marauderprime

This is my first post, however I've been reading these forums for several years now, trying to learn as much as possible. My name is Blake, I am addicted to Monte Carlo SuperSports. Previously I had an 85 CL that I cloned into an SS and I built a carb'ed vortech headed 350 for it, and backed it with an LT1 T56, but I was forced to part that car out to buy books for law school. As a christmas present to myself, I picked up a rough shape 1985 black on burgandy Monte Carlo SS, which I intend to rescue. Originally, I had a couple of different turbo kit hot parts setups for it. I had a brand new in the box set of exhaust manifolds from off of some sort of GM produced armored personnel carrier which had caps on the tops of the manifolds which stock size buick grand national turbos bolted directly up to (and actually cleared everything nicely), and then I had a hot parts kit from off of a TPI IROC whose manufacturer I can't remember at the moment, but it was the American version of the single turbo kit that SS Autochrome ripped off. I test fitted it, and it was also pretty close to fitting right up with some minor bending and fabbing. Ultimately though, I really wanted to move into the new technology. Although, I've seen megasquirted turbo SBC's go pretty fast, I really wanted the longevity and efficiency of the new style motors, so I recently picked up a 160k mile 2001 LM7 out of a silverado 1500 extended cab for free, complete down to the fusebox.

I will tell you my planned setup, and then list the couple of questions that I have, keeping in mind, that yes, I have used the search function extensively, and this last couple of things seems to be a grey area I either couldnt find at all, or it seemed there was a grey area.

I plan on running the truck intake which seems to fit under the G-body hood with certain mounts. I ordered ebay billet American Made 1 inch setback mounts which I will bolt my existing clamshells to, for mounting purposes. I have ordered a plastic Y fitting to T the steam line into the upper radiator hose courtesy of Scott Mckittrick. I am in final negotiations with a gentleman out in Cocoa beach who has an excellent reputation for wire harness modifications to modify my harness down to a 4 wire hookup, and program the anti-theft and transmission components out of the ECM. I ordered the Bosch 044 external pump, and plan on using my stock fuel hat assembly, modified the way the Joe Dirt Monte Carlo fuel hat was modified. I am ordering the Cadillac CTSV pan because I saw one on a G-body in person with the setback mounts and it clears beautifully. I am planning on running this temporarily (as in, as long as the blasted thing will last with me babying it) with my existing TH200R4, so I will be getting the EZTV kit that overdrive specialties sells, but later on I will be putting a T56 in it, I just can't seem to find any for a reasonable price these days.

I have three questions for now, probably more once I start on my swap.

1) Does anyone know if the stock clutch fan from the LM7 will work in a G-body? I havent really seen anything on it, everybody just goes right to electric fans, but I would really like to reuse my clutch fan for simplicity and price.

2) I followed the Joe Dirt Monte Carlo threads closely, and he said that he ultimately got his truck manifolds to work and clear the steering shaft. Does anyone know if this is common to all setback mounts? I am using the style that you just bolt up to the block, and then bolt the sbc style engine mounts to to mate with the stock frame clamshells.

3) Also, he reused his TH200R4 as well, but he didnt mention having to get one of those flexplate to crankshaft spacer kits, his thread only stated that he redrilled his flexplate based on the old flexplate. I know that there is a variation over the different size engines (LQ4, LS1, LM7) as to whether it actually needs a spacer or not. Does anyone know if the 2001 LM7 requires the spacer? or if I can just elongate my flexplate holes and go.

I apologize profusely, I am sure it is possible that somewhere in the thousands of miles of internet these could have been covered, but I have done a search, and was hoping for some clear and concise answers.

Thank you very much in advance for your help,

Sincerely,

Blake

chuckrv6

Look up father &son malibu swap, i made one inch setback plates from 1/4 x 4 inch plate ,drawings are on ls1 tech. I made 2009 tahoe manifolds work cut off driver side flange &rotate weld .passenger side cut off flange weld in a three inch long pipe with a v band clamp pipe clears frame by 1/4 inch. I have the ctsv pan, 2009 truck manifold clears hood with cut down tahoe cover . I am running ls4 5.3 block with homemade 3/16 inch trans addapter . I mounted 2008 impala ss a/c compressor to truck alternator bracket-it fits ! Made alternator brackets for passenger side. Cost for engine mounts & alternator mounts & trans addapter was $9.50 and 12 hrs. Work using hand drill & file chuck t. Ls4 malibu & ls4 s10 -u tube video

marauderprime

That sure was a neat project with alot of fabrication. Unfortunatley my fabrication skills are not quite as good as yours, I also don't have a garage, and my tools consist of a large tupperware bin I keep locked in the trunk of the Monte Carlo I keep outside of my house, so I'm limited to bolt-on operations.

Did you clock the collector flange because it didnt fit or just because it would have made for a more convenient exit route?

Does anyone know if the stock truck clutch fan will work?

mikesimpalass

The clutch fan will work with the stock mcss fan shroud, but the fan will sit about 1/2 inch back from the opening of the fan shroud. I think it would still cool good like this, but it's not ideal

mikesimpalass

Here's the deal with the spacer, you will need one. If you have a flat flexplate, then the spacer will go between your crank and flexplate.
If you have a curved flexplate, then the spacer will go between the flexplate and torque converter

marauderprime

Resurrecting thread from the dead with an update. The motor is in, and test fired and worked. Then My B!@#H of an ex left me, I got screwed out of my apt by an unscrupulous landlord, and I had to pack the car and all the tools up and keep it at a buddies house. Now I'm newly Married to a fellow car nut (although she was smart enough to buy her car with an LS3 already in it) have a beautiful home with a GARAGE, and just got my car towed back over here. I am going to focus on the body next, as it was of serious concern when I put the car down 8 months ago, and is of even greater concern now, so I picked up a new rust free dent free front clip from off of an 86 monte carlo SS last night, which I am going to remove the radio antennae off of, and weld the hole shut for a truly smooth wind cheating Monte Carlo SS. I have some areas of major repair left in the trunk (the rain channel is almost completely rotted away). So She is going in for some major body work, and is getting brand new glass, and painted the week of my birthday in July.

NOW. Here is what I used. Ebay "Made in America" 1 inch setback mounts (although they are drilled for 3 different positions). Stock Monte Carlo SS Frame mounts. Stock Truck intake manifold and stock truck accessories cleared the hood, although the power steering pulley hit the steering box. I have a dirty dingo pulley in the garage to fix it, but I havent verified it works yet. Pace setter F-body long tubes fit like a charm no modification, (although I did nothing about the kickout towards the frame rail. I am contemplating trying to see if the F-body pacesetter y-pipe will bolt up without modifications. I had my harness cut down and turned into a 4 wire hookup by Ken Wolkens of standalone harness do my harness, and it came back absolutely spectacular, then I test fired it (by hooking the harness up to a battery and jumping the starter (ghetto test stand style, I got it to start up and idle for 30 seconds through open longtubes at 2 oclock in the morning in my nice neighborhood. Since I was so close, I thought it would be a great idea to rip the harness back off and send it back to Ken, because originally I had it set up for a 4L80E, but Scot Mckittrick kept whispering in my ear, so I shipped it back to Ken, and he set it up for a T56 at no charge other than shipping. Factory truck clutch fan fit in the stock monte radiator shroud like it was designed to go there, and when everything was all said and done, everything absolutely everything cleared (pending the ps pulley verification) without any cutting or welding of any kind. I can not vouch that this will be the case on every G-body, because of body bushing droop, orientation of body on frame (things werent all that consistent in the 80s), but it can be a direct bolt in no cutting if you're lucky. at the very least it would be very minimal modification. Also I did manage to crack the crap out of my A/C suitcase putting the motor in and out a few times, but the coil brackets even clear fairly decently. Pics to follow hopefully, they are all on my old android which is having problems booting up.

Here is my question. It is extremely embarassing, but I never dealt too much with wiring before, as I either had carbeurated cars, or was just adding boltons onto already factory fuel injected cars, but for the G-body, does the interior fuse panel get its power from the starter? Is that where it gets hot on from that starts up the gauges, and primes the fuel pump? I am trying to figure out how to wire the starting/charging system. does anybody have a diagram of the stock SS Battery/alternator/starter setup? Does the interior get its power by piggybacking onto the back of the starter?

samckitt

iTrader: (5)

Can't blame me for anything....... Just sayin.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

The goodness of a.clutch fan is not lost on me; even worn out, the cooling works in 120 ambient.

Scot, did you forget to tell this guy about mandatory pics?

AC comp. installed?

Yes, the fusible link leads at the starter lead to the driver side fuse block area and feed gauges / a stock fuel pump wiring if routed like that.

marauderprime

Holy Cow James Matthew Daugherty. I used your writeup on the old MCML website to do my first stickshift conversion in a monte carlo. I havent talked to you since I was in college! I will take some new pics on my phone. I have a few new and interesting annoyances. My tools are locked in my trunk, which I can not open because sometime in the last year my trunk/door key disappeared, and I have a flat tire, and I don't want code enforcement to hassle me, so I have to pull my glovebox lock, see if it has a code on it, get a key made, get my tools out of the trunk, get the car up, and change the tire out. Then I'll start moving onto body stuff again.

samckitt

iTrader: (5)

I figured he knew that we are all picture ******. LOL