so i have an 85 monte ss. it currently has the 305 h/o motor in it. what i would love to do is drop in a 383 stroker or something of this nature. actually thats what i really want to do. so my question is, how and what is involved in doing this? how bad is the swap? i would want to keep the bare essentials in the car. i dont want a/c and all of this non sense. so im looking for a general idea of this process, not a description of every nut and bolt. i thank you for your help in advance!
A real noob question
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Well your going to have to upgrade the radiator and driveline. Depending on what transmission you have. Most likley you have the 4 speed TH-2004R. Which you should rebuild when you do the swap (depending on how many miles are on it). And possibly beef up the rear diff. Stepping up from a tired 305 to a torque monster 383 is a little much on a stock 7.5" open diff. to handle. And your going to need to replace the engine mounts (which you should do anyways) The old ones tend to sag and it makes it tight on clearance for exhaust if your running full length headers. Other than that its up to you. What type of 383 are you dropping in? Crate motor? While you have the engine out you should remove the A/C and Smog if your going to do it.
just to swap motors, you only have to pull the old one out and drop the new one in. any chevy small block v8 will fit in an SS. but like the man said, if you are gonna pound on it, the trans won't be happy, the rear will eventually break, etc. i would get your radiator dipped and cleaned and run Evans NPG+ coolant. it's working great in my car and my radiator sucks! i would go to bowtie overdrives and get the wiring kit for the torque converter clutch, this way you can completely remove the computer and the 50lbs of wiring. you'll also see that they have properly built performance 200-r4's for a very good price. change the gear oil in the diff, i used the redline shockproof oil to try and cushion everything a little. i've been beating on mine for a couple hundred miles and everything is holding up so far, but the trans (stock) is weird under full throttle.
Just some thoughts, If you are going to build a serious drag car saveing a couple pounds from the AC may be worthwhile. But if you are building a street car its just extra work and hurts the value / marketability of your SS.
Megaladon6, Ever make a pass with your Monte at the track?
Megaladon6, Ever make a pass with your Monte at the track?
the closest track is about 100mi from me, so not yet. and there are almost no straight roads around me to guesstimate a 1/4mi. i have to get around to a 2:00am run down the highway. right now i'd say i'm running high 13's. if i actually had some rear tread and a trans that shifted at WOT i might be able to see mid 12's.
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