BUILD THREAD '88 Monte Carlo SS w/ LY6 6.0 swap

[Injectedcutty]

Thanks! Mine was pretty slow going as it seems everything snowballs the deeper you go. I originally just wanted to do a LSX swap and discovered my floor-pans were gone, which led to a full frame-off. It was a big project but, it's a lot of fun knowing every nut and bolt of your car.

Hah! My body off 87 cutlass started in a similar manner 5+ years ago. Took it to my brother n laws to do suspension upgrades, we pulled the vinyl to reveal some cancer! It already had a rust hole in the pass 1/4. Within a month afterwards the car was in a thousand pieces lol!!!! Since then i could tell ya every nut/bolt/washer etc. on that dang thing! Hopefully the paint will be finished in a couple months and we can start putting it back together.
Not to mention the twin turbo LM7 going in to replace the EFI 355 that died a few years back hehe!

 

[1STLATIGERDIVISON]

Question for u. The paint on ur 88 has it spider cracked yet? My 88 'S paint on top had done it again. I learned that GM from the factory had a defective clear base coat sealer & the only way to completely cure the mess was to go down to bare metal & use a more versatile correct sealer to prevent the spider cracking. Ur car can look super exterior wise but the top will reveal the hidden mess. Just a thought since I experienced the same on my 88 I have owned 25 yrs. but unlike u not my first ride. I first owned at HS grad a 1966 SS Chevelle 396/360 hp.
Bought this 88 in 1993 with 45K on it has 85K on it now. As of January of 17 I finally had to do updates trans rebuild, nice HP 350 cid with mods brakes & the like. Had heck finding a proportioning valve. Oh yes got rid of carb went to EFI big diff!
Enuff of my stuff u have as I can see & read an excellent job with patience to boot! A real beauty. So the spider cracking maybe something U want to look in to a FYI for u.
Gary

 

[1STLATIGERDIVISON]

One last thing sorry, I had dual 14" electric fans on a Champion 3 row aluminum radiator. Never could get the thing to cool always had fear of burning engine up. Took the fans off leaving the rad , replaced with my stock fan & shroud problem cured. Another FYI good luck with yours! Don't no what the deal was.

 

[SStavin]

It had some "patina" when I bought the car. At some point I got hit and got a full paint job out of it. Nothing special but, it looked pretty decent. Fast forward a decade or so and it's far from perfect after sitting around and getting work done on it. Still looks good from about 15 feet away though. I'll keep an eye on the cooling for sure. I'm sure I'll have to tweak a few things after everything is back together.

Pic of patina right after I bought it in 1999

Right after paint 2000

 

[1STLATIGERDIVISON]

My 86 looked similar to ur car appears ur doing things right. I had cooling probs with mine as well went to a 3 row Champion aluminum rad with fans cooling got worse. So went back to stock shroud & fan probs solved runs bout 190 degrees. Something to think bout if interested.

Keep up the great work

Gary

 

[SStavin]

Getting the body mounts back together. Decided to use some washers instead of rebuilding cage nuts
I had previously cut into the floor to get to the #6&7 passenger side mounts. Sprayed some internal frame coating and put the hardware together.

#3 mounts were hacked up from the floor transfer so I did the same here.

Going to stick with the truck accessories so I picked up a new truck water pump and tensioner. Trying to source some hardware for the accessory brackets currently.

 

[clean8485]

Nice build! Love all the photos.

 

[SStavin]

Thanks! Every time I think I may be posting a few too many pictures I remind myself how many times I came across a thread with that one picture that helped me figure something out.

 

[Injectedcutty]

Thanks! Every time I think I may be posting a few too many pictures I remind myself how many times I came across a thread with that one picture that helped me figure something out.

No need to worry....its your thread, post as many pics as you want!

We all love pics, i have soooo many of my cutlass it's kinda stupid, but as you said I've been able to help others and learn from others due to pics. Heck, i probably have 10 just from restoring my taillights last week lol!

That monte will be nice when done, keep up the good work!

 

[SStavin]

No need to worry....its your thread, post as many pics as you want!

We all love pics, i have soooo many of my cutlass it's kinda stupid, but as you said I've been able to help others and learn from others due to pics. Heck, i probably have 10 just from restoring my taillights last week lol!

That monte will be nice when done, keep up the good work!

I've seen the pics haha. Made me want to do mine!