above - your power goal, budget and how much work you can do yourself would help us give you some tailored suggestions.

The 3800 can make plenty of power; building a 10 second 1/4 mile car is possible wiith enough money. Certainly there are drawbacks to doing so FWD and with a 4t65, but it is doable.


All of the stuff you mentioned for mods is possible. Big thing to keep in mind is that they dont make much power NA. Compression is very low, displacement is relatively small, and top end flow is poor. Even heads / cam and full bolt ons, they still struggle to keep up with any boosted 3800.

Bolting on a supercharger (say a m90 from a supercharged 3800) or a turbo kit is the way to go to make reasonably good power. There are several bolt on turbo kits available as well so this is all easy to do and relatively inexpensive.


Big thing is making the plan before you jump into it. As technology moves forward, new cars get more powerful and more efficient. That makes the previous gen stuff cheaper and cheaper. The 3800s are certainly great bang for the buck now as theyre pretty much rock bottom on price and there are lots of used mods floating around for cheap. But you need to look at your goals because there may be a newer platform that gets you there easier and cheaper, and more reliably - especially if your goals are pretty high.

 

Thanks guys,

Finally, if I wanted to make it supercharged, should I change the camshafts? Is racing for Monte Carlo coming? I would appreciate your responses.

 

"Should" is subjective. Depends on your goals. My personal opinion is yes but its not necessary by any means.

If you wanna superchage it and be done then, no you should not change cams.

Look up "3800 top swap". I have a feeling thats what you want.

 

Agreed with the above - totally depends on your goals. The cam between a stock NA 3800 and supercharged 3800 is identical - so its certainly not a requirement by any means to make everything work correctly.

With that said, it is limiting to power. The current stock cam M90 record is 318 whp (which happens to be a top swapped 5th gen monte), but the next 4 behind that are right there - all very low 300s.

Given the M90s have been pushed to low-mid 400s, its clear you'd be leaving at least 100 whp on the table in an all out build by not touching the cam (or cam + heads).

Thats all assuming you're talking about a top swap with a M90 from a 3800 - if youre talking a larger aftermarket supercharger, it would be a waste to leave the stock cam in there.

Not sure what you're asking here.