86 Monte Carlo SS with 5.3 LS and 700R4

Just got my first Monte Carlo SS. Always wanted one of these or a Regal.

The car is an 86 Monte Carlo SS with 68k miles. It has an LM7 5.3 mated to a 700R4. It’s got T-Tops (I didn’t want that), a grey interior with new carpet, and most interior pieces have been removed and refinished, and need to be reinstalled. The car was taken off the frame at some point, all body bushings replaced, the entire frame painted in POR-15. The floor appears to have two patches done towards the front outer corner of the driver side and passenger side. There is some rust along the rear lower fender and along the bottom door edges. The car has “15-footer paint”. It was resprayed at some point.

Immediate action:
The car needs radiator fans - in process of wiring dual electric Dodge Intrepid fans
gauges wired up
Mount PCM and tidy wiring
Install air intake
steering wheel alignment (it sits like 90 degrees off center) - should I remove the steering wheel and reinstall at a different angle or does this alignment need to be done elsewhere?
Rear tires - need a pair of 255/60/15

Is there anyway to remove the old fuel without dropping the tank? Siphon maybe?

Here are some pics as she sits now:

melloelky said:

have you thought about(bear with me here) removing the the fuel line feeding the motor,extending it in a SAFE fashion and hit the key and have the pump feed all that fuel into another container for you vs dropping the tank?

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Well lucky for me one of the fuel lines in the engine bay somehow rubbed against the pully of the LS motor, and is now leaking. So I am going to cut it right here and drain the tank from this broken section.

64nailhead said:

You need to unhook the supply line or return from the rail, adapt a hose to connect to whichever you unhooked, put the hose in a fuel can (empty preferably), then jump pins 30 and 87 of your fuel pump relay.

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If I jump those two pins, will that mean the pump will be running continuous without the car on?

Rt Jam said:

First figure out why the steering wheel is 90 deg off. An SS should have a quick ratio steering box.
Turn the wheels all the way to the left, note the steering wheel position.
Then right, note wheel position. Where is the wheel when its half way between left to right?

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I will try this - thanks.

doood said:

The car looks good, but unfinished - wish I had a '15 foot paint job' like that. ECM is in a good spot so long as it doesn't rain; perhaps wall it off and invert it so water drips away from the pin connectors (ECM vertical in opposite of orientation pictured above). Needs a cone air filter; move the MAF to the middle of the straight run of the intake pipe (works best with fully developed flow [pipe length >> diameter]).

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mclellan83 said:

Congrats, looks like a good pick up and some minor work to make it fully yours

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Thanks.

78Delta88 said:

Looks like a very nice car. It might be optical illusion from the photo, but looks like too much negative camber. The one photo looks like too much positive, but the other looks too much negative. Best is have your alignment checked.

On the quick ration and variable ratio steering box it is important that it is centered and steering wheel is straight before making adjustments. I was ASE alignment tech back when these cars were new, and fixed many poor alignments. Old school method when you didn't know what you were doing..., was make adjustments so track is straight, then remove steering wheel and reinstall it straight and call it good.

This is wrong but many times it happened that way. It needs to go to alignment shop that knows what they are doing.

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Yes the alignment definitely needs to be checked, I need to find a shop who knows what they are doing with these cars.

64nailhead said:

Yes. Once you see it work you’ll be surprised how simple it is.

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I actually ended up doing this, and even put a switch on the jumped pins so I could control the pump. I didn't want to run it completely dry incase I burnt out the pump.


Now I need to figure out why my seatbelts aren't retracting. I think I need new seat belts - do you guys have a good trusted source for new grey ones?

Also I need to figure out how to setup my overflow tank. It is taking in 3 lines, a larger 3/4" line from near the bottom of the top of the radiator below the blue capped nipple, a smaller 3/8 line from closer to the top of the bottom of the radiator, and another 3/8" line from steam line off the engine which runs through the throttle body.