Monte SS nose on an 83 elky?

[drknow90rs]

Sorry guys, but I'm new to the boards and I'm sure it has been asked a thousand times (Did a search and came up with nothing that answers my questions)

I have an 83 elky that I have been wanting to install an SS nose on (Choo-choo style) But Dont know what parts I should be looking for. I know I need the bumper cover, spoiler, and parking lights, but what else? Someone said I would need the fenders..... I can get it all very cheap, I just dont know what parts to get.
Thanks for reading!
--Jason--

 

[Oregon350Cutlass]

You need the whole front clip.Fenders,hood,bumpers etc. Have you ever seen a elco with the Monte Carlo LS front end? looks pretty nice IMO.More lowriders use the LS clip vs. the SS clip but i like them on any elco.Try looking in the lowrider section on here,might find alittle more info.

 

[drknow90rs]

AH!! Ok, thanks! So the fenders are different. I will get a 3" cowl hood, so I will need the fenders and bumper cover. Is the core support the same?
I considered the LS front end, but for me, they are a little harder to get parts (Cheaply) for.

 

[Blake442]

If you're using a factory SS nose, you'll need to modify the fenders, because Monte's and Elky's have different body lines.

The Choo-Choo nose is designed to work with the stock Elky fenders if I recall correctly...

Core support is the same.

 

[Oregon350Cutlass]

Yea the core is the same.check this out heres alittle more insight on the swap.People say you gotta do the doors also because of body lines.http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=2511
CHECK THIS OUT!<a href='http://img200.imageshack.us/i/elcutlass.jpg/'><img src='http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/1881/elcutlass.jpg' border='0' alt='Image Hosted by ImageShack.us'></a>

 

[Longroof79]

I dig the Cutlass/ Camino...very cool and different.

 

[Mike P]

This is for what it’s worth, (as I haven’t actually gone thru it yet), but I am planning/hoping to use a 78 Monte Carlo Front end and doors on my 83 El Camino. I don’t know who owns or built the one below, but it’s pretty much what I hope mine will come out like. I happen to REALLY like the flowing front body lines of the 7 8-80 Montes and I’ve owned El Caminos have always been one of my favorites so this seems like a natural.

I’ve done about as much research as I could on the net, and this is what I’ve come up with so far. The 78-87 El Camino’s have a lower body line that is about 8” above bottom of the door (where I did the 2 tone on the wife’s 84 El Camino) that continues both in front of the rear tire and behind it. With the exception of the Malibu all the G Body’s I’ve looked at have the lower body line that is only about 4” from the body of the door. Additionally in some cases depending on the body and year (such as the 78 Monte Carlo I’ve picked up as a donor) the body line at the top of the door is more rounded and “softer” than the El Camino Body line. When mixing and matching parts, you generally need to replace the front fenders AND doors.

In order to make everything match up what most people do (and it’s what I am planning) is to lower the body line on the rear quarter (in front of the rear tire) to match the Monte Carlo doors and soften the body line at the top of the door. In the conversions I have come across most people leave the body line behind the rear tire as is (which in many cases IMO does not look real good. If you look closely at the body the rear quarter behind the rear tire, it does not come down as far as the quarter panel in front of the rear tire. If you take a straight edge along the body line on the burgundy El Camino, (from the door back) it comes almost to the bottom of the quarter panel behind the tire, so I plan on eliminating that body line completely. Or at least that’s the plan right now.

There was some discussion of this on my build thread in the swap section.

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=12658&start=0

Anyway hope this and the pictures help a little showing what you might be getting into.

 

[drknow90rs]

ACH!! This is becoming a headache!! I usually dont shy away from difficult procedures and I wouldnt mind replacing the fenders and doors, but if I will have to modify the body line on the quarters in order to get them to match, I think I will keep the 83 front end. I'm just too frugal to spend over $900.oo on a bumper cover (Seems a little overpriced to me) LOL, If I didnt already have 3 other project cars I might, though! I have seen so many Elkys with this conversion, I had been thinking it was as simple as putting a new front clip on.
Oh well, thanks for all the info!!!