UMI's 1979 Monte Carlo- Pro-Touring Project- Lots of Pictures!
 

Hello All,

This is UMI's 1979 Monte Carlo G-Body project. We actually began this project in late 2012 but since we are newer sponsors here at Lateral G we haven't posted anything here about it.

I will post a few recap pictures of what has happened in the last two years working on this project. If you would like the full details please visit one of the links below, it would be impossible to repost all those pictures! In the other links there are hundreds of pictures. I also posted our Facebook page link to the album. We will now keep this thread updated from here on out.

Link to project on Gbodyforum.com

Link to project on Pro-touring.com

Link to Project on Facebook

Here is a recap, beginning in late 2012 when we picked the car up. We actually chose this car because of the virtually rust free and untouched body, solid under carriage and original paint. I personally loved the fact that it was so ugly! We want to maintain the beatiful green paint as well.

The car came to us with a 350, TH350, 3.73 gears with a true lock posi, custom painted wheels and vinyl green bench seat :)

Here is the car when we got it:

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...re/0210155.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...re/0210156.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...re/0210157.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...re/0210158.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...re/0210159.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101510.jpg

Stock testing.

Of course hard tires on 15" wheels won't help the results but we still wanted to do some testing with our G-Body as it came to us. We did swap on our pro-tour bar at one point... you can see the rear tire lifted in a picture.

The first pictures is UMI's very own Ramey Womer... Ramey was pretty excited to have his new toy. Ramey does a lot of UMI's design, engineering and even phone/e-mail support.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101511.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101512.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101513.jpg

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http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101515.jpg

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http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101517.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101518.jpg

And when we first started the suspension swap process to get the car where it is now.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101524.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101520.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101521.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101522.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101523.jpg

Engine rebuild. Car now as a 383 stroker, AFR heads and Isky cam. Along with Dakota Digital.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101525.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101526.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101527.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...e/02101528.jpg

Do want
 

I'll take one please!

Big fan here of the Green Machine, can't wait to see how all of the new products work on it this season.

Would love to make an event this year and run with it out on a course...

This is a cool thread. I love that you're showing the before & after. Besides, I'm partial to G-bodies.

Keep it up !

:cheers:

Thanks for looking guys!

SSLance and Ron- I know Ramey is looking forward to event together, of course I am too. Lance we have learned a lot for your car and your build thread, I know Ramey studies it daily it seems. Ron your help on our G-Body platform has been great, we appreciate it and can't wait to incorporate the changes. We just talked about both of you earlier in a meeting on some of the new G-Body stuff in the works. We are excited to work with both of you in the 2015 season :)

Ryan

I know this is an early Monte, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the "before" pictures - -

http://www.firstgenmc.com/museum/aceventura.jpg

Cool thread!

hahah... too funny!! :thumbsup:

Our R&D has been busy working on a few new products to help the car excel in 2015. A rear coil over kit is in the works now and almost completed. The lower mounting bracket below is designed to work with or with our UMI control arm relocation brackets. We also have another cool lower bracket that has control arm relocation built into it, one bracket can do two things. Pictures coming soon.

We will post some better pictures shortly.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0210151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0210152.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0210153.jpg

Demon road race carburetor is in.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0211151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0211152.jpg

Very cool build. G-body looks like a great platform to get into this scene efficiently. You keeping the exhaust cut-outs? Green on green is such a design cue from the era as well. Throw some Sparco's in there covered in the same green vinyl.

Watching this build makes me want to do an old buick regal of similar era and paint it like the Mountain Dew car DW use to drive.

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/...pseb56c9fc.jpg

Great build. Love that body style Monte.
Keep us posted.

Not a lot of updates on the car itself yet but we did use this car to develop our G-Body rear coilover kit.

Our new G-Body rear coilover kit is installed on our Green Machine, below are a few pictures. We also built an optional rear shock tower brace you can see in the pictures. This ties the rear shock towers together for additional reinforcement.

This will also be available with shock valving more oriented towards pro-touring and drag racing.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225152.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225153.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225154.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225156.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0225157.jpg

New rear shock tower brace that we developed off our Monte while we were working on it. Brace was originally designed to help distribute the load of the rear coil overs.

We are getting the rear suspension put together for our first event coming up in May. We will be running the rear coil over kit with the Viking Crusader shocks with higher rebound valving.

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/im.../3055a_LRG.jpg

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/im...3055ai_LRG.jpg

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/im...3055ac_LRG.jpg

Videos of it in action?
 

Want to see this thing get flogged with the new parts on it!

I see a design change from the 1st shock tower brace, was that for strength/structural reasons? And I may have missed it but what gauge setup is that your using in the dashboard?

The design change is for exhaust clearance. We moved the bar rearward.

The awesome gauges are Dakota Digital VHX. They work great and have a ton of functionality.

I like what you guys are doing!
Great job. I bet she handles 100% better now.

A few updates.

The TH400 in the car went out late last year. We pulled it out and had it looked at and it's not good. We really want to do a manual swap however we are worried about the time frame to get other projects done. We need to decide soon.

We are removing the 1-5/8" headers that were on the car and replacing them with 1-3/4". Finding a pair to work is tricky, we tried Dynatech and they didn't clear what we needed correctly. We have a set of Hedmans we are trying now. AFR recommends 1-3/4" with the heads we are using.

In the meantime we are also building a set of coilover only a-arms with additional caster built in. They are coming along nicely.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0319155.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0319154.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0319152.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0319151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0319153.jpg

Any updates on the Green Machine?

Thanks for asking about the Green Machine.

We've been swamped here at UMI but have also been making some good progress on multiple cars.

The Green Machine went to Putnam Park Indiana to the big road course. The first few laps were not too bad then our temporary Muncie exploded. Oops.

Fast forward to this week: We have a new Bowler TKO 600 on order as well as the rest of the awesome Bowler drivetrain products to make it happen. The TKO is close ratio so it should work awesome on auto-x events and still help cruising a bit with the 0.82 OD.

We'll get some pics up soon.

ramey

I'm building a 78 Malibu with an LS1/4L60E combo and am trying to decide on a suspension setup. Its just going to be a nice driver but would like to eliminate the old weak setup it has now. Like what your doing with the Green Machine but I don't think my Malibu will ever see a road course or autocross.

I think I can speak for UMI when I say that a well planned out and executed suspension setup for autocross and road racing works fantastic on the street as well. I know the setup in my car is great to drive on the street and performs quite well on the track too.

Can't wait to see the Green Machine back out there tearing up the tracks...

There is a big gap in here somewhere --- the TH 400 was out -- some discussion about going to a three pedal car... then all of a sudden the Muncie blows... and now a TKO is on order (hate my TKO 600 BTW -- junky notchy shifting - I should have gone Tremec).

Also some header fitment issues --- but no solution posted. So what did you end up with??

I also never saw any data posted from the first testing... to where it's progressed. Would be really interesting to know that everything you've done - way kool BTW - has helped and by how much.

I'll get some updates posted, sorry about the lack of them on this car. We have 4 cars we are trying to keep up with and I get a little backed up. I will work on this very soon :)

Okay finally on to some updates:

Transmission- We burnt our TH400 up last fall. We tried to save a few dollars and used a Muncie 4-speed we had sitting around. We did the manual swap and got the car running and working well. The peddles are very tricky and still need some tuning, lack of time is killing us. The Muncie didn't like high RPM's and after 4 laps at Putnam Park road course it locked up seizing 1st gear.

So we decided we better do this right once and for all. A call to Bowler got us a TKO 5-speed, Quicktime bell housing and a McCleod RXT clutch. Bowler really wanted to see us with a T56 however time frame to have this car didn't allow that at this time. We have a big event next week. Bowler was able to turn this transmission around in 1 day for us, excellent service!

Headers- A few asked about headers. The Dynatech headers didn't work right on this car, they hit a lot of places so we couldn't use them. We switched to the Hedmans and so far everything is good and fitment nice. Recommended.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0618153.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0618151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0618152.jpg

The new Bowler Tremec 5-speed is working very well so far, we have completed three events and done well at all three. I am behind on updates but I'll start with this past weekend.

Our Monte participated in the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge held at Pitt Race this past weekend. The event included Friday night Track Cross, Saturday all day road course and Sunday autocross. We were able to take our G-Body 2 full seconds faster this year on the road course than last year, we are very happy about that. For this year we also running the Bridstone RE71R tires and we are having great luck with them.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828151.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828152.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828153.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828154.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828155.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828156.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828157.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828158.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...15/0828159.jpg

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http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...5/08281511.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...5/08281512.jpg

Nice action shots, Ryan. Thanks for sharing.

LOL!!! I love it!! Please tell me that you are leaving the car that color with that interior??? Bad ass!!!:thumbsup:

Thank you sir. We will keep them coming.

Car will stay green for sure. We are working on tuning up the interior to work better, we installed Corbeau seats and Dakota Digital dash. It does still need some tuning such as a headliner and a cage would be good. Thanks for looking!

I am leaning heavily towards your suspension for my daughters Malibu. Thanks for the updates.

What a cool hot rod!

:cheers:

Anything new with the Green Machine?

Nevermind I just read all 36 pages of your thread over on the GBodyForums. Time to start saving my pennies.

Hi Jose.

Thanks for the interest in the Green Machine!

We try to keep the posts updated on here as well as on Gbody Forum.

Now that show and racing season is over, we are working on our winter plans for the GM.

Even though it's fast (a number of national top five's this season at events like GoodGuys AAS and Syracuse Nats) we want to make it both faster and safer.

We'll be installing a roll cage for safety as well as stiffening. Also we plan to get it lower and sitting a little better. We have some geometry to improve and some blueprinting to do as well.

We will keep you posted! In the meantime if you have any specific questions we're here for you.

later

ramey

It's time to get these updates rolling again.

As racing season approaches the stress to get cars in tip-top shape kicks in. Our first upgrade of many on the Green Machine is the steering column. The tilt steering just needed to go. We ordered a Flaming River direct bolt in steering column, non-tilt. The column includes the ignition as well as turn signals and other needed accessories. It even has the horn.


http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0311161.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0311162.jpg

While we are working on the Monte we tried two things. We tried a set of Weld wheels off our Lemans to see if we liked them. We also wanted to see what our new G-Body 2" lowering springs looked like. I think the stance is pretty killer.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0311163.jpg

We got a few more things finished up on the Green Machine. The Flaming River column is in and we also got a Flaming River EZ steering shaft, it is really nice and fit perfect.

The car weighed in at 3,133lbs, they are doing corner weights now. Don't mind the dust... she's been inside since last fall.

We got a very nice set of AFR valve covers and just installed them. Along with some custom zip tie spark plug wire holders.

Our cage came in from Wild Ride Race Cars... looks very nice and suppose to be direct fit to maintain the back set and fit with the door arm rest. We will know in the next month but I am sure it is.

We have prototype lower a-arms on the car, They have a significant amount of positive caster in them along with double shear coilover mounts. We also installed some new coilover shocks we have been working on. More details to come.

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0404166.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0404163.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0404167.jpg

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http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0404161.jpg

http://www.umiperformance.com/pictur...16/0404165.jpg

The Green Machine is gonna feel like a whole new car with all them there suspension updates! Can't wait to check it out in person.

Wow, it's pretty light...real light in fact. Over 300 pounds lighter than Barney.