83 Monte Carlo LS PFM

[TheRestoGuy]

Ok, so I decided to finally start this build thread. Upon receiving this car from my Dad (who has had 5 shops work on it to "finish it") I thought I was only going to have to shim the starter and it would be running soon.. so so my Dad thought. So far I've swapped engines, transmissions, fixed rust in multiple spots, painted, and am getting ready for actual full paint. Specs on the car as of now.

LQ4 6.0 engine, stock from a 2008 Silverado, (holley mounts, holley oil pan)
T-56 (holley mounts)
12 Bolt, 3.73 gears with an auburn unit (narrowed axle, frame rails narrowed)
shortened 3" drive shaft with 1350 u-joints (we'll see how long this lasts)
GN fuel tank with Racetronics fuel pump -8 supply and -6 return fuel lines

Those are all the juicy details I can think of for now. I'll let the pics do the taking and maybe add some commentary along the way.

Alex

 

[TheRestoGuy]

Having been driving a 1992 S10 for a few years as a daily, I knew the little truck really responded to the rebuild and upgrade of the front components and bushings to polyurethane; I would do the same to the Monte. After I decided to sell the sb 434 due to questionable build quality, I knew I would go LS due to the power they can make and lovely turn key fuel injection qualities they have. Time to make the frame pretty. At this time I would also route the -8 fuel line. I don't know how the previous builder expected to make 500 something HP with 3/8 fuel line (no return) and a cruddy fuel pump. I always believe in over building if it makes sense and this was an easy thing to do here. . I picked up the fuel tank I want to say off of amazon or rock auto, and the 1/2" stainless steel fuel line from McMaster-Carr .

 

[TheRestoGuy]

I then went to Korea for work,. My phone with a lot of other pictures from 2017, bricked and died.. so I'm out a lot of pictures of the initial LQ4 setup and T-56 install. Fast forward to late 2017 and this year.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

Back from Korea and ready to turn wrenches on this thing. I disturb the Monte from its slumber on jack stands. At this point I also decided to go all in with the project and make it the new daily driver, not pseudo race car. Please note, my hydroboost lines are hooked up WRONG in these pictures. When I started the car, I overheated the pump and the pedal got stuck on the floor. So don't use the next few pics of the hydroboost as reference pics.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

While I was in Korea, I looked at a lot of silver and charcoal colors for the car. My Dad wanted the car to be a darker charcoal so that was non-negotiable. Black, while amazing looking in my mind on boxy cars, was also off the table as my Dad hates it on these cars except GN's. haha so balance must be achieved.

In these pics I show how I kinda prepped a fender for paint as a test panel. Hell the car color was already basically primer gray. The colors from left to right or light to dark to medium dark are Mercedes Palladium Silver, GM Nightfall gray metallic / Watkins Glenn Gray / Son of a Gun Gray (yes it has 3 names, maybe more), and furthest right is GM Storm Gray normally found on trucks.

For this car I didn't like any of these colors. Not sure if you can make it out but look at how my zero prep on the panel besides a quick sand with 320 grit and a degrease yields a very crappy paint job (but I knew this would be the case, just helps to show what a cra* paint job looks like). I shot a light coat of clear over all three too to get a feel for the color on the lines of the car.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

My last color I looked at was Mercedes Selenite Gray, and I really like this one. I like the "magneto" version they offer and am still torn if I want to shoot matte clear over it. Probably not, but maybe as an accent I'm still not sure. I shot clear over half of the spoiler. Again, zero prep besides a light sanding to knock off the chunks of crud.

Catching the light in photos for this color to make it look like what my eye sees is very difficult.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

I had to get rid of the dodge neon seats that were in the car, they were mounted very sketchy, looked bad, and had no support to take tuns or just sit in for 5 hrs on a road trip. My back is cra* due to my job.. and I was not about to sit in those seats driving a car every day or cross country.. so new seats. Pricey, but I think worth the investment. I didn't find many pictures of these seats in g-body's , so after the car is done, I'll take better pictures.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

For a while I was trying to figure out how to paint the car.. I couldn't paint it all at once and get the inner fenders / hood.. so I shot the inner part of the fenders with the decided color, Mercedes Selenite Gray.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

Second major hiccup besides the engine / transmission swap to LS stuff.. RUST. Both my dad and I knew there was a leak in the car somewhere. The rear part of the floor would be soaked after a rain storm and we couldn't find the leak. We both thought it was the quarter windows or the rear glass... I fulled all the door gaskets and trim to "cut in" for painting the rest of the car.. I didn't want to have to do door jambs when I shot the car, just the exterior as metal flake isn't my strongest paint job. I was greeted by this. ... on both sides.

 

[TheRestoGuy]

Cut the rust out, create a patch piece, weld in. The 3rd picture shows how close I got to the filler line. oops. luckily, you won't see that.