I've been trying to use the serpentine setup from an '88 Firebird (305 TBI) on my '84 Monte. Its been an interesting conversion. I'm trying to keep all of the O.E. emission controls from the Monte (its an SS, so it has A.I.R.) in place and functional, since the smog police here are getting more strict about this stuff. I was able to get all of the related parts from the Firebird, including the A/C lines and condenser, and the A.I.R. parts. The mounting brackets fit fine, with the exception that there is one tapped hole missing on the front of the passenger side cylinder head, which holds the mounting bracket for the A/C compressor and A.I.R. pump. I believe that the later cylinder heads ('87 & newer) have this hole, but since GM didn't use the serpentine setup until the late '80s, that this hole wasn't deemed necessary before then. I don't think that the missing hole is critical, as I have read through a number of threads on other sites from people who have done this swap without using that threaded hole, and have had no problems. If you use the F car parts, the power steering pump and pulley will clear the steering box OK. Its tighter than the original G body setup, but its OK. I had to run a new power steering fluid return pipe on mine, as the bends in that pipe to return to the F car pump were a bit different than the original G car pipe, and I wrecked the original G car pipe, trying to rebend it. I used the reverse rotation water pump for the Firebird, and it fits fine. As for the alternator and A/C compressor, they switch sides with this swap. I'm using the Firebird alternator, which is different than the original Monte alternator, but there is a CS to SI alternator conversion harness available from several different sources (I believe that the GM part number for a car with factory gauges is 12102951). With the added length of the conversion harness, everything should fit fine-if not, you can lengthen the harness as required. I'm using the A/C condenser from the Firebird, as its basically a drop-in on the Monte, though I've heard that the condenser from a mid-'80s Cutlass with a 307 will work well too. I've tried the suction/discharge hose assembly from the Firebird, and its a bit tight, but it should work, and I'm going to convert the A/C system to R134A during the conversion. The big problem that I was running into, is that I was trying to use the factory Monte air cleaner assembly (for emission compliance reasons), and because the air cleaner duct is on the passenger side, I had A/C plumbing, A.I.R. plumbing, the hot air hose from the exhaust header, and the air cleaner ductwork, all trying to occupy the same space at the same time. After some thought, and some different ideas, I've decided to run a modified Camaro air cleaner (which has the ductwork on the driver's side, where I have some room), switch the hot air pipe to the driver's side header, then that should allow me to run the A/C plumbing and A.I.R. plumbing on the passenger side. Right now, I'm still running a mechanical fan (one conversion at a time), so I got a fan & clutch assembly from an early '90s GM pickup, which uses the serpentine setup with a mechanical fan. I'm still in the process of getting all this done, so I can't tell you how well it works (or even if it works), just yet, but I'm thinking that it should work OK. If you're looking for more info, there are threads about this on other sites, the one on MonteSS.com is just about the best one I've seen so far. Sorry for the long post.
I hope this helps you out.
I hope this helps you out.
