'88 Monte SS Green Machine

[Donutboy97]

So did some upgrades over the weekend so thought I would document what I did as well as what all I have done.

My car is a 1988 Monte Carlo SS. Specs on the car are as follows:

Exterior
• Car was repainted from factory black to GM color Polo Green Metallic with gold factory stripes.
• Wheels are 18” Chrome IROC replicas wrapped in 245/40/18 tires.
• Tint is 20% all around

Interior
• Factory Saddle interior
• Interior/dash lights replaced with LED
• Gauge POD with Autometer Gauges

Drivetrain
• Blueprint Engine 355 SBC
• 200-4r transmission
• Flowtech Longtube headers
• Dual exhaust from headers back

Suspension
• 2” drop all around
• F-Body 34mm Front sway bar
• Core/Firewall Support Braces
• UMI Performance Rear Shock Tower Brace
• Custom Rear Frame Brace
• Cutlass Radiator Cross Brace
• Custom Lower Control Arm Braces
• Drilled/slotted rotors
• Stainless Brake Hoses
• B-Body Brake Booster

and here are some pics





Custom Rear Frame Brace


UMI Rear Shock Tower Brace


the new 355 in the car


Cutlass Radiator Braces


the numbers from Blueprint


I'll get some more pics of the car up later.

Thanks!!

[instro84]

nice looking car!

[gbodyj]

That's nice!

[SSLance]

Love the color combo on this G-body, been a favorite of mine for a while. Glad to see you get some more horsepower under the hood, you will certainly enjoy that.

[Che70velle]

Originally Posted by SSLance

Love the color combo on this G-body, been a favorite of mine for a while. Glad to see you get some more horsepower under the hood, you will certainly enjoy that.

Agreed! Nice ride!

[WSSix]

Nice ride and welcome to the site!

[V8TV]

That is a good looking car. Makes the ponder the radiator cross brace... seems many cars from the 70s and 80s had these installed from the factory, but none of the 60s cars did. Hmm. What are people's thoughts on this?

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Nice! Good to see another G body lurking about. Love the stance!

@Kevin- Not all G bodies had these rad support x braces. I found mine on a Regal in the junkyard. It wasn't anything special, just a V6 non turbo Regal. Neither my car, my son's 78 Cutlass wagon, or the 78 Cutlass wagon parts car I bought had this brace. I've read all the GNs have it. G bodies have a few different chassis bracing options, and there are different brace design options for different lines- Buick, Olds, Pontiac... Almost seems a little random whether the car had any bracing or not. Finding these different braces in a junkyard is sort of like celebrating your birthday, lol! Sure would be interesting to speak to the engineers and see what they were thinking and why the differences between the cars.

[Donutboy97]

thanks for the comments guys!!

Here are some more pics...

Engine bay... I need to go thru it and clean it up from the engine swap.


Lower Control Arm Support Brace


And these are just some other pics of the car

Compass/Temp Mirror


Gauge Pod


Interior


Trunk


Master Cylinder Cover freshly Painted

[Donutboy97]

Originally Posted by Ben@SpeedTech

Nice! Good to see another G body lurking about. Love the stance!

@Kevin- Not all G bodies had these rad support x braces. I found mine on a Regal in the junkyard. It wasn't anything special, just a V6 non turbo Regal. Neither my car, my son's 78 Cutlass wagon, or the 78 Cutlass wagon parts car I bought had this brace. I've read all the GNs have it. G bodies have a few different chassis bracing options, and there are different brace design options for different lines- Buick, Olds, Pontiac... Almost seems a little random whether the car had any bracing or not. Finding these different braces in a junkyard is sort of like celebrating your birthday, lol! Sure would be interesting to speak to the engineers and see what they were thinking and why the differences between the cars.

It definitely would be an interesting conversation as to what the GM designers were thinking as far as additional body/chassis supports...

the GP was the only one to have the front F41 cross bar, not all G-bodys had the F41 bars, Olds and Buicks had the radiator braces, the 3rd gen Monte's were the only ones to have the core to firewall braces, I couldn't tell you how many core to fender braces there were (and each car seemed to have their own version...), then there were the cross braces behind the rear seats, which eventually became part of the body stamping. Oh and I believe Buicks and Cutlass had the isolation pads for the trans cross member...

Defiantly interesting how different all the gbodys were...