Near completion of a 5.3 build - car rennovation

[JohnMonte001]

Hi folks - I have been working on restoring a G-Gody with a 5.3 4l60 with a 9 inch 3.23 gears.
I just got it down off the stands. I am hoping to capture all the issues and success here in this forum/thread.

I originally started out with a 1980 Monte Carlo and after success with drive train I quickly realized how flexible the chassis are and importance of starting from the ground up.

I finagled the purchase of a 1986 T-Top Monte Carlo LS - had C&C (Cars and Concepts) looked 70's and me being a groovy guy thought "cool" how bad can that be - and with some creativity and research not bad at all.

The car is nearly complete and looks fantastic!! I only hope it drives as good as it looks - took me 9 months to finish over 4 months on the 1980 (R.I.P)

Body is average which is good so no one suspects anything.

Will have pics later of the complete build process starting with the frame.

Post questions here and I will try to answer as best I am able. The reason this is different than other builds is, it looks factory and no holes drilled none nada, used all factory firewall openings. No fancy suspension or crazy after market parts except where safety is a concern.

Issues resolved:
Frame wabbly - box the frame - gussets on control arms welded, control arm connectors and energy suspension body mounting kit.
Engine mounting brackets - Holley
Serpentine Belt System - pulleys and idlers
A/C setup - Holley kit
Wiring integration
Rear wheel DISC brakes
Fuel Delivery using OEM EFI push on connectors
Transmission cross member modifications - just moved and cut another hole in frame, still used one factory mounting hole 🙂

Hope to have front end aligned and new tires soon something that grips the road.

Let me know if it is worth posting here or if this is redundant to other threads seems everyone has done a 5.3 swap build and all are a bit unique, but truth is its been done a lot.

Let me know...

 

[Geo's66]

Can't wait- doing a frame-off on a 78 4-speed myself... Will have about 400hp so I'm very interested to see what/how you beefed the frame. Thanks, sounds great

 

[JohnMonte001]

The 78 to 80 have a stubby transmission mounting section if gouing with a 700r4 or 200 r4 this will need to be extended.
The place I went to for the frame stiffening is:

I do not do welding so I went to a place called Roddin' Daily and they had a frame machine to ensure the frame was kept square.

G-Body Frame Box-in Kit #20230JK

http://www.gnsperformance.com/#!bodyframe-g-body/c15ae

The new "Box-in" kit is designed to box in and stiffen up the frame of your g-body considerably over the stock frame. This kit fills in the open space by the transmission cross member and has the holes cut in to access things like the body bushings.
This kit is laser cut and CNC bent to insure quality fitment each time. This kit does require to be welded in and may also require the factory fuel filter to be relocated.
Rear G-body Frame brackets Rear G-body Frame brackets$82.95 Item price: $82.95

The frame before stiffening was markedly poor undoubtedly to give the car a cushy ride.
The frame after stiffening is what is more rigid - the car when jacked up by one wheel all the wheels lift. there is some flex - something has to give other wise something will fracture.

Before:



After: The red circle is the extended area for the 700 R4 the Yellow is the 78 and 80 that needs extension, and the Blue circle is where the extra hole had to be drilled for the cross member to support the 4L60e.



Before paint after media blasted.



Painted the bare metal with an etch primer (not Rusted), and then Let the frame rust a bit to paint with permatex rust converter, and then top coated with a gallon of Rustoleum oil based paint. Game out really nice and impervious to brake fluid - my test for longevity ;-).

Th Yellow circles are the gussets for the lower control arms.