1988 Monte Carlo SS. will finish some day

[chumscustoms]

Well figured I start a project post.
the reason for the left turn forever, all my buddies give me crap for building a Monte ss since all the bomber dirt track cars are g bodies.
In 1998 I bought this car in kentucky. It was a rust free shell. It was exactly what I wanted. I built a 350 with holley aluminum heads and there cam kit, stock tranny. Blew up a bunch of transmissions and them decided to go to college.
The car sat from 2002 till now.
Last fall I decided it was time to get the monte on the road again. I was going to go with a 6.0 ls motor I have. But one day I ran across a deal on a GM Performance 350 ram jet. So I went that route, figured I already had the headers and it should be a easy swap.
I cleaned the engine bay up and painted it, got everything else ready for the swap.
The motor like 8 said is a RamJet 350. It came with a bow tie over drives 700r4. 1800 stall. And the motor already had a vintage air front runner setup.
I put a GN fuel tank and sending unit in. I'm running a 97 5.7 vortec fuel pump.
Got a set of spal electric fans. Spent a fortune on all black AN fittings. Purchased a jegs crossmember for the 700r4. Got a ebay trans cooler. Ebay power steering reservoir.
The only stuff left to do is get my drive shaft made. Hook the heater and air up. Wire the fans, build the exhuast.

[instro84]

nice post more pics when you can

[chumscustoms]

Last couple nights I've been in the garage trying to plug away at this project.
I e decided to relocate the battery in the trunk. The cost of wiring is outrageous! At work we had a bunch of 1/0 welding cable that the guys had thrown out. I figured why not. I got a bunch of self sealing heat shrink and covered all scuffed areas on cable, (none was to the wire) then soldered on a end and put the braided loom that I got from grainger. I think it turned out decent. Got a couple more to make for grounds.
Also been making brackets for everything lately to try and help neatin up the engine bay. Found a good use for some random aluminum brackets off of a wrecked gmc Truck I had.

Next agenda is o2 bung in collector and fill with fluids to see what I got for leaks. Drive shaft will be done tomorrow. I can see the end but still far away. Paint will be a chore
Also trying to decide if I want the fabricated valve covers or just the original ones. The fabricated ones have no pcv holes or fill cap, which I can fix if I go with them. But They Just Seem cheap.

[chumscustoms]

This weekend was good for the dirt track special. Put radiator and condenser in place after the all the brackets got painted. Got the remote mount battery cables to the trunk.
One issue I have been neglecting is hooking the factory floor shifter up to the 700r4. I have nothing fro. The original setup except the shifter and cable. I ordered a kugel komponents shifter adapter. Of course it didn't just fit like I hoped it would. But with a die grinder and square file I got it set up. Did notice I will be filing some more. The shifter doesn't land in the correct locations so I will have to locate the attachment point for less throw.
Picking the drive shaft up today. And some battery stuff.
It's getting there

[chumscustoms]

Got the monte running saturday. installed battery in the trunk. Utilized the original battery tray and relocated to the spare tire area in the trunk. Installed the shut off switch.
Welded in the 02 bung into the collector. Finished up some ground wires.
Had to remove the front runner system so I could install the heater hose from the water pump. Reinstalled the front runner and filled it up with coolant.
Had to install a plug that the previous owner of the motor had in finger tight. But other than that no leaks.
Fired it up. Seems like it may have a miss. But the open headers were a little loud to verify. But I also took temp readings off the header tunes and my d riverside is 250+ lower than the passengers side??