Dave's '87 Monte Carlo SS

[Brian Lohnes]

Dave, great to see your car here!

Dudes, Dave is a local guy to me and he shot most of the kick ass photos you saw in the "Secret Weapon" wagon feature. He and I have another "date with destiny" on the 15th when we're hauling down to CT to shoot another.....uhhhhh....interesting vehicle.

What makes 1,000 hp and 2,000 ft/lbs to the tire? Only time will tell!

[Monster]

Dave, Awesome car !!!

I had an '87 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham (like below) that I just loved ... and so did the ladies.
Keep up working on your Monte.

[DNut]

Thanks guys! Glad to see that there's a good amount of G-body love on this site!

Brian, just checked the weather for the 15th and it's looking good: 36 degrees and sunny. Perfect for shredding tires...

[TheSilverBuick]

Just took the time to read through this. AWESOME job. Definitely a shame the First intake didn't work, I liked the color scheme with the TPI and First intakes too. Also a x2 on using the GP dash, and the Glowshift gauges are a nice unique visual touch. Welcome aboard.

[RustyRodder]

Wow, i dig it! I actually like those SS's. too bad they didnt come form the factory with TPI or a stick. or a 350.


girl in my high school drove a black 87 with T-tops. poor car never was opened up (in terms of throttle, or the T-tops). now its rotting away next to a white 87 down the road.

[Beagle]

Wow, i dig it! I actually like those SS's. too bad they didnt come form the factory with TPI or a stick. or a 350.


girl in my high school drove a black 87 with T-tops. poor car never was opened up (in terms of throttle, or the T-tops). now its rotting away next to a white 87 down the road.

had a '79 elky with a 231 Buick, 3 on the tree. Rare. Gawd, I wish I'd kept it. Band director (surprise, I was a BQ) had a '79 MC with a 305/4 Speed. I thought he was just another dork til I hear it leave one day. I looked the next day, Yep! Three pedals. His image went up immediately in my book. Ex's 88 was the theft candidate of 89, 90.. probably still being stolen. Darth Vader tint, no stickers. I loved that turd. The 305's inability to make more HP than the 307 Olds was forgiven.

I occaisonally want one again. Tugboats, and I loved them all.

Nice ride Dave, very classy. Thanks for sharing!

[DNut]

Not much of an update given that I don't have any new progress photos to share at the moment (Lame, I know ), but I've finally settled on Stage 1 of my suspension build and wanted to get the plans down on virtual paper.

Brian already knows this, but I'm a huge nerd, especially when it comes to learning about new car stuff (Right now, somewhere in PA Brian is ). My current obsession is learning more about suspensions and braking, and I'm hoping to pass along at least some of what I'm learning before it all leaks out of my ears.

Given that my Monte is my only available testbed, my goal for Stage 1 is to identify relatively inexpensive changes that can be made to improve the handling and braking performance of a G-body.

I don't want to speak for anyone else, but with a wedding soon approaching, a mortgage, student loans etc, I don't have the funds (Or at least enough justification to give my significant other to spend the funds) to do a high-dollar suspension build right now and I figure that with the rest of you being normal guys and gals, you're in a similar boat. Coilovers, fixed calipers with 4+ pistons, and NASA-spec forged unobtainium wheels are all off the table unless I win the lottery or only eat ramen for the next year or so.


That's the bad news.

The good news is that I'm working towards identifying, purchasing, and installing all of the components that I'm hoping will get a G-body 80-90% of the way there for 50% or less of the cost for the top of the line parts (60% of the time, it works every time). This will require some junkyard/Ebay/forum scouring to both buy new and new-to-me parts along with selling existing ones.

I'll try my best to keep a running tally of money spent as I go along, and will hopefully be able to piggyback on Brian's project to get some performance numbers as well.

Not going to mislead you, there is going to be money spent, but it’s all spent in the right places and for the right reasons, which I will explain as the project moves along.

Without further ado, here is Stage 1 of the build, which I’m calling the “Bang for the buck” stage.

Front suspension and brakes
- ‘98+ 2wd Blazer spindles for dual-piston brakes ($50, Purchased via local forum)
- Power Performance “tall” upper and lower ball joints
- “LS1” (98-02 F-body) calipers and brackets ($70, ebay)
- Homemade caliper adapter bracket
- Braided stainless lines
- Centric rotors
- Stoptech pads
- Good brake fluid
- Spohn “tall spindle swap” front upper control arms
- SPC front lower control arms
- Triangulating braces for frame and engine bay
- Replace front body bushings with delrin or poly
- Performance rebuild of steering box
- Eibach springs (Already own)
- Bilstein shocks (Already own)
- 36mm F-body sway bar and stock F41 Monte SS bar (Own both and will be trying both)
- GTA wheels (Own)with 245/50/16 tires, brand still undetermined

Rear suspension and brakes
- “LS1” (98-02 F-body) rear disc
- Adjustable proportioning valve
- UMI adjustable upper and lower control arms with Rotojoints
- New rubber bushings in upper ears of axle (Already own)
- Fays2 Watts link
- Eibach springs (Already own)
- Bilstein shocks (Already own)
- Stock F41 rear sway bar and thirdgen F-body rear bar (Will try both)
- GTA wheels (Own)with 245/50/16 tires, brand still undetermined

[DNut]

Little bummed out that I have a potential showstopper for my plans of using LS1 brakes with Blazer spindles:

Did some digging and found out that neither FlyNBye or Kore3 offer a bracket to make this conversion work as there are already clearance issues when using the C5 calipers/brackets and Blazer spindles.

From Kore3 (Very quick to respond by the way):

I've attached a picture that shows how you already have to grind a small amount of material from the steering stop boss for the lower socket head cap screw as it is with the C5/C6 kit...it would be much more significant for an LS1 setup with a 7/8" smaller rotor diameter. Granted, our brackets are symmetric and you could gain a small amount by making them asymmetric and taking advantage of the small amount of space available at the top, but how much would just be a guess without doing the design work to back it up.

Photo that they also sent of a C6 caliper that shows the issue:




Now, that’s not to say that it’s impossible, but I have a decision to make as so far I only own the LS1 calipers and Blazer spindles.

Possible options:

- Sell the Blazer spindles, pick up a set of Monte spindles, a FlynBye or Kore3 hub, and an adapter bracket
- Keep the Blazer spindles, buy C5 pad brackets and upgrade to 13” rotors (I'd have to ditch the GTA wheels)
- Attempt to make my own bracket for the Blazer spindles and LS1 brakes based on a modified version of the template found here: http://www.s10planet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28406


I’m really hoping to keep my GTA wheels for now as they’re light (I’ve heard as light as 17 or 18 pounds, although I’ve yet to confirm that) and I haven’t found a 17” wheel yet that I like.


Hoping to get your thoughts on this. Based on the picture about and the thought that slightly more will need to be shaved off of either the bracket or the spindle, should the LS1 brake swap with the Blazer spindle plans get scrapped?

Anyone good with metal fab and want to assist me in making a bracket?

[DNut]

Ordered a TON of parts for the Monte:


- Spohn tall spindle front upper control arms with Delrin bushings
- Spohn front lower control arms with Delrin bushings
- Proforged tall upper and lower ball joints
- UMI adjustable upper and lower control arms with rotojoints
- Kore3 billet hubs
- Centric 98+ F-body premium brake rotors
- Stoptech 98+ F-body brake pads
- Kore3 braided stainless brake lines
- Energy Suspension core support bushings
- New Intrepid electric fans as the current fans are starting to squeak


Should be able to install the rear control arms, core support bushings, and fans soon; Waiting on the front suspension and LS1 brake swap until I get a response back from the guy making my adapter brackets for me.

[DNut]

Parts are rolling in for the Monte.

Spohn upper and lower front arms are in, along with tall ball joints, 98-02 F-body rotors and pads, and UMI rear arms.

Still waiting on the hubs and brake lines from Kore3, along with caliper adapter brackets. Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time getting ahold of either Ed Miller from FlyNBye or another guy I found from the S10 board. Anyone else that sells these brackets that I can get in contact with?


Anyways, on to a few pics of the new parts:












The front end install is still on hold, but last Thursday I attempted to install the UMI rear control arms as I had the whole day off in preparation for the GM Nationals. THAT was a mistake.


I started off by washing, clay barring, and waxing the car:









Following that, Brian was awesome and/or bored enough to come help me swap out the old control arms for new.

Proof that Brian isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty or of risking tetanus from working on a rusty G-body:




Old versus new:






Notice with the upper control arms that the bolt hole is centered as opposed to staggered towards the bottom of the arm. These arms are the original UMI design from ’03 or ’04 before they were redesigned to fit the 8.5” rear. I had to grind them down a bit for them to clear the pumpkin.


These new double-adjustable arms are pretty neat, and I can already tell that the rotojoints are going to be much better than the poly in regards to preventing binding of the rear axle based on what I saw when loading/unloading the rear while on jackstands.



Aside from some difficult access holes to work with, everything went well up until it was time to torque the hardware. I was reusing old bolts (Originally purchased with the old UMI arms) and one of the upper control arm bolts on the frame side decided to spin instead of torqueing. We didn’t realize this until 10 PM, at which point it was too late to get new hardware in time to fix the problem…I ended up driving another car to the Nationals, and while I was there I stopped by the UMI Booth to say “Hi” to Ramey and Ryan, along with picking up a new set of bolts. Those guys have some cool stuff up their sleeves that I’m dying to see released.


This coming weekend I’m hoping to removing the offending bolt and get the car back on the road so I can report back with my impressions of the new rear arms.

[TheSilverBuick]

Bruab, your exhaust pipe is showing.

Looks like some good upgrades there.

[mlcraven]

Spohn makes good kit and in my experience are excellent to deal with...I've bought some of their suspension components and have them stored in a box pending eventual return to Canada and installation on the El Camino.

Nice to see you're moving this project along Dave, even if at a more modest rate of expenditure than you'd like. I learned long ago that the only way to make the car deal work is to keep the better half happy.

[DNut]

Wow, I haven't updated this thing in a while.

Not much for real progress with my wedding in August and starting my MBA program in September, but I did do a few small things.

So far I'm loving the UMI rear control arms, and I think the next step for the rear suspension is to buy and install a Watts link.


The LS1 brake swap is slow going, although I finally have all of the parts I need. Last week I chopped the "ears" off of the spindles with help from yourownself on here. Next up is to enlarge and tap the holes for the mounting brackets.

Here's a few pics of the brackets and Kore3 hubs:

[DNut]

I replaced my seat belts with belts from http://www.seatbeltplanet.com/

The belts that I had were from a third gen Monte and were a little long in the tooth, so I decided to replace them.
(I also hated how those stupid covers would ALWAYS fly off at random times and hide themselves under the seats. Anyone else have this problem?)

The install itself took about an hour and a half, and everything fit like a glove.

Here's the exact belts that I ordered: http://www.seatbeltplanet.com/shoppi...cts/25/view/62

I ordered them in the 140" length with the 12" sleeve receiver end.

There's a discount code that you can use as well to save a few bucks: SEMA09CONS


On to the install pics...

Old versus new receiver end (The old were from a bench seat car):



Old versus new "male" end:



Original belts in place:




Removed the driver's seat:





Back seat removed:




New retractor bolted in the stock location (I removed that red piece after taking this pic):



Hole where the low part of the male end bolts:




Third mounting point:




Driver's side is installed:

[DNut]

Final install pics: