Guest skindog1 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Hey everyone, My name is Dave and I'm new around here. I'm hitting my midlife crisis and had the car bug hit me again pretty hard. My high school hot rod - a 1972 monte with a 402BB has been out of commission for about 14 years and it's time to rejuvenate her. I'm towing it from SC to KY in a couple weeks and plan to start with a front suspension rebuild with lowered spindles and polygraphite bushings. The big list item is an LS1 swap or atleast a modern fuel injected automatic O/D swap for fuel efficiency and driveability. Anybody done one of these swaps? Any suggestions on rear suspension and rear end upgrades? This is a low budget project so money is of great consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monte70car Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 there is a guy who did the swap might want to do a search for him. by the way welcome to the club hope you stick around and join the rest of us monte crazy people. we love pics of the cars in any sharp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam (Bones) Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 WELCOME Dave!!! Â I think one or two have done the LS swap, search through the engine forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballubet Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Welcome to the madness!! Introduce yourself in the general forum, and you will be surprised with the responses. Â Oh yeah, we love pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest skindog1 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I'll have to post up some pics of the car back when it was running and then some recent pics to show how badly it has deteriorated. I'll try and find some old pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikstudie Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Welcome aboard Dave. sounds like you have alot of work ahead of you! Keep us posted! Â Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRANKIE T. Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Welcome Dave. Another MONTE saved. keep track of everything you do to the car. Take lots of pics before removing anything for future reference. Good luck w/ your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
502ci Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Welcome to the site...there are at least 2 people here who have done the swap, they must not have seen this thread yet. Â Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capri's 71 SS Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Welcome Dave ! Nice to hear you are bringing your monte back to life We look forward to watching all your progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Welcome to the madness Dave!! As far as your LS plans go why not go with an LS2 instead of an LS1. More base HP and won't cost much more to build. Either way stroking them is the way most people go around here. There is a local speed shop around here that does these swaps in all cars. The owner is a master LS tuner and engine builder. He has several daily driven stroked LS powered cars putting down over 500HP to the wheels and getting MPG in the upper 20's. If stroking is not for you at least be sure you choose the right head, cam, and intake package. These engines breath well when opened up, but there is a lot of junk out there sold by folks who make ridiculas claims and fail to deliver. If you are interested I could put you in touch with the owner of this shop. I'm not sure how many of his trade secrets he is willing to share with you, but I'm sure he will point you in the right direction. He is my Monte dyno tuner and to date he has pulled my car over 40 times. I have one more round with him to go and that will be as far as I'm willing to go, but everything this shop has done for me has been golden. Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest skindog1 Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 I think I'm gonna go with a stock engine for the initial swap to keep cost down. I'm not stuck on the ls1, I'll consider any gen3 engine when buyuing time gets here. Have you got pics of your swap? Thanks for the tips, when it comes time to hop up the engine I'm sure alot will have changed, but I'll get that contact info from you then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I didn't go the Gen 3 route, but have seen the results of many Ed has done. I'm a big block kinda guy with my FGMC, but if I ever do another build it will be with a Gen 3 power train. Good power and even better fuel economy. If you do go stock you will at least need a a cold air kit, LS6 intake, full length headers, and good free flowing exhaust with either an X, or H-pipe and 2.5" in diameter pipes. This will extract all the power out of a stock Gen 3 engine. Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chevymd350 Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Have you hit up ls1tech.com? lots of a body swaps there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Yes there is and Ed Hutchins has wrote a lot of them. I can't say enough about this guy. People come from all over the East coast to have him either tune, or build their Gen 3 power plants. A lot of guys talk a lot of smack, but this guy can back it up with real world results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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