Mechanicals Page...
This page will show the mechanical modifications I have made to the engine, transmission, rear diff and suspension...

Engine...
 
This is the new engine and cylinder heads. It's a Recon Engines shortblock, 1969 vintage from a C series truck.
 4 bolt mains, 9.1 compression, .040 overbore, stock cam and lifters (for now), high volume oil pump and double roller timing chain. The heads I sourced from a local machine shop. They are 882 casting number heads. 1.94, 1.50 valve, 3 angle valve job, ported and polished. Sitting on top of the box that my ZZ4 intake manifold came in. (Thanks to Ben Taublib for the manifold).

Here the engine is waiting on the stand to be put into my old blue Monte...


The engine is in and running great. At this point the only luxury I could afford was a chrome air cleaner...



Exhaust...

After then engine was installed I had to use the stock exhaust manifolds from the 305... Problem was they weren't compatible with the heads on the car... So they were leaking pretty badly... I then bought these headers used from a classified ad. I cleaned them up and used Krylon high temp paint on them. The install was a bitch. But for $40 they work great.  I also had the wonderful opportunity of driving to the exhaust shop (5 miles away) with open headers!!!! WOW is that shit loud. Especially at 9am and when you tach it out to 4000 rpm! :-) I have since installed ceramic coated Dynomax headers...



My buddy John cut and notched the crossmember so my 2.5" exhaust would fit. I used Dynomax Super Turbo Mufflers. You can hear how it sounds here....


Transmission...

I have gone through a number of transmissions in this car... The first casualty was the GM Metric TH200 transmission. This lasted pretty good behind the fresh transmission but it started puking tranny fluid from time to time and had to go... Next up was a tried and true TH350 transmission. This lasted the longest but let me down the hardest! During the trip to Monte MadneSS 2005 the current tranny decided it didnt' want to go through the Lincoln Tunnel to the Monte Madness show down in Delaware and this is what happened...



Coming around the corner to the tunnel the radiator decided to fail and let anti-freeze into the transmission and damn my tranny was smokin big time... Below you can see the red tranny fluid puked on the ground... This was not a good day for me and this car! I was about to send it packing...

After this incident I went home and got my trusty Toyota and drove down to Monte MadneSS and still had a good time...

After Monte MadneSS I went about the task of locating a transmission. I was looking for a 200r4 overdrive trans. to stick in here... I had a custom crossmember...



And I was able to pick up a good CZF Monte SS overdrive transmission from G-Body Shoppe Joey in Brooklyn I also bought a ProTorque converter 1800-2400 stall... I then had it installed by Joe over and Limberg Automotive who is a drag racing mechanic at heart... He did a good job on the frame extensions that had to be welded in and everything else...







This is the welded in frame extension...



These are the lines to the new transmission cooler. No more putting the cooler lines into the radiator. I learned a hard lesson here... Do yourself a favor and get an external tranny cooler.

Rear Differential

After the tranny incident I decided to finish up the rest of the drivetrain with the rear end...

I picked up a used 40,000 mile Grand National 8.5" posi rear from Chris over at www.ckperformance.com...

Chris builds some nasty overdrive tranny's for people. For the street and for the track. Check him out.. My good neighbor Robert who is a mechanic for FedEx boxed my old control arms with a kit I bought from www.hrpartsandstuff.com... I also bought a set of poly bushings, Monte SS springs, Bilstein shocks and a complete brake overhaul and brake lines from www.classictube.com...


This is shortly after I picked up the rear from Chris' shop. As you can see I started cleaning it up and prepping for install...



Here you can see the posi unit.



Above is the boxing plates from www.hrpartsnstuff.com. They are really nice pieces and fit perfectly. My friend Tom is doing his control arms the same way...



Here you can see how the control arms are progressing... At this point you wouldn't believe how solid they are. Drop a stock control arm on the floor and then one of these and you will definitely hear a difference...



These are the bushings from www.hrpartsnstuff.com. They are really nice quality...



Here I am installing the bushings into the finished control arms... It's good to have the right tools...



Here is the rear almost finished with the Summit Racing rear differential cover I bought. You can also see the new rear drums. I also replaced all brake hardware.



Since the driveshaft is .99" shorter than the one I was using I had to get myself a new driveshaft... This one is from K&N Driveline in Brooklyn... It's nice solid piece with Spicer u-joints...



Here is the rear finally installed under the car... It's not easy doing this by yourself but you have to do what you can...






Here you can see the rear in with the brake lines and new Bilstein shocks going in..




Here you can see the ride height after the install... Not much difference..




At this same time I was having a new fence installed in my yard. This is my neighbor Robert's dog. His name is Dakota and he's a big mush... He thought my new rear diff was a dog bone and tried to eat it...

Well that's all folks... The results of this rear install can be seen on the front page...

All I can say is WOW! I should have installed this sooner... Going from lame ass 2.29 gears with overdrive to 3.42 gears with overdrive is like night and day...

Well thanks for checking out my page... A good portion of the mechanical installs and body swap was done at the shop of the late John DiSalvo. He was a good guy who helped me out when I needed it... Thanks, I couldn't have done this without you. This car would not be what it is either...