Previous owner had started a badly planned tub job (they cut out half of the rear floor pan and all the suspension mounts)and while I was trying to decide how to salvage the mess, things got a little out of hand. The next thing I know I've cut out most of the floor. Well if I'm going that far, why not move the firewall back a little (V8 Monza's don't corner very well). After removing most of the firewall for header, valve cover and distributor clearance I decided it would be better just to remove the whole firewall and really move the engine. It is now 8 inches further back than stock.
Now that there was no rear suspension, floor pan or firewall, I felt it would be best to do an entire chassis for this poor thing. Having been offered a set of 96 Firebird wheels for almost nothing, I felt that they and the related front suspension would really make this thing corner and stop on a dime. I found a narrowed 12 bolt and installed a custom 4 link setup with a "wishbone" track locator and coil over shocks (I also like a little drag racin' from time to time).
Since the ride height is almost stock I am using chrome sidepipes scavenged from a 1970's corvette to give the illusion of a lowered car and built a set of headers to attach to them. I could be showing some age here but a lowered car with huge (4.5"x47") chrome header sidepipes just looks cool.
As for the engine, I'll have to post some pic's later, but suffice to say that it is NOT a stock 305. More on that later.
Well it's later so here are a couple of pic's of the motor.
The motor spec's look like this.....
78 "010" 350 bored .060, torque plate honed and decked for ultra-tight quench.
75-76 262 V8 Crank, lightened, drilled journals, turned counterweights and polished.
KB hypereutectic lightweight flat top pistons, further lightened and polished w/ file fit 1/16 rings.
Eagle 6.0 I Beam rods, balanced and polished.
Bullet Cams custom ground a solid roller cam with 282/299 duration and .480 lobe lift (yeah I know, but you should hear the throttle response off idle).
The heads are Canfield 220's, angle milled .125", hand ported with 2.1/1.6 Titanium valves(used Nascar stuff), and 1.7 Scorpion rockers.
I ported a Professional Products "Hurricane" manifold and raised it 3/8" to match the angle milled heads.
The ignition system is a Mallory Hyfire VI triggered by a modified HEI distributor with the timing locked out @ 46 degrees.
I now have most of the wiring finished with the exception of the fuel pump,cooling fans and line lock switches. The stretched dash is mocked up with the stock guages and the safety kill switch has been mounted and the battery cables run to the front.
The Mallory Hi-Fire VI ignition box is mounted behind the dash with a false door in the dash to "hide" it. I modified a wiper assembly from an Austin Healy Sprite and mounted it in the stock wiper holes, mounted the washer tank and squirters just to make sure no one can say it isn't really a street car. And yes all the lights work as does the E brake.
We weighed the beast the other day and it looks like it'll be about 3000 lb, fuel and all when I'm done. It's a little heavier than I had originally planned but that's still pretty light for a GM car that had a V8 option. About the same as the average rice burner and just a bit more power. Plus, with the engine set back so far the front/rear weight is almost exactly 50/50.
