85' Monte Carlo CA smog SUCKS!

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Feb 12, 2019
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Cen-Cal
Hello all, first time G-Body owner, long time fan. First post, and not a forum guy so bare with me here!

I ended up with a family friends 1985 Monte Carlo, (305 Car) his mom bought the car brand new and she is now to old to drive so i ended up with it. Plan was to sell it and make a buck or two and split the money with them. But i drove it, and now im keeping it. Haha I live in the hot rod friendly state of CA so freeing up some power isnt going to be the easiest thing. Any Fellow CA G-Body guys on here with advise? I would really like to find a set c.a.r.b. legal headers for it but im having no luck, I found on a thread here Headmen made a set but cant seem to find them on the web for sale. Also an intake manifold. Again, no luck. Is there just nothing available for that year Monte or am i just stupid? "Trying" to do this the legal way, would rather not pay an arm and a leg to a smog guy to pass it or switch parts back and forth every two years.

The plan for the car is just a fun driving daily, not intending to make 500hp, i already have a race car. Going to do some mild suspension upgrades to it, sway bars, shocks, box control arms etc... Taking the cork out of its *ss would be nice if possible!

Any advise is welcomed! (threads on here or websites)

Thanks!
 
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CaliWagon83

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Nov 12, 2017
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Orange County, CA
I am a fellow Golden Stater. Yes, any modifications are a PITA. You can only do so much with a stock 305. The nice thing about SBCs is they all look about the same externally, so you could easily build it (or better yet, a 350 or 383 that would make a LOT more power), and still probably pass smog. There are quite a few smog-legal parts for the Gen I & II SBC, theoretically.

But keep in mind, the peak market for them was about 25-30 years ago. You might be able to find some new old stock parts, or in some cases, the companies may have to dust off the original jigs or castings. If you can’t find them through the usual mail-order places, I’d try to contact the parts manufacturers directly (i.e. Hedman) to see what your options are.
 
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Feb 12, 2019
3
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Cen-Cal
I am a fellow Golden Stater. Yes, any modifications are a PITA. You can only do so much with a stock 305. The nice thing about SBCs is they all look about the same externally, so you could easily build it (or better yet, a 350 or 383 that would make a LOT more power), and still probably pass smog. There are quite a few smog-legal parts for the Gen I & II SBC, theoretically.

But keep in mind, the peak market for them was about 25-30 years ago. You might be able to find some new old stock parts, or in some cases, the companies may have to dust off the original jigs or castings. If you can’t find them through the usual mail-order places, I’d try to contact the parts manufacturers directly (i.e. Hedman) to see what your options are.



Thanks for the response, i will have to give some places a call, ive had luck finding old speed parts by just asking if they had any left! i guess edlbrock made some in the past as well?? What are some good sites to look for parts on??
 

CaliWagon83

Royal Smart Person
Nov 12, 2017
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Orange County, CA
The obvious ones are Summit and Jegs to start. There are dozens of independent dealerships that have “speed shop” divisions. Scoggin-Dickey is a good one. Hope this helps.
 

85442/86buick

G-Body Guru
Feb 12, 2013
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Perth Country , Ontario
google up Hooker c.a.r.b. headers ............from back in the day.
you may get lucky and find a pair.
 

83StreetMachine

Master Mechanic
Dec 16, 2011
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Central NJ
Whitebread, welcome to an awesome forum.


I have a set of Edelbrock TES headers that I'd sell.

Send me a PM if you are interested
 
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