**The image below is a Photoshop I did to get an idea of appearance

So yeah, I almost sold the car a few months ago but I changed my mind and I think that was the right decision. After approx. 4 years of not doing a thing to this car, other than routine maintenance, I plan on investing in some things that I've been considering for a few years. Some of this is to freshen up the car's appearance for a potential run at Gold Class at Monte Nationals next year. My wife gave me the okay to do what I need to do to get the car cleaned up properly for that so this coming winter/spring, on top of the items below, I'll be spending time detailing and 'sprucing up' the car as much as possible.

Exhaust - I'm planning to order a set of Doug Thorley headers and a Badlandz cutout. My hope is to install the cutout before the cat, for maximum sound when open, but I need to have some lift time at a shop first to see what can be done and how to make it work. I know for a fact the cutout before the cat has been done on these. I plan to get a tune once the work is complete.

Brakes - A brake overhaul has been long overdue so I'm going to go with a full set of new rotors and pads. I haven't made up my mind on brand, etc. but I've been looking at EBC. I think their newly phased in thermic black rotors will go well on the car. Not sure yet if I want to go flat, slotted or cross-drilled/slotted. For pads, I'll either go EBC or stick with the ACDelcos from the dealership.

Appearance - So, several things here:
(1) Wheels - This isn't necessarily a 100% surefire go right now but I'm considering what to do wheel-wise. I'm content with the stock wheels as-is but am also really interested in having them refinished in a gloss graphite - just to be different. For that, I'd either buy a second set to have refinished, and keep the car's originals on hand, or just refinish the car's originals. I've also considered aftermarket wheels and for that I'd go 20 x 8.5 max. However, going aftermarket depends on cost. In that case, I'd need new tires so that's an additional cost. And I'm not just slapping on any cheap aftermarket wheel just because. I've inquired with Vossen as I love their wheels but they aren't cheap; most of their's are $499+/wheel.
(2) Brakes - I'll be refinishing the brake calipers in red and the brackets in either black or a natural polished finish (haven't decided yet). I've been wanting to go red for a couple years now. It should pop on the black and tie in well with my red engine cover. I also bought small black 'SS' decals that I might put on the front calipers.
(3) Emblems - I'll probably go with black inserts for all the SS emblems on the car.
(4) Freshen Up - I have new wiper arms that a friend gave me. I'll be buying a new wiper arm caps, a new hood insulator, new hood seals and I have a pair of new hood bumpers. I might add to this list once I start getting into the car this winter/spring. And I need at least a new driver-side floor mat that I'll be using strictly for shows. The car's original driver mat isn't super terrible but it's not great either. The rest of my original mats still look good. The floor mats have been discontinued so I'll need to source, hope to find NOS somewhere.

 

I was really hoping to open this up and see that you were going turbo

R1 Concepts makes a good set of rotors too, if you wanted to check them out.

 

When I hit the lottery you can look for a turbo!

And R1 Concepts rotors look good too and they also have a black finished rotor. I'll have to consider them as well. Thanks.

 

I LOVE your Monte! it is so classy, and tastefully done! don't sell that gorgeous car!!

 

I don't reccomend the R1 rotors. Had them on my monte and got the stress cracks around the drilled holes. Granted that was probably 10 years ago, but throwing away nearly brand new rotors (in terms of mileage) sure put a bad taste in my mouth.


In terms of a cutout before the cat, it is possible - I've got that on my monte now. I just welded a flange to the bottom of the downpipe elbow, filled the gaps on the sides with slices of exhaust tube cut to fit, and then used a hole saw through the new flange to cut into the original downpipe tube. A couple of notes:
-As it's intent is to bypass the cat, normal exhaust shops won't touch it (hopefully you can DIY it).
-It will shoot flames being that close to the engine, so be sure you don't have any fuel leaks anywhere.
-With it shooting straight at the ground under the floor pan resonance in the cabin is really bad. May not be as bad on a stock cam car, but in my monte it's too loud to normally drive with.

 

Thank you, that's my goal - nice, subtle and clean but not overdone.

Good to know on the cutout, thanks. I really just need to get it into some shops for lift time. That's my problem right now - I need to know what can be done and cost to do it. And the car will be put away soon so at this point that probably won't happen til spring. Hell, few days ago we already had our first round of salt put on the roads.

 

One other thing I forgot to mention on the cutout since you have a LS4, if you still have DOD/AFM active, it'll sound horrible when it switches over.

I ran a post cat cutout on my GP GXP for a long time, and almost always just closed it if I was going to be on the highway with DOD on. It was definitely loud, but running on 4 cylinders, it isn't good loud - almost sounded like a helicopter taking off close by.

 

I forgot to mention that I do plan to get the car tuned after all the work is complete. But yes, helicopter seems to be the common term to describe the exhaust in 4 cyl mode.

 

I ordered my Doug Thorley headers yesterday! Got em for 20% off retail and free shipping.

 

Since you want to want to go black on the SS emblems, you might want to put these next to them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/QTY-2-TRUNK...53.m1438.l2649

Also, good luck on the floor mat. GM stopped making them in 2016, one year ahead of schedule. Hopefully you can find an Impala one somewhere.