79 Monte street beast

[RegMan79]

Hey all! Some what new here. Any way, 79 Monte all stock 305 with th350 tran. Runs good but not hard!! Interior is a mess but the body is pretty straight. Originally I was think street /strip build but I will hardly be seeing the strip for a while. So I just want to have a quick street car for now. Semi dd.

Performance wise, my first move was going to be exaust. Found headers and duel kit on jegs. Headers p#30060 exaust kit p# 555 30556. Only issue is my state requires emissions and the kit does not come with cats. I did find some p# 15028. I want to do as much work as I can myself (no welder). The headers and kit should fit. Not sure about cats, how can I easily get around this? Clamp cats for emissions then remove after and install the rest of exaust again?

I plan on swapping engine and rear end eventually. I'm gonna get creaking on interior soon too. Amy good sites for interior besides gbodyparts.com? Thanks guys.

 

[79CMC]

Welcome, I got a 79 Monte myself and it started out the exact same way as yours ha. I have my car registered in a different state so the whole inspection and emissions thing doesn't really apply in my case. Do cats on a 305 matter either way performance-wise? What engine and rear you looking at? 8.5s are hard to find but it's hard to go wrong with a 9 inch.

Mikes Montes has interior pieces. You can also check out Original Parts Group and of course the classifieds or eBay.

Keep us updated on your progress!

 

[RegMan79]

Welcome, I got a 79 Monte myself and it started out the exact same way as yours ha. I have my car registered in a different state so the whole inspection and emissions thing doesn't really apply in my case. Do cats on a 305 matter either way performance-wise? What engine and rear you looking at? 8.5s are hard to find but it's hard to go wrong with a 9 inch.

Mikes Montes has interior pieces. You can also check out Original Parts Group and of course the classifieds or eBay.

Keep us updated on your progress!

Thanks, I was thinking an older beefy 350, 5.3 or a l31 from jegs. It's a truck engine with the vortec heads. It'll be more work but possibly worth it.

The rear would probably be a Ford 9 eventually with 373s posi.

Others would be a shift kit, maybe a better torque converter, maybe a small nitrous kit once I I'm close to getting the new engine (so I can have fun with the 305 tell she goes). Idk there's others.

 

[RegMan79]

Here a pic

 

[79CMC]

Wow, nice. Headlight bezels, grill, and trim look pretty damn good. I'm partial to the 5.3 (I have an LS1 and a t56 in my 79). Junkyard 5.3's are plentiful and cheap and would handle forced induction pretty well. Personally, I focused on suspension pretty heavily in the beginning (control arms, body bushings, steering box, ball joints, brakes, etc) so she could handle the horsepower later on. Plus it was cheaper and gave me satisfying project mini-wins while I was collecting engine parts/money.

Body looks great though--originally an AZ car? Looks like you have a solid platform for whatever potential you design.

 

[RegMan79]

Yeah its original AZ. Been in the family since it left the lot. There's some basics I need to take care of too. Mostly interior though, turn signal switch, head liner, seats and much much more haha. I'll do suspension at some point too. So much to do so little funds.

Was thinking of just switching the ring and pinion to a better gear for now. Just to have some fun for a while tell I save more. I'm afraid of blowing the 7.5 rear with the 373s though. I know they're weak.