1983 Monte Carlo SS

So this project of mine has changed faces many times. A little over a year ago I decided on an LS swap so I picked an LQ9 out of an '03 Escalade. Just this month between the kids, work, issues with the truck and our home renovations, I have finally found the time to look at this motor. It has been sitting in the corner of the garage staring at me since last april and it almost went in the truck, but that plan changed too.

I'm not on any clock to finish this, so I decided take my sweet time and do it right.

I started by cutting a hole in the fence large enough to put a mid-80's tank in the back yard - that gave me some space to sort through and clean out the garage.

second step - using three floor jacks and a brick, finangle engine into middle of garage...



no engine lift to use my stand so... pallet and jackstands

Once I started pulling this thing apart I was quite pleased. The valve covers revealed how easy it's 150k miles really were.



kind of beautiful if you ask me

I then took the 317's off to look at the (thank god) flat top hypereu(something science) pistons

Port View


they're flat! I got the right one!

Starboard View



everything looks right, even the plugs were toasted properly

Brought the heads to a really good local shop too. They cleaned up nice, pressure tested well and currently waiting on new spring to come in the mail. I'll share a picture of those really common heads when I get them back.

The only bad news is I dropped a lifter into number three when I was removing them. Now there's a nice little ding on that cylinder's wall. So I think I'll have to bring the block in now too which will make my new friend really happy. Or maybe one of yall can give me an idea of how you'd fix it: Spinny autozone **** bead thing? Redneck honing tool? The picture doesn't do it justice... my world almost ended. It feels expensive.


it feels bigger than it looks, I swear

next on the list:
fix the burr in #3 and install the new cam (in the mail with the springs)

I decided on a probably pretty common cam from comp with a .566/.568 lift & 275/277 duration

next i'll worry about:
-T56 or TKO 600, hopefully it'll just fall into my lap. These things are unicorns in my area unless you have a corvette, and nobody with kids has a corvette. **If you have one in VA beach, i'm all ears**

-Z71

 

That's golden...LOL...

In for updates.

Andrew