Howdy from Amarillo TX
 

Hey everybody. My name is Seth and as my title says I'm from Amarillo, TX. I have always loved Monte Carlos of all years and bodies. I just purchased my first and have loved driving it every day. It is a white 2003 SS. I have some cosmetic mods and performance mods already in mind for it. I am a water treatment plant operator. I was raised around cars and motorcycles. Along with my Monte I own a '98 Ford Expedition 4x4, and a BMW R1100RT Motorcycle. I am excited to be a part of this group and the Monte Carlo community and look forward to interacting with everybody.

Welcome to Mcf. What's your plans for it?

Plans
 

Well I'm looking at a body kit for it, haven't made up my mind as to which one yet. I'm going to put a carbon fiber hood with a functional hood scoop. Modify the suspension for better handling. Probably either turbo charge it or supercharge it, I'm still weighing my options there, upgrade the cam, internals, and externals on the motor and some other misc exterior and interior upgrades (i.e. headlights, taillights, mirrors).

Hello Seth and Welcome to the MCF!! :thumbsup:

Nice to have you here, open up your check book and lets start spending your money...:eek::cool::wtf:

Your modification schedule is an ambitious one, but needed if you want to be a decent contender down there on those Texas streets in your Monte Carlo son. Set aside at last $20k for everything from power adders, tranny, suspension, tires, performance appearance mods and if you don't spend it all you can always buy a part or two for Turbo Monte or my car... ;) Heck just set $30k aside

Thanks Zippy02 and I'll keep you guys in mind lol. This is definitely going to be a long term project for sure. My main goal actually isn't a drag car. I'd like to have more top end and handling than anything, not that it's going to.lower my budget any lol.

Ah, you do want to go fast, very nice. You redo your suspension with BMR products, KYB AGX adjustable struts and your already super handling Monte will be even more so..


https://www.carid.com/2002-chevy-mon...-17801332.html

Cool I will definitely look into those. Ever since my dad bought a 1976 Pontiac Transam with the 400 Pontiac and RTS suspension I've been hooked on cars like it. 0-60 and quarter mile are great but when you can hit 140+ and take 30 MPH corners at 60....ooooh that is the thrill I'm looking for. I was greatly impressed by my Monte's current handling and top speed ability but all it told me is I had a great platform to work with.

Sweet, that had to be awesome pulling hard G's in a classic powerhouse car like the Trans Am. I'm telling you, my whole suspension has been redone, heavy duty sway bars, all BMR products. Eibach lowering springs, KYB adjustable struts, running BF Goodrich255-50-16 G-Force Comp-2 tires, and this Monte just hugs the off ramps to where one see's stars. Way to much fun and feeing safe doing it. I agree our cars handle so very well right from the factory.

Oh dude just hearing that setup made me cargasm lol. Yeah it was sweet my dad's TA only had 50k when he got it back in '96 and when he got rid of it in 2010 it had 170k roughly and still performed, handled, and lookEd like the day he got it. I still could slap him for getting rid of it but it was to finish his 1965 Chevelle El Camino with a 454 transplant, which he later sold for a 1976 Corvette. He got tired of a 1/4 miler and wanted another tourer.

Well you have had your share of aw crap moments then, bet it got sketchy now and again. Don't be a slappin you papa unless its slappin one of his favorite drinks in to his hand. I can understand, the older cars never let you forget who's the boss, drum brakes all the way around, life was scary, but great memory making. Guess you can slap him on the back too and thank him for the good times.

These Monte's can take you to the bank, guess you will just have to plan your madness and chip away at it. Year by year, took me all of 4 years to get mine together. And now it's going back into the shop for a complete fuel system makeover. Holley Dominator EFI fuel management system, no more MAF air meter for this car. :eek::eek::wtf::eek:

Lol true very true. There is something good to be said about 520 WHP 454 that when you give it half pedal the ass end breaks loose and your ass 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. :bat:

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 :rotfl:

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...:thumbsup:

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

Well I'm good in the misses department as I'm divorced. That's part of why I got the Monte is to focus on something besides what happened. It's turned out to be quite helpful too. Best therapy more eyes can buy lol.

Understand for sure, I'm going through (went through)the Big D and I don't mean Dallas... (Country lyrics)

Now my girlfriend hates my car as it gets all the money. I'm not going to just park it so we can sit and hold hands at a beach for a week. Well there went another $3500 car part.

Yeah I hear ya. Luckily my GF is as big of a gear head as I am. She may not understand some of my mods and ideas but she never fights me on it. Well unless I do it without her help lol.

Wow, very well played getting her, so is she single???:nono::cool::eek::wtf::nono::eek::rotfl:: cool::rolleyes:

Lol I don't know how I got that lucky but I sure as hell am holding on to her. Now she wants a 6th gen Monte like mine but she wants to find a purple one. As far as I know they never made a purple one.

Dang, well her and you are the lucky ones then. You two have to be quite the sight, both with busted knuckles, grease under the finger nails, smudges on your face, she has her hair pulled back, blouse 1/3 unbuttoned, sweat soaked bandana on, whoa I had better stop right here she is getting me hot and I have not even met her. :eek:

Given time I bet there is a non-factory purple Monte out there to be had...
She would be riding around with the window down, okay don't get me started again... :nono: