BUILD THREAD 88 Poncho Powered Monte SS

[CartmanTD]

Finally made a good bit of progress last night. I got the motor and transmission in which was an adventure. I installed polyurethane mounts in the clamshell, but mounted them the wrong way. So I had to swap mounts around a couple times and then had to trim the block mounts about a 1/4" so the bolt hole would line up. I also in the past few weeks got the UMI tubular uppers and lowers installed, putting the springs in was a summbitch to put it nicely. I also installed the 2" drop front spindles with blazer brake upgrade. Installed the UMI chassis brace in the front. Still waiting for the sway bar bushings to come in so i can install the 36mm hollow bar I got. So far it's turning out pretty good, but only time will tell how the rest turns out.

 

[Judge Mills]

The trick I found with those spring was actually getting the tool that fits inside the springs, but putting the all-thread piece through the shock mount hole, then using the only the bottom feet to compress the spring up into the spring perch.

 

[Bonnewagon]

What a sweet looking car. I see those Ram-Air exhaust manifolds clear the frame nicely. MUCH better than headers. FWIW I had a 7.5" rear in my Malibu wagon behind a stout 400 and it was fine. I had 3:23 gears and I feel that if you have the right ratio to reduce the strain, the rear will live. It's guys trying to push against 2:41's that break them. 3:42's should be perfect.

 

[olds307 and 403]

The first thing to go are the spider gears. I picked up a used open carrier with 3.42 gears from an Astro van when my spider gears exploded. Even they were heading south so I replaced them with Yukon spider gears. Next to the awful ride in my 88, the 7.5" is pretty awesome. Pulling up to line and warming up the slicks is nerve racking. The Type O with 3.90 gears and aftermarket posi will actually be fun in the water box with the 70. Very cool choice for a powerplant and you Pontiac guys have many more exhaust manifold options vs Olds. We only have stock or Thornton 350 manifolds which need a lot of grinder work to be much better than the useless stock manifolds.

 

[CartmanTD]

I finally have the car almost all the way back together. Just some minor front end adjustments and putting in the body bushings. It has been one headache after another with this car. First the front springs fought me the whole way, and still are because the front end is sitting sky high, and that's with the 2" drop spindles. It looks like a spring change is in my future 🙁.
I went to hook the A/C lines back up and realized they aren't the correct lines, so I have to order those. The set I had was from a 3.8 Buick motor that was originally in my 80 Grand Prix.
Then came time to close the hood once the clip was back on, then the motor hits the hood....badly. I could take off the 1" carb spacer, but where's the fun in that 🙂. So I just recently bought a goodmark steel cowl hood. I have to say they definitely make a quality product and it was surprisingly packed well. Plus I got a good deal on it, I found a guy locally who sells them.
Then I bought a set of wheels 17" Hurst Dazzler's which I thought would look amazing on the car, but once they got here they didn't fit the look I wanted, maybe it's just I'm too picky? But now I have to sell these wheels and another set of 16" Soft 8 styles that were on the car when I got it to be able to afford a new set.
Then when I went to start it up, I found out the fuel pump is bad, so I am going to have to rebuild that, no big deal, just one more thing on the list. 🙂
But on a high note, surprisingly all the wiring/rewiring I had to do all turned out perfect. Everything is working as it should which I couldn't be happier about. I'll have to snap some under hood pictures tomorrow and post them.
Well enough typing, now some pictures 🙂

 

[olds307 and 403]

Love this unique build. After I was thinking of the 17" for the Challenger but they don't come in the rightbolt pattern, they only come in 20"x10's, tires are too rich for me. The 15x7 and 15x8's would look great on my 70 S, certainly easier to find decent tires for it.